THAT'S Customer Service

This morning, I arrived at the bus stop to board my bus for the city. It was my morning to take Bailey to daycare, so I was getting on the 8:04 AM bus. The driver of this bus has the extremely annoying habit of pulling up to the stop in a way that requires everyone standing in line to take about 10 steps backwards, directly into the road. We always complain. To the point that the driver gets on the microphone and says "If you don't like the way I pull up, feel free to take another bus."

Never mind that it's just not safe to stand in the middle of the road with all the crazy ass drivers around.

So, this morning, I arrived as usually and there were three officials from the Maryland Department of Transportation there taking questions and comments. There were a whole circle of people standing around talking to them, so I just got into line and figured I'd address my concerns later (or not at all). However, sure enough, the driver pulled up like he always did.

As I was standing in the middle of the road, one of the MTA guys walked by doing a headcount. I politely asked if there was some way that the driver could go around like all the other drivers do. He said, "well, there are really no regulations about this. Sometimes a driver just pulls up this way." I said that I realized that, but this is a safety concern. In fact my exact words were "Hmmm...I wonder how fast a regulation will be created when a person waiting for the bus gets hit by a car driving too fast because the bus driver makes us stand in the road."

A little sarcastic, I know.

BUT...the MTA official looks at me, completely straight-faced and said "At least it's a low-traffic area."

LOL - now if that isn't a perfect example of 21st century customer service, I don't know what is. Lordy.