This Clown Of A Bus Driver Deserves To Be Sacked And Publicly Shamed

People in low level positions abusing their very small amounts of power due to the chip on their shoulder is a phenomenon as old as history. The functionary who invokes policy or procedure as an excuse to be deliberately unhelpful, the petty official who insists on irrelevant rules being followed to the letter, the bus driver who won’t let someone off 20p … this type of behaviour is hardly novel.

A more recent development seems to be bunging on an act: fabricating some threat or offence in order to justify a hissy fit. Two years ago, a Gold Coast train driver caused twenty police to be called because he didn’t like the amount of noise the passengers were making. Now a Sydney bus driver has plumbed new depths of pathos. He decided a crying child was simply too much for him to cope with and told the mother to get off. When another passenger intervened in her support, the driver packed up his cash box, stormed off the bus and refused to continue driving.

This is the type of behaviour one would normally associate with a child; behaviour which would (should) result in a swift kick up the arse. It is not behaviour which can be accepted from any credible adult, let alone someone employed to provide a public service.

Nor can it be viewed in an isolated context. The driver (or his union) cannot be allowed to proffer the excuse of stress, pretend there were “faults on both sides”, have the driver “counselled” and then be back driving a bus.

Why not?

Because it is becoming increasingly common for people employed in service positions to dishonestly claim aggressive or threatening behaviour when a customer has a legitimate complaint about the service they have received or to de facto, unilaterally decide upon the terms and conditions of their employment by simply refusing to do contracted tasks. In short, the device of bunging on an act is attempting to establish a cultural foothold as low level employees form the delusion that they are somehow equal with customers.

The bus driver cannot be allowed to get away with this behaviour. What message does it send to every other public facing employee in a service position? That this new meme of fabricating offence in a pathetic attempt to justify not doing legitimate tasks of your job has currency? That you can get away with acting like a whiny little bitch, inconveniencing customers who unfortunately must depend upon you to do your job properly?

Consequently, the driver must be made an example of … and the public should witness it. Crucify this turd as a warning to any other who might get similar ideas.

In my opinion, as well as dismissal by his employer, this is the kind of behaviour that warranted a beating from the inconvenienced customers; one sufficiently severe to not only serve as a never forgotten lesson to this particular idiot, but also as an example to all other shitkickers who might be tempted to try it on instead of properly doing the job for which, given their low skill level, they are fortunate to have been employed.

Unfortunately, a spontaneous beating is not really practical in the modern age. Can you imagine the driver’s reaction had one of the passengers given him a clip over the ear or a boot up the arse and told him to get back on and drive the bus? He’d have been calling the police, followed by an ambulance, then using the “serious workplace assault” as an opportunity to ask for a lottery win’s worth of compensation.

Fortunately, the modern age does present a modern alternative: public exposure and humiliation.

This is exactly the kind of incident which should have been filmed and broadcast across the internet. The driver should have been named and so viciously lampooned that he dare not show his face for weeks. It is insufficient to merely sack the driver. Let some tabloid show like Current Affair know all about it, including leaking the footage and his name and address (easily done without being traced).

That may seem harsh, but trying it on is an insidious and destructive meme. It needs to be stamped out. Dishonesty and pretence in social transactions are not part of Liberalism. Nor is being soft with fuckwits.

Suppose this bus driver is sacked and hounded by the media and online. How likely is it other whiny shits will think twice before they try on their own brand of chip on the shoulder?