Bus Report #30

Unbearable ride today and it had nothing to do with the kids, the weather or the driver.
It was my seatmate.
1. This guy, we'll call him Claude (cause I hate that name) gets on the bus at my stop, and seat hops for about 5 minutes.
2. After trying 4 different seats on the bus he settles next to me.
3. And IMMEDIATELY breaks my reverie by asking me if I want the window open.
C: You want the window open?
R: If that's ok with you.
C: Well, that's what I'm asking you. DO YOU WANT IT OPEN?
R: Yes, yes I do.
He said it all in such a jerky fashion. Hello, the bus is stuffy, it's not raining and it's not cold, of course I want it open!
So, already he's annoying and a pill. I turn up my CD
4. The kids stream onto the bus, en masse from a broken 22 up at Grove. I notice another broken 22 right across the street in the opposite direction. The bus is so packed there's no room for anyone to move.
5. A little girl's backpack brushes Claude's shoulder and he shoves it (and the girl) away. But since the bus is packed, she moves right back to where she was. He shoves again.
I glare, roll my eyes, suck my teeth.
6. AND THEN, Claude opens his newpaper.
7. Not in the intricate 4-fold way that every other bus rider opens their paper, but in the regular way, elbows and wrists out.
8. Elbows and wrists in my face.
9. So: It's okay to be in MY face, but no backpacks can be in HIS face.
10. I try to take up as much room as I can, but it's not much. At Haight, I notice another broken bus, a 7.
11. Claude almost misses his stop, and gets all twitchy about it, and flails off the bus.
12. I wish he'd missed his stop, because he deserved it.