Got Smacked By The Race Card...

[Tinker Bell]

Ugh! I was telling a person at work a tale about how someone who also pulled the race card on me. She laughs and says that she does the same thing (she's black) even when she knows that it is probably not the reason. It reminds me of the boy who cried wolf, until nobody believed him. Don't they know they are headed in that direction?

Big Wallaby that was perfect!

[Cheshire Figment]

Never, ever, rode a school bus, even a short one.

Elementary and Junior high were just a few blocks from where I lived. And for high school I would take the subway.

[Big Wallaby]

I have driven just about every kind of school bus you can think of.

On my high school route, it was so much fun to watch the kids get on and duck down so they wouldn't be seen. I had the kids that knew their parents had money and didn't have to send them by bus but did anyway.

I did have a couple that would talk to me, and when my bus, 7447, was in shop, they would ask where it was.

I had my thugs, too. One would sit in the very back seat, and if I was at a stop and he heard my horn, he would stick his finger out the window at the driver. If there was a fight, he would break it up. If someone was causing trouble, his eyes would be glued to me until I gave him the nod and then found something very interesting outside the bus.

Good times. But I am glad I am not doing that anymore.

And for everyone that's ever been on or driven a school bus, I think I was the Railroad King. Between my routes and Swim Shuttles in Tualatin, OR, I crossed railroad tracks 28 times a day.

There was a time that I took a trip into Vancouver, WA, came back and picked them up that night. On the way, I got a little lost and found myself crossing a railroad yard, with trains going EVERYWHERE. I literally couldn't stop without being on a set of tracks. To this day, I can't find where I was on a map. There's gotta be a colloquialism in there somewhere. "Yup, I was as scared as a school bus driver driving across a busy railroad yard!"

[mickeyjohn]

I have notest that people who use the race card are people who are not getting there way. Have any of you notest that in life people could use it choose not to?

[Whazzup]

I have driven just about every kind of school bus you can think of.

On my high school route, it was so much fun to watch the kids get on and duck down so they wouldn't be seen. I had the kids that knew their parents had money and didn't have to send them by bus but did anyway.

I did have a couple that would talk to me, and when my bus, 7447, was in shop, they would ask where it was.

I had my thugs, too. One would sit in the very back seat, and if I was at a stop and he heard my horn, he would stick his finger out the window at the driver. If there was a fight, he would break it up. If someone was causing trouble, his eyes would be glued to me until I gave him the nod and then found something very interesting outside the bus.

Good times. But I am glad I am not doing that anymore.

And for everyone that's ever been on or driven a school bus, I think I was the Railroad King. Between my routes and Swim Shuttles in Tualatin, OR, I crossed railroad tracks 28 times a day.

There was a time that I took a trip into Vancouver, WA, came back and picked them up that night. On the way, I got a little lost and found myself crossing a railroad yard, with trains going EVERYWHERE. I literally couldn't stop without being on a set of tracks. To this day, I can't find where I was on a map. There's gotta be a colloquialism in there somewhere. "Yup, I was as scared as a school bus driver driving across a busy railroad yard!"

Hi Wallaby! My Dad used to drive school bus in Portland. Can't remember what neighborhood it was in, but I remember riding with him a few times when I didn't have school for one reason or another. It was fun to observe the kids on the bus and how they interacted with each other and my Dad. That was back when kids mostly respected adults just because the adults acted like adults and were in charge, although my Dad was a big kid himself and used to joke around with the kids and knew them all by name.

My Dad's route was semi-rural and there was a turnaround at the end of a long dead-end road. He'd have to maneuver the bus around, then back up until the end of the bus was hanging over this steep incline, then pull forward into the road and proceed driving. It was fun to sit in the back seat and look out over the "abyss" and wonder if the brakes were gonna hold. In 7th grade we had a bus driver who was mean and nobody would dare talk or cut up on his bus or he would jump up and get in your face and tell you to SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET! Too bad they can't do that anymore. The students would complain to their parents who would immediately march to the school and demand to see the principal and insist their little darlings be apologized to for having to endure some verbal discipline.

[Sarah Magdalene]

I have notest that people who use the race card are people who are not getting there way. Have any of you notest that in life people could use it choose not to?

You bring up a good point!

[Syndrome]

I just love this dialogue from the original Harold & Kumar movie. The title characters, who are both ethnic but not black, are tossed into jail by a bigoted cop, where they meet a black guy in the same cell:

Harold: So what are you in here for?

Jackson: For being black.

Harold: Seriously?

Jackspn: I am serious. You wanna know what happened? I was walking out of a Barnes & Noble, and a cop stops me. Evidently a black guy robbed a store in Newark. I told him, "I haven't even been to Newark in months." So he starts beating me with his gun, telling me to stop resisting arrest.

Harold: Holy shit, what'd you do?

Jackson: I kept saying, "I understand I'm under arrest. Now please stop beating me."

Harold: I don't understand how you can be so calm about all this.

Jackson: Look at me. I'm fat, black, can't dance, and I have two gay fathers. People have been messing with me my whole life. I learned a long time ago there's no sense getting all riled up every time a bunch of idiots give you a hard time. In the end, the universe tends to unfold as it should. Plus I have a really large penis. That keeps me happy.

[TechieSidhe]

I learned a long time ago there's no sense getting all riled up every time a bunch of idiots give you a hard time. In the end, the universe tends to unfold as it should.

I like that.

[deathcomesarippin]

I had this happened one time to me (but at a different park) nobody said anything about race but im pretty sure thats what this guy was implying on me.

it was a crowded day at busch gardens (Tampa Fl) and the cm on the loading side loaded the coaster and we cheked all the lap bars. A (black) family was at the exit and said they had passes to get thru. I said in a nice tone of voice ''ill get you on the next one, this one is already loaded and ready to go'' after I unloaded the coaster (3 minutes later) and I let in the family of 6, the dad gets up in my face with his stank breath and tells me ''ive been here before and i know how things work around here, I dont need you making a scene and trying to tell us what to do'' which I just said ''im just doing my job and heres your seats.'' after I unloaded them I heard one of them say along the lines of it was that white boy who did it or something, and its was a kids voice!. and btw me a whitey in downtown Tampa Florida, guess who the minorty is...

btw for the record im not racist

[Saint March]

That's a form of assualt in my opinion. I would have pressed charges. People making false claims like that also make it so difficult for the people who really ARE victims of racism, and that's sad. Boy who cried wolf....