Money is not everything. Driving a school bus is!
Don’t forget your watermelon
The second most important item about driving a school bus is the kid’s lunch. Of course, the kids are number one. When they left their jackets, their backpacks, their homework, those things can wait until tomorrow. But if they left their lunches, the bus driver must drive back to the school and take the lunches to the school admin so kids will not be left starving. I keep reminding them not to forget this important item before they get off the bus, but it still happens. I think because words like ‘lunch’ and ‘backpack’ are too familiar and tend to be ignored. So I changed them to get their attention.
“Don’t forget your watermelon. Don’t forget your monkeys!” I said through the PA system.
“We don’t have watermelon!” said one kid.
“We don’t have monkeys!” said another.
“OK so don’t forget whatever you have!”
Then conversation expanded.
“Did you have a monkey when you were a kid?” asked one of the kids.
“Yes, I did. I had one monkey and one watermelon. Go now! Be good in school”
The kid answered: “Bye. Oh .. my lunch!”
He dashed back to his seat to recover his lunch. Since then no lunches had been left in the bus. 😛😛😛
Do you want to trade hat?
It was the early morning run for my route, taking the High School students to school. I was wearing my Tommy Hilfiger hat when one of the students asked me if I wanted to trade hat with him because he liked my hat a lot. Without hesitation, I offered my hat for his and we traded hat. I could see in his sparkling eyes that he was so surprised and so happy, and I felt the same. It was a $30 Tommy Hilfiger hat, but what the heck. I can always buy another one. Besides, I will have reason to open my paydays envelopes before I forget where I put them. 😛😛😛
Bring your poop forward
Asking kids to do something with regular words is useless. They tend to ignore things that they see or hear so many times. They simply have no meaning to them. So, when I asked them to keep our bus clean by bringing forward their trash and put it in the trash basket, it just won’t work. So this is how I told them later on.
“Please keep our bus clean. Bring your monkey’s poop, or your watermelon’s poop forward and put them in the trash basket,” I addressed them through the PA system.
“We don’t have monkeys or watermelons!” one kid answered.
“Watermelons don’t poop!” said another kid.
“Ok, bring your own poop!”
“We don’t poop on the bus!”
“Bring your trash then!”
Since then our bus floor is clean because they don’t want me to ask: ‘Who poops on the bus?’ 🤣🤣🤣
Raining tacos
When kids get bored they create problems. They scream, smack one another, steal friends’ backpack, get a nose bleeding or poop on the bus. This morning I gave them something special just to kick them out of the boring routine. I stopped and secured the bus on a safe spot, played RAINING TACOS on my phone and piped it through the PA system. It changed the bus into a 2-and-a-half-minute chaotic disco and scream before I dropped them off at school with happy faces! And the news of RAINING TACOS played in the school bus spreads like wildfire! 😎😎😎
No Trump’s trash
Yesterday morning I found a large portion of sandwich breakfast thrown on my bus floor by one of the high school students. This morning, before I dropped them at the school I pulled over at a safe spot, secured the bus and using the PA I faced them and talked.
“Good morning guys! Yesterday morning I found an unfinished breakfast, a half sandwich, thrown on the floor by one of you. It was disgusting. I don’t know what was in your mind when you did it, but I think you agree that this is not acceptable conduct and should not be done by anybody, let alone by high school students like you. I only asked you to bring your trash forward and dump it in the trash basket. Your own trash, not your neighbor’s trash, not my trash, not president Trump’s trash. I hope this will never happen again, and let us keep our bus clean for your own safety.”
Then I pointed to the three CCTV cameras installed in the bus.
Note: President Trump never rides my bus. Also, do you think CCTV camera records our thought? Just curious. 😎
Be good in class
It was Friday morning before I opened the bus door to let the kindergarten and elementary school kids got off the bus.
“This is the last day of the week. Will you promise me to be good in class today?”
All Kids screamed: “NOOO…..!”
Oo, crazy kids!
Trust your watch
One morning when entering the bus at morning run, Waylon, the little kindergarten boy, showed off his new watch to me. It is a plastic toy watch with a printed dial showing a ‘ten-fifteen’.
“I have a new watch,” he said showing the plastic toy watch to me.
“Wow! What a beautiful watch. Who gave it to you?”
“Mommy.”
“Mommy is good, huh? What time is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“OK Waylon, it shows ‘ten-fifteen’, so if people ask you time tell them it’s ten fifteen. But never ask other people time because your watch won’t like it. Your watch is a strong-willed watch. It will always show ‘ten-fifteen’ doesn’t matter what other people’s watch shows. Trust your fine watch, OK?”
“OK,” said Waylon firmly.
I can see his sparkling eyes. He is so happy with my explanation for his new watch! Congratulation, Waylon!😍😍😍
I only whispered
One afternoon while waiting for departure after school time.
“Bus driver, he screamed at my ears!”
“Adam, why did you do that to Makiko?” I asked Adam.
“No, I didn’t!”
“What did you do then?”
“I only whispered,” said Adam.
“What kind of whisper?”
“AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”
Wow! That is the loudest whisper I ever heard in my whole life!
O, Adam. How can I do my job without you! 😂😂😂
Becoming serious
The bus driver is required to check his bus after all students leave the bus for sleeping students or any left items. Leaving a child on the bus without checking is a serious violation with job termination and possibly legal consequences. If a lunch box is left on the bus, the bus driver must make an extra run to the school and drop the lunch box at the school so the student won’t be left starving. So it becomes a routine for every driver, every day, every time, including myself, to do this ‘child-check’ thing. I never expect a high school student falls asleep or leaves his backpack on my bus, but what I found when I do this ‘child-check’ this evening really surprised me: a piece of
I only hope this guy wasn’t planning to use it during the night, or he would be really disappointed! 😊
I did it
Middle School students are kids trying to be adults but don’t know how. That is why sometimes they are confusing and most often unpredictable. Yesterday, while transporting them from school to home, there was an unbelievably strong smell of fart floating inside the bus. All of the students were giggling and at the same time pinching their noses. I had to open my window and both doors to let fresh air flushed the terrible smell. Suddenly one male student confessed: ” I farted! I farted because I ate beans.”
I admired his courage to accept the responsibility of farting the worst fart inside a closed school bus, but not his fart. There is nothing I can do because there is no rule that demands a student not to fart inside the bus. I might try to suggest there should be a rule to prohibit a student from eating beans before school. 🙃🙃🙃
See you in the next post …!