Got Smacked By The Race Card...

[Saint March]

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!"

I Salute you sir LOL I think I would have a nervous breakdown if I ever had to drive a bus. At least on the monorails there are parents there to keep the kids reasonably in order (in theory anyway LOL).

I remmeber in high school when my best friend got his license. They had an extra vehicle so he was allowed to dirve to school, and came clear across town to pick me up (even though he lvied not far from the school.) Happiest days of my life! Let me tell you... to not have to ride the bus anymore!

[whopper_49]

My hat is off to all you brave folks who have delivered students to institutes of learning. I have retired from 31 years of teaching and there are only three things I would have to be destitute to try:
Band instructor - You have to love music to do ther same thing over and over.
Building Trades instructor - Teenaged boys, power tools, places to hide, and deliver a fininshed product.
Bus Driver - Just riding the bus as advisor or coach made me realize the awesome responsibilty required.

I always enjoy the bus rides to the parks and back and miss the driver interactions. Keep up the good work.

[February]

One of the worst jobs I've ever had was selling children's shoes at an upscale department store. It was bad on so many levels.

One day after my manager abandoned me to go gossip and shop (again) I was so swamped and the only one there. There was a woman who wandered in, looked at a shoe (had no child with her), and I greeted her and said I'd help her out as soon as I could but that I had several customers ahead, was there alone and was going as fast as I could. If she'd had a simple question to ask she could've asked it and I'd have answered while I was fitting the other customers' child for shoes.

She left.

She came back awhile later, and I still had a bunch of people there to wait on. She had not waited around, or waited 'in line' so to speak the first time she'd come by and so I assumed she was just browsing some more. Being neck deep in customers, and being again she didn't ask me any questions when I acknowledged she was there, next thing I knew I looked up and she was gone again.

The next day, my manager tells me that the manager of the entire store had talked to her that morning, received a complaint that I'd ignored a customer because of her race. I said that I wouldn't do that, that I was swamped (which my manager already knew because she had seen the receipts and knew she'd left me on my own to suffer while she got a makeover in cosmetics- on the clock).

As I began to protest, she raised her hand and said "Don't worry, Mr. so and so doesn't even want to talk to you about this. He knew it was her problem, in fact, he said, 'if it was anyone else in this place except for (my name here) he'd have believed it'.

Truth was, there was a terrible problem with racism in that store and I for one had worked very hard to do my best to show that I was against it- offending many of my coworkers but I wasn't going to cry a single tear over that. I can't abide bigots.

I never heard another word about it but I do know that my manager talked to the rest of the employees to remind them to be sure all customers were being given equal treatment (it was a lesson she was the first one who needed to learn).

When the whole stock department on the dock (none of whom were a 'minority' by the way...) got fired for robbing the company blind. an African American man was hired to head up the new staff. The first time he came around to my department, you could tell he'd been ignored by everyone in the place.

First thing I did was shake his hand and introduce myself. We had a great working friendship from that day on- and when they delivered heavy crates to my department and I was doing stock, he told all his guys "You never, ever stack Ms. Bru's crates. You always leave them on the floor so she doesn't have to move them."

Every person in stock from the dock did that for me, until the day that I left. They were all great guys, the best people in the whole place to work with. But all the women I worked with looked at them like potential criminals and it just frosted my cookies.

bru

[Syndrome]

The corporation I worked at for many years was founded back in the early 60s and privately held. Thus, even in the 80s and 90s, it had some rather...er, "outdated" policies. It was even sued for discrimintation, and while I thought the terms of the settlement were much too broad, I know that many of the allegations were founded.

After the lawsuit, the workforce thankfully got a little more diverse but the underlying attitude didn't change. I had a black friend, and Mr. Syndrome and I would often go out to dinner with him and his girlfriend. One day I casually mentioned to a co-worker that we were going out with him that night, and she said in shock, "But he's BLACK!" Uh, yeah.....that was a real head shaker for me. I base my friendships on being compatible with people. Race and background has nothing to do with it. When you place those stupid limitations, you cut yourself off from the chance to meet some fun and interesting people.

[hobie16]

The last company I worked for had both a corporate shipping/receiving and a manufacturing shipping/receiving department. Both were pretty much staffed by minorities. A few, based on their tats, had probably seen some jail time.

Because of my job supporting 600 Systems Engineers worldwide, I was always sending something out via one group or the other. Many times it was to cover some crisis a sales bozo had caused.

I'd always spend some time shooting the breeze with them and when I had a training program going, lay some chits for free lunches on them. The first time I did that a couple said, "I've been with the company for X years and my boss has never bought lunch."

Needless to say they took very good care of me whenever I needed something. On my last day I printed off a bunch of lunch chits and handed out an minimum of five to every one of them. I told them they had to use them fast because if accounting caught on they'd pull the plug. They had no problem using them up.

[Ms. Matterhorn]

Hobie, you rock! I wish you were my boss!

[Sarah Magdalene]

It's time for that grand ol song from Avenue Q!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbwNSNLPIfw

Admit it, we ALL have thought this way at one point or another!

As someone commented:

toddmeister168 Says:
What a great message - we're all the same - and when we are being racist we are stereotyping ourselves as well as the target. People who say they have never laughed at a racial stereotype joke are either lying or dead. That doesn't mean we act as racists.

Of course I DON"T encourage racial stereotyping - however, this song teaches us to lighten up a little and concentrate on the deeper issues of entrenched discrimination that does exist in some areas. It's hard to hate while your laughing.

[hobie16]

Hobie, you rock! I wish you were my boss!

I've managed people in the past and have always felt they worked with me not for me. It just seemed like the right way to run things and it usually worked out. I can remember just a couple that took advantage of me for being a soft touch but it didn't change my philosophy.

When I was in the Army Reserve I eventually attained the rank of Sargent First Class. I had a Command Sargent Major that was quite full of himself. He called me in one day and told me most of the guys in my section were in need of haircuts. I told him, "We meet two days out of the month. Their haircuts are not wildly out of line. They have lives the rest of the month and consequently, not only will I not tell them to get haircuts, I refuse to cut my hair any shorter. If ya don't like it, fire me." End of conversation.

This was right around the time that women were finally allowed to move into jobs that weren't clerk/secretary orientated. I got one who would be a Radio Teletype Operator. Pretty technical job.

The ol' CSM decides to hold a orientation for all the new women. When my RTO, Christy, returned she said he asked who everyone was working for. She told him me and he said she had a pretty good boss. Pays off to stand up for your people and yourself.

[pdmedic]

I work in law enforcement and have seen several cases where people have complained of "racism" the last one I investigated as a supervisor and even the complainant agreed that the officer was justified in stopping him for the traffic infraction but it was "racist" and we should cancel the citation. Hopefully he used that argument in court. :D:

[Zazu]

I had a black friend, and Mr. Syndrome and I would often go out to dinner with him and his girlfriend. One day I casually mentioned to a co-worker that we were going out with him that night, and she said in shock, "But he's BLACK!"

I overheard a similar conversation once that included that exact statement, "But he's BLACK!" I still treasure the reply and the person who offered it:

"Yes, but he's only black on the outside. You, by comparison, are black on the inside."

The bigot was so shocked he just stood there with his mouth open as the rest of us in the room silently filed out.

It was a moment to treasure! I *so* wish it had been me who said that.