“Can you get me a Fribble?”
Who knew such an innocent request would result in a bus driver yelling at us in front of several passengers?
We were traveling by charter bus to a location outside Brooklyn, some place where they have trees with green leaves. Across from one of our stops was a Friendly’s. Our girlfriend pined for a “Fribble,” Friendly’s proprietary thick milkshake. We weren’t sure we had enough time but decided to give it a shot.
When we came to the front of the bus, the door was closed, and the bus driver wasn’t there. Outside, some passengers stood smoking. We pushed on the door but it didn’t open. Then we saw two big buttons by the driver’s seat, one red, one green, one indicating an opening door, the other, a closing door. Using our finely honed powers of analysis and deduction, we decided to press the open door button. The hydraulics shooshed the door open and we pushed our way outside…
Immediately as we got off, the bus driver rushed over and demanded to know just what we thought we were doing. We told him we were going to get a Fribble. He asked just how we got it into our head it was okay to press the button to open the door. We said we were a “hands-on kinda guy.” He went on to explain how we had no right to touch anything, how we put the bus in danger, how the bus was a sophisticated piece of machinery, how a meaner bus driver would’ve just ripped up our ticket, did we want to speak to his supervisor? Because he would call him over here if we wanted to.
We tried to say sorry, that we didn’t mean any disrespect, but he interrupted us to remind us how we had put the lives of the other passengers in mortal danger and a driver not as nice as him wouldn’t let us back on the bus. At this point we interjected to say yo, we understand, we’re sorry, but it’s not necessary to publicly dress us down. He said that he wasn’t yoing us, we were just having a friendly discussion, and then he started back up again with bus danger, supervisor, buttons, ripping tickets etc. We said, look, we understand, and then he asked us if we want to get back on the bus. We said we would love too.
We returned to our girlfriend, who appreciated our unsuccessful efforts. As the bus trundled through the towns, we fantasized about getting the driver’s name and filing a complaint. Maybe even talking to him at the end and telling him how we paid for a bus ticket, not to get a verbal spanking from a bus driver. Instead, when we got off the bus at the end, we thanked him for the ride, and set about trying to enjoy the rest of the three-day weekend.
We do a lot of kvetching on the site and encourage people who feel wronged by companies to write complaint letters. But part of being a good consumer is not just knowing to complain, and how to complain, but knowing when not to complain. Sometimes, after a little reflection, you realize you’re complaining because the bus driver won’t let you push the buttons on the dashboard, and that he might even merit praise for severely nipping in the bud uppity passengers who might endanger bus operations. — BEN POPKEN
(Photo: Friendly’s)
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@lemur:
Hmm… I see “attenuated” has been changed “honed” in the original post. (Yes, I’m talking to myself.)
Ben…no touch the buttons! I can see the bus driver’s point of view about people not touching the controls. I mean, even if you know what you’re doing, somebody else less intellegent could have knocked the bus into gear, causing it to flip over a cliff and explode into a million pieces, causing gas prices to shoot up to $4.00 a gallon. If anything bad had happened, it would have been the driver’s nuts on the chopping block. How would you like to be the one to explain how your bus rolled into traffic, causing a 32 car pileup and 10 deaths?
It’s just not good practice to touch the controls of a commercial vehicle that doesn’t belong to you. You wouldn’t barge into the cockpit of a 737 or the bridge of a cruise ship and push buttons. The driver is still “captain of the ship” and is responsible for everyone on board.
I agree that the bus driver could have been more polite and I would have thought he would have accepted your apology and skipped the second lecture on bus safety and whatnot, and maybe he wigged out when he shouldn’t have, but well..you started it
really? “bus drivers can be dicks”? unheard of.
no need to make up an emergency – that woman was having a fribble attack!
in seriousness, i must say that, having panic disorder, and frequently riding the bus, i very often AM traumatised when a bus driver locks me in the bus, without so much as a, “by your leave”, TO GET HIS OR HER OWN DAMN COFFEE/LUNCH/CIGARETTES (we have no fribbles, hereabouts). in case i’m being unclear, being locked into things causes me to have panic attacks… and, sometimes, i’d like to get out and get something, too, seeing that the driver can sometimes take as long as fifteen minutes to get whatever he/she/it (sometimes i wonder if they’re human) feels THEY need.
waiting for the next bus – assuming it will stop at some random ice cream shop – will just result in the next bus driver being radioed not to pick up an “unruly” former passenger.
*crosses fingers in hopes of passing commenting audition*
@Max2068: Thank you, living on the west coast I was wondering what the heck a Fribble was.
In other news I’d have gotten off at the first notice of a stop, or have been too afraid to get off later in the stop, I’ve been abandoned before by bus drivers (granted it was in mexico) and considered it my own fault as they usually mention how long they’re stopped for.
You might be better off without that Fribble. I went to a Friendly’s a few weeks ago and my shake had dozens of jagged plastic shards in it.
