It started off as such a fine day. Not a cloud in the sky, and actually kind of hot. Although I had to discharge my duties as a dishwasher (my second job) I had the Fremont Solstice Fair to look forward to after my shift (the café that I work at is right downtown). To get there, I took the bus.
You know Creepy Guy That Stares at You on the bus? You know Guy that Sits Next to You When There are Plenty of Seats Available? You Know Horribly Smelly Guy? Today I had the perfect convergence of these guys all in one person.
This man smelled so bad that I literally had to get off at the next stop and wait for the next bus. He had that hellish old man smell of very old unwashed dirt and sweat, combined with stale cigarette smoke and alcohol as well as stale urine. It was so freaking bad that it got on my clothes and, hours later, I can still catch traces of the wonderful aroma.
Is it really that difficult to do laundry once and a while and to bathe everyday?
Amen on that one. There should be some sort of “socially acceptable appearance and odor” security line before one can ride public transportation.
I’m pretty sure that I sat behind “Horribly Smelly Guy’s” son, daughter in law and grandkids on a Greyhound from Dallas to Springfield MO back in April. My first (and LAST!!! I hope) Greyhound bus ride.
This guy and his family had apparently travelled from Bakersfield CA, to Dallas and were on their way to Tulsa OK. They’d been on the bus for three days, and hadn’t bathed. Each of their toddler aged sons had only adult sized Tshirts and unchanged dirty diapers on (a lady sitting across from them had to finally TELL the mom to change one of the little boys’ dirty diapers). The little girl (about 5 or so) had on pajamas and boots. At several of the many stops, several of the women near them, including me, tried to nicely hint to the “wife” to take the kids to the bus stop bathroom and give them sink baths (hint hint, YOU could do the same).
Apparently the busline had lost their luggage. How that resulted in their boys ending up barefoot and with only giant tshirts and a diaper to wear wasn’t explained.
Now, I can empathize with their plight. But there is NO reason those folks couldn’t have washed their kids and their own armpits. AAAGGGGGGH. Not only were the poor kids filthy and unchanged (their little feet were black from walking around bus stations roads), but the parents fed them a steady diet of candy, chips and soda, and left an ankle deep litter of wrappers under their seats at each stop.
Longest damn trip I’ve ever been on. I sorely wish I could have gotten off and taken another bus
Too bad Greyhound doesn’t attempt to upgrade their service. If they had shower facilities and rest stops along the way, they might attract more middle class clientele. If they did that they could make a killing on shorter routes, like between L.A. and S.F. Especially with the increased hassles of flying.
My company sometimes hires very comfortable tourist style buses to ferry us to offsite events, and every time I think, “This wouldn’t be such a bad way to travel.”
Then I read stories like the ones above and think better of it.
I agree with this 100%. I would love to be able to take Greyhound when I visist the folks in Fort Worth during the holidays or whenever. Unfortunately, just from looking around the bus terminal downtown and hearing stories I don’t think I will ever ride Greyhound. I did take the Metro to work while I was downtown and it worked out very well. Unfortunately now that I am not downtown I would have to ride and transfer and spend 2+ hours getting there and back. It is not worth it and regretably I have to rely on my car for damn near everything. They will spend millions to widen roads but won’t do anything to make bus travel acceptable to middle class folks who would rather not drive everywhere.
I’ve taken Greyhound from Houston to San Antonio before. The Houston bus station is a dump, and I refused to go there after dark for fear of assault.
Taking the Metro to work (downtown to the Medical Center) was nice, though. It was a short ride and missing out on traffic was a bonus. The construction in my neighborhood made it difficult at times to get to the bus stop, though.
We took the Greyhound from Ohio to Utah a few years ago and it was quite clea smelling.
There was one wonderful Total Hippie Chick on it to make it interesting and not so boring.
As far as buses, thats all we take and I guess the clientele is gettig better, we see no “weird” people.
Long ago, there was this little old lady(black woman) who would randomly yell out “The darker the berry, the sweeter the juice!”
I’m manic depressive, with obssessive compulsive disorder, panic attacks, and psoriasis.
If the meds don’t work, or stop working, or if I lose a prescription or my HMO screws me and I run out, it can be incredibly difficult to do things like getting out of bed and putting on clothes. Attempts to stop the thought loop of a panic attack can result in my mumbling strange things to myself. I may not notice what people near me are saying or doing, which often makes it look like I’m ignoring them or being rude. The stress and going days without bathing also make my psoriasis worse.
All of that means folks see a stinky, staring guy with no social graces who is mumbling to himself, constantly scratching and leaving large flakes of skin everywhere.
Last week, a woman who was obviously homeless and mentally ill was waiting for the R bus. She had an open cup of lemonade (I’m reasonably sure it was standard lemonade, rather than an alcoholic variety. The size of the cup would likely mean you get more fluid for less money. You also get a nice tupperware cup, a handy thing to have if you’re homeless). An open drink container like that is a violation of SEPTA rules. She was also rather loud, yelling, laughing and speaking uninteligibly. That level of noise is also a violation of SEPTA rules. She had no shoes. That is a violation of SEPTA rules. Normally, any one of those would get you kicked off the bus. What did the SEPTA driver, a group known for being rude and surly, do? Nothing. He understood that the woman was mentally ill and homeless and that she wouldn’t have spent money on the bus unless it was really important.
