Well, guess I missed this one. On a mission to be a friend at the bus terminal turned out to be not what I thought it would be.
The journey started out good as I went to the transit office to catch the first bus downtown. There they were... all lined up. Larry Jones, coming in to the office, told me I could go ahead and board one to get out of the cold. Nice gesture.
Then when downtown, as I got off the bus and watched the other buses pull out, I was told by the security guard I was not to hangout there. Told security what I was up to. She said it was not a good day, and few would be waiting at the terminal to board. Decided to go find a restaurant. It’s Christmas Day and no one's open. Went back to the terminal.
Being a friend to those needing a friend was not there, because no one was there. People were busy going from one bus to the next when they did come in at the top of the hour(only four run on Holidays, and on Christmas Day only from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m..) So I really missed that one on my presupposition of what I would find, hoped to be/do on Christmas day.
The few there were… going home, to a friend’s house, Christmas at someone’s house, another texting the whole time. When the buses came in the passengers scurried from one bus to another… not into the terminal. They were coming from the outside going to another part of town.
I think one area where the bus system gets hit sideways is people presuppose what is there, when it is there. The bus patrons were going from one place to another on a Holiday, and using transit as their means of transportation. If a person is not a regular bus user, he may presuppose many incorrect things. I presupposed what was happening at the bus terminal, during a Holiday, that was not there. We need to experience things to find out what really is going on. My mistake taught me a few things.
The lesson learned… find out the rules, conditions, check ahead of time about what you need to do and clear with whomever you need to, know what you are dealing with. Never presuppose what is happening somewhere, find out first.
My objective on Christmas Day was to be a friend to someone needing a friend and find out what passengers liked about the bus drivers. I think I ended up being the lonely guy I thought would be there. Left the terminal and came back home.
At the end of the day, I took 22 one more time. This time to ride around and back to my place, sorting out what I can use in my life the next time.
"Seek first to understand," Stephen Covey.
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