The Waver

I was 7 minutes late today on a service where a bus operates every 2 hours. It is unusual to be late on this journey as the timings are very slack, but I managed it, sadly. On a street with a bus stop at the start and the end, and a 0.25-mile gap in between, a female Oriental was walking down it, about mid-way. She was on the phone. She had what I describe as a token glance over her shoulder and saw me approaching from behind. She flung out her arm, yet the phone remained glued to her ear.

My foot remained glued to the accelerator pedal.

One of two things would have happened, had I stopped for her. Most likely is that she didn't want my bus, but the more frequent service that ran down this street (every 30 minutes), in which case it would have been a wasted stop. Least likely, but possible, is that she would have calmly boarded, still on her phone, and asked for a ticket to my destination, completely oblivious how lucky she was to have caught my bus. There certainly wouldn't have been a 'thank you' or a 'phew, that was lucky'. She'd have refused to communicate with me, putting me in second place to her phone.

Common Sense Solution: Bus stops are sited where they are for a reason. At 7 minutes late and with many years experience of situations like this, I know that for once I did the right thing.