crazy bus stories

on my way to meet patrick+erika yesterday, the prerequisite crazy person got on my bus and i saw every rider's facial expression register, "here we go. again."
it made me wonder if every single bus has a crazy person on it, or if some of us publicly-transported are unluckier than others. i think i fall in the unluckiest percentile. i can't remember taking the bus without a crazy person along for the ride.
neither can erika, and she drives one...

last week on the way to covey's b'day celebration i had to take one bus to a transfer point, then another to my destination. so we coming down k st. (n.e.) at a good clip- faster than i trust a cellphone-chatting-busdriver with, but a speed i'd drive comfortably- and some unseen jackass throws a rock @ the bus. just as i was thinking i might actually make it to my transfer point (4blocks away) without the particular entertainment of the mentally short-changed.
the stone cracks one of the windows- not shatters, just cracks- one of those long streaks you get when some truck carelessly looses gravel on your car's windshield- and the driver, without missing a word of his phone call, gets out to check it out.
now, everybody riding the bus is thinking "fool, you need to get back on this bitch and make it safely to union station in a hurry, then check out the damn window- none of the passengers screaming broken glass so we temporarily safe". i mean, since somebody threw the fuckin 'rock, why assume no further intentions?
homeboy gets back on the bus, hangs up his call to make another, and turns off the engine. all without a single word to any of us paid passengers. he talks on the phone a little longer, then gets back off the bus to inspect the window further, as if anything's changed. he eventually gets back on the bus again, mumbling to himself, still not saying anything to the now-impatient passengers- it's been about 5 minutes of no motion.
finally, as i'm collecting my bottle of wine and other shit from the seat next to me, intending to kick this driver's ass and ride out, some lady asks him what's happening. he apparently says (loud enough for only that questioning individual to hear) that we need to catch another bus because he's now outta service. so she walks out, and i realise the gist of his repsonse and follow, neglecting the necessary ass-kicking to walk the 4 blocks to my transfer point with the wine intact, but still missing my bus when i'm a block away and can see it leaving me to wait in the cold for the next one, 20 minutes off, which meant i might as well have taken the time to kick his blasted ass after all.
it was only a few blocks walk, and i don't mind, but i coulda caught my next bus if the damn driver woulda said something. i mean, wasn't that an appropriate situation for a public service announcement? would he have let us continue sitting there indefinitely?
i'm so pissed i didn't mash him up. me and my silver box coulda done some damage!

this is a whole nother kind of 'walk good' i now offer you...