Guys, this was a charter bus. A CHARTER bus. That means everyone is going to the same damn destination. That also means that whatever the passengers say, goes. And any engineer who designs a bus to disengage the parking brakes when the door opens is an idiot and should not have an engineering degree. Anyway there were no connections to miss, no people heading somewhere else, and most likely you probably know most of the people on board. And why the hell would the driver close the door behind him after he got out, when there were passengers still in it? Most of the time the door is open the whole time.
You know, if a story actually got posted here about a passenger suing a bus company because he/she had a panic attack when locked onto a bus, all the people advocating a lawsuit here would flip out and start ranting about tort reform and stupid made-up mental disorders and customers who shouldn’t be allowed out of their houses because they’re too weak-willed to deal with a bus… and so forth.
And Ben was totally in the wrong. Keep your hands to yourself! Plus, the only real worthwhile menu item at Friendly’s is that clown hat sundae.
man, yet another Consumerist story that makes me wish for that five minutes of my life back.
@IRSistherootofallevil: Even if it was a charter bus, it doesn’t give passengers the right to screw around with the controls, no matter how much they want a Fribble for their girlfriend. If it were a charter airplane flight, would that give the passengers the right to kick the pilot out of the cockpit and fly the plane upside down and do barrel rolls? I think not. It’s a charter bus, not a pirate mutiny.
Granted, driving a charter bus isn’t a very glamorous job, but it requires a commercial driver’s license and a knowledge of how to drive a bus; which, I may add, probably looks easy, but I’d bet the average person would sideswipe at least three Hondas before they even got to the Interstate. The bus company still owns the bus, pays the insurance, and the driver is responsible for the safety of the passengers, even if they are all going to the same place. If the driver stopped and waited for each passenger to get a Fribble, a Coke, a Whopper with cheese, a Zagnut bar, or whatever..it would take all day to get from point A to point B, everyone would get pissed off, and nobody would ever charter that bus company again.
The guy probably closed the door so the rest of the people on the bus didn’t have to drown in all that lovely second-hand cigarette smoke.
@IRSistherootofallevil: Charter buses are frequently hired to operate just like buses on a scheduled line (that is, like Greyhound). Usually, people on these buses are trying to get from point A to point B as fast as safely possible (keeping in mind it is a bus, not a plane) and with a minimum of trouble, just like people who take Amtrak or Delta.
So the mere mention that it was a charter bus really makes no difference.
Anybody else here reminded of the Robert Munch book, _Angela’s Airplane_? “Angela loved to push buttons.” (Of course, I’m imagining this in Robert Munch’s voice, as he read the story on his website. Clearly, I need more tea this morning.)
Ok, now, what if there’d been some minor emergency? Let’s say, the author of the story (was it authored by Ben? The “we” thing surprised me, proofreading on this site is usually much better than that) was on the verge of dropping a load in his pants and there was a line for the little bus potty? Should he have removed one of the emergency exit window thingies for that? Clearly, the driver was in the wrong for failing to leave the exits open during a rest stop. How were inconvenienced passengers supposed to get the driver’s attention if the door was closed?
Should a passenger have taken such liberties? Given the obvious error by the driver, what other choice would a passenger have had? Fribble, impending loaded pants, doesn’t matter. The bus’ control panel wasn’t labeled that only a licensed operator may operate the controls. The idea that one might open the door one’s self is a pretty logical assumption, in the absence of posted rules to the contrary and particularly in the absence of the driver to do it for you.
@Buran: I might if I cared more but I am far more irritated by the overcrowding caused students getting on the city buses instead of the campus buses. (I know, it’s mean.)
Why not call the CEO at 5 in the morning to report it? That ought to learn ‘em…
@Jason: As a mechanical engineer, if you engineer the parking brake on a bus to turn off when someone opens the doors, you’re a complete failure.
As a mechanical (specifically, manufacturing) engineer, this sounds like typical design engineer behavior to me
@ Quietly
Might have been because fribbles are actually mixed in the plastic cup they’re served in. So if the mixer grinds the side against the milkshake blender, it can completely destroy the cup.
Either that or they got “Fribble” confused with “Cracker Jack” and you tried to eat your prize.
The use of the Royal We on this blog really bothers me. It’s kind of pretentious and really effing obnoxious.
Do I sense just a tad whiff of white liberal guilt? Some guy goes ballistic on you, and you’re the asshole? I don’t think so pal. Only a white liberal with a permanently ingrained sense of guilt would believe that. I would have said “Yeh. Let’s talk to a supervisor. Right now. Get him over here, and if he doesn’t apologize to us, we’re getting of the bus, and if you don’t give me my money back, I’ll file a chargeback.”
You laid down and took the abuse, like a good little sheep consumer. One would think that a regular reader of consumerist would know better. I would have been all over that guy like a cheap suit.