Thursday, February 24, 2011

More Tales from the Ride

There are things I like about The Ride. I like independently traveling to places that I can't reach via regular public transportation. OK. Apparently, there is just ONE thing I like about The Ride, but it's a pretty big thing.

I have a growing list of things that I do NOT like about The Ride. Here's a sampling:
  • The drivers insist on buckling me in even though I can do it all by myself. Hell. Zane can do it all by himself and he's only 7.
  • The drivers insist on walking me to the door, even though I qualify for The Ride because of a visual impairment and not a lack of motor function.
  • I do not know exactly when the driver will arrive and risk being categorized as a "no show" if I am not ready and waiting whenever he shows up. And I do mean "he" (see below).
  • All the drivers are men. What's up with that? Not all cabbies, train conductors, or bus drivers are men. Does The Ride hire women? If I was able to drive, I might even take that on as my personal mission the way I did at 15-years old when Consolidated Tobacco told me I couldn't be a picker  because girls could only work in the sheds. The boy pickers made 20 more cents per hour than the girl sewers so I made a stink. By the end of the summer, this girl picked. 
  • I am sometimes forced to ride in close proximity with angry people. Perhaps they need their own blog to vent what they don't like about The Ride. Case in point: Mr. Jones, the elderly blind man who scared the beejeezus out of my children on Saturday during their first outing on The Ride. There was a mix-up with the number of people traveling in his party, and when the driver asked him to wait inside the restaurant until it was straightened out, Mr. Jones repeatedly banged his folded up cane against the glass on the door and implied that I was a racist when I asked him to stop. I guess I found another good thing about The Ride since the entire experience solidified by desire to stay positive. I may be visually impaired but I refuse to be a bitter blind lady.