Greyhound, How I Despise Thee

Nov 14, 2010 by admin

So… on the cusp between Thursday and Friday at 1:50 in the morning, the bus that was supposed to be there wasn’t. I called the friend whom I was going to see in Seattle rather panicked that there was no bus, no customer service open and a large flatscreen tv with a black screen. He looks online with his iphone in bed for a customer service number to find out what is going on. I’m sure by this point you have guessed what happened. After scouring the wesite we discover that Greyhounds customer service closes at 7pm. 2am passes, then 3am, and then 4am.

Through this extended period of time, there are all sorts of strange characters around me. Thank God my wonderful husband stayed back. I was freaking out a little with the strange characters there. Finally at about three I felt horrible for him though, and against his will, sent him home.

At about 3:30am, I was exhausted and so decided to put on some make-up. I put on my make-up, and right before brushing my hair, flipped it upside down. Just at that moment, the two black men sitting at the other end of the row of benches I was in asked me to flip it again. I’m kind of in shock at this point and ask “why?”. They say they just want to see it. At this point I’m far too tired to argue. So with hairbrush in hand I flip my hair and start brushing it. They compliment my hair (it is quite beautiful, I can’t really blame them).

So… I make the reference “My kingdom for some coffee.” I just can’t sleep in public places, but these men go “what?”. Again I’m too tired to explain it and ask simply if they know where some coffee is. They say downstairs, so I ask them to watch my bag for a moment, to which they agree. I walk past them to head for the stairs and they go “oooo girl, you smell good.” All I can think to say is thank you and i continue downstairs. The coffee is expensive, and I’m desperate, but not desperate enough to drink the cup of dirt and milk that came out. I go back upstairs with my cup of dirt and sit back down.

At this point I was seriously imagining that the bus driver had decided not to come to work and no one bothered to replace him. Customer service opens at 5am and I start thinking “the bus is going to get here at 4:50am, just before anyone we can complain to gets hear to hear it.” Low and behold, guess who called it.

We get on the bus, and even with my phobia of sleeping in public places, I can’t keep my eyes open any longer and doze off for an hour. I wake up and everyone else on that bus outside of the driver is sleeping too. I look over to one of the black men from the station who had chosen to sit across from me. He had his hands down his pants. I almost took a picture for you, but I was afraid he would wake up.

I kept to myself the rest of the trip and was relieved to get into Seattle at 10:45 which BTW was over 3 hours from when I was supposed to be in Seattle.

Needless to say, that is the first and the last time I plan on taking a greyhound. It is worth the extra money for a plane ticket, or Amtrak. Every train for Amtrak was on time. I’ve never taken a train. Oh adventures and new experiences, thankfully God has a sense of humor and life never gets boring.