There’s a great center in Philly named Path. The folks there provide all kinds of assistance and counseling to the mentally ill and the retarded. While some of the clients take Paratransit ( a notoriously unreliable service also provided by SEPTA), those who are higher functioning take the bus. For many of them, being able to ride the bus by themselves is a major accomplishment. They’ve managed to get ready and leave on time, take the right bus going in the right direction, and gotten off at the right stop. Through a lot of hard work (I am being serious. It isn’t easy for them, nor should it be viewed as a monor accomplishment) they’ve mastered taking the bus. They are still working on remembering to shower and do laundry.
Public nosepicking and paying with your found treasures - nasty, but OK.
Singing, belching, farting or yelling - OK
Sitting right beside me when there are 10 empty seats - Not OK.
If you’re having some sort of dry-skin, nose picking, farting, lemonaide drinking episode, please by my guest - but you don’t have to sit RIGHT FREEKEN’ BESIDE ME WHEN THERE ARE 10 EMPTY SEATS Ummmm, K?
Give it a try. I take the bus between DC and NYC semi-frequently and I haven’t had a bad experience yet. It costs about $140 less and takes an hour longer than Amtrak. And they do have a rest stop in PA where everyone can go to the bathroom and pick up some munchies so long as they’re back in 15 minutes.
Psoriasis isn’t just dry skin. It’s an autoimmune disorder. As far as sitting next to you, either these folks think you’re hot and this is their best method to pick up the ladies. Or, these folks have serious problems and are either seeking safety, guidance, or were trained at an early age to fill in the seats on the bus.
DocCathode, Generally speaking, I am a pretty sensitive and tolerant guy. I believe, as a core value, that we as a people are only as good as the most vulnerable and disadvantaged amongst us are treated. This is something that I have said before, and will probably say again.
That being said, situations like this really test my convictions. I really feel like something has gone terribly wrong when I can smell another person’s BO on my clothing for hours after I came into contact with him. I think that it is ok for that to annoy me.
As a side note, I will say that I am not really angry with the person as an individual. It just seems like a visible display of a fundamental problem in society that I feel helpless to do anything about.
I took a Greyhound bus to Iowa City (from Kansas City) about four years ago. It was awful, but I see it as a character building experience.
The bus terminal here in KC is in a dangerous part of town. The bus ride wasn’t that bad, but it takes so much longer to get anyplace than if you drove yourself. The small bus terminal in Iowa City had vomit on the floor, and was one of the nastiest places I have ever been. Which is weird because all around it are very nice buildings.
Would I ever ride Greyhound again? Hell no. Once was enough for me.
I use to work Downtown and took the bus to work everyday for about a year. During that time I’ve come to realize how much Public Transportation sucks. I’ve had the baby diaper incident happen a couple times. I’ve also had the horrible “For the Love of God” smelly man sit next to me as well. This one fellow smelled so bad, I had to open the window next to me. That only made the problem worse as the smell travelled past me and out the window. Usually, I will endure just about anything but this one time, I had to actually get up and move to another seat.
I’m not a bad germaphob, but during the winter, when you have about a dozen people sniffing and sneezing next to you in an enclosed space I often wonder how much germs I’m covered in. Which brings me to another of my pet peeves when I rode the bus. People who refuse to cover their mouths when they cough. Just plain courtesy for christ sake, cover that thing.
I can handle most smelly babbling nosepickers - just don’t be flicking anything at my and don’t be jamming up the aisle when people are trying to get on or off the bus!
I was last in a line wating to board a bus to go home from work tonight when some fool went right past me and boarded through the rear door! At least he was paying by transfer instead of cash or a token. After showing his transfer to the driver, the fool was in such a hurry that he tripped over someone’s feet. That gave me an idea. I boarded when it was my turn and asked the fool, “Have a nice trip?” when I walked past.
That’s not all. Guess where the fool got off? Two stops down the road! He could have walked!
Okay, I think I win the smelly bus story. When backpacking around Australia (student days) we got stuck on a 17 hour trip up through the middle with a group of about 14 Aboriginals who had been to a corroboree (gathering). The smell was unbearable and there was nowhere to go! A mixture of BO, urine and shit. I dry wretched for about 1 hour.
I also struggled with my value system - ofcourse everyone should have the right to use the buses, on the other hand the smell was hellish and I felt green for most of the journey. Then after being up North for a while, we took another long trip, and guess what happened, that’s right another group who’d been at a corroboree got on the bus, this time a 14 hour trip. The second driver (who can sleep up the back in a little closed off area), came to the front, swearing about who should and shouldn’t use the bus system. The smell was so bad down the back that he couldn’t sleep. It was my first taste of blatant racism.
