It’s probably safe to assume that literally no one enjoys riding on the bus, crammed between two strangers, breathing in the moistened air of 45 other sweaty, beet-red randos and that one guy whose sweat is pooling at his feet.
We all know what an absolutely horrible experience it is, so why add to the problem?
For the record, this is by no means a slam piece against the Gainesville Regional Transit System. RTS is not the problem and honestly, they’re doing a pretty bang-up job given the circumstances.
Instead, the problem is that special group of passengers who think the world owes them, the ones who like to watch society burn and who, quite frankly, just get on everyone’s damn nerves.
It’s that guy sitting two spots away from you who forgot to put on deodorant and hasn’t showered in two days. The stench of his moldy armpits is wafting down and around the cramped, sealed bus and no amount of frigid AC can filter out the odor.
Personal hygiene is important to you and especially to those around you. Please shower daily.
How about that one person blasting their music on their iPod? It’s so loud you can hear it from across a crowded bus and you know everyone else hears it too because there’s an awkward silence and tethered tension amongst every occupant. The person in question usually has an older-style iPod, such as a Nano or iPod Touch, and they’re probably listening to some kind of pop punk, like Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco or All Time Low, with no regard for those around them who moved on from that phase.
The aforementioned is interchangeable with the person singing, typically off key or three beats behind, along to whatever music is melting the wax cluttered in their ear canals.
Speaking of brain-rattling sonic sensations, let’s talk about text tones.
It’s the girl who doesn’t silence the tapping-button noises on her iPhone as if to attract attention to the fact that she’s very popular and has 13 conversations going on simultaneously at 7:30 in the morning. She is also the girl who refuses to put her phone on silent so her text tone, which is likely the same exact one two thirds of bus riders have… Yeah, you know the one.
Lastly, there’s that one guy who just can’t appreciate the need for personal space and doesn’t possess an ounce of common courtesy.
He’s that guy who sits with his legs spread so far apart he takes up three seats, usually sitting in between two petite girls and spotted wearing norts (Nike gym shorts). He asserts his dominance over the people around him by exercising his right to be a total douchebag and allow his apparently massive balls ample breathing room.
These are just a few of the people who make the bus almost unbearable, at least for me. Maybe someone feels the same way about me, maybe I breathe too loudly or my dead-eyed gaze clouded with existential dread annoys him or her. Maybe I’m someone’s pet peeve, maybe my incessant bitching is what annoys someone.
Regardless try to avoid doing these things and being “that guy/girl” at all cost for the sanity of the other students who, just like you, crawled out of bed and are being carted away in an attempt to make their student debt worth something.
Featured photo courtesy of: EyesonGainesville
