Spring Break Bus Chaos: Trivia Tricks, Driver Nightmares, And The Trust That Keeps Kids In Line

The day after spring break tells you everything you need to know about kids, routines, and what a school bus driver really does. We’re back with fresh School Bus Banter from the driver’s seat, where the older kids come on quiet and sunburnt and the K through 4 crowd rolls in like a live podcast audience with 42 stories each. We talk about why break travel is exhausting, how we use layovers to reset our own brains, and what it takes to keep the ride calm when everyone’s sleep and bathroom schedules are totally wrecked.

From there we get into the real nuts and bolts of student management on a school bus: daily trivia questions that keep kids engaged (and expose how nobody reads directions), birthday perks that cost almost nothing but mean a lot, and reward systems that actually work. We compare tickets versus instant rewards, explain why stickers have become the ultimate school transportation currency, and share practical ways to keep it affordable with teacher discounts, clearance finds, and Buy Nothing groups.

Then we shift to the stuff that makes bus drivers laugh and cringe at the same time: wrong-mic radio speeches, heater mishaps, and the “middle finger hello” that goes sideways when you flip off the wrong person. We also get serious about bus safety, including why we can’t let random students ride, why “just dropping off at a different stop” has real consequences, and how bus stop conflicts often need parent support before they spill onto the bus.

If you like funny stories with real behind-the-scenes school bus driver insight, hit play, subscribe, share it with a favorite driver, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. What’s your biggest bus pet peeve or your funniest wrong-button moment?

“These are our stories from the driver’s seat—our opinions only, not our  employer’s or school district’s. Student safety and privacy always come first, so no names, faces, routes, or ‘you know that kid’ details ever make it on the podcast.

Email us at schoolbusbanter@gmail.com

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Transcript

Spring Break Travel Reality Check

SPEAKER_03 0:24

Hi guys, welcome to School Bus Banter, Episode 15. Joe and I are back, and we are so fucking tan from being on. Oh, wait a minute. No, we're white as a motherfucker.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Yeah, the you got your sunglasses on.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

I'm just glowing the dark.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Right, right. Yeah. Uh we did not go anywhere for spring break, which honestly, like who wants to travel on. I mean, I call it the holiday, the school holiday. Who wants to travel on that?

SPEAKER_01 0:56

When you get back, you need a vacation because you're just so we've done it. We've done the Florida thing. You fly out on Saturday, you come back on Saturday, you have one day to get everybody goes to Costco, gets their lunches for the week, or Meyer, so everything's you know gone. And then uh yeah, you got to go to school. Yeah, like I said, my kids are tan and tired. They look good.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

Not to mention the cost of going on a that's a holiday. I mean, it it's double the cost if you travel on spring break, Christmas break.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

I mean, summer obviously not so bad because it's spread out for like two months, but you can do what my kids do and take off the day before and the day after. So none of mine actually came back till like Tuesday this week.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

I mean, it's cheaper for the flights. My daughter did the same thing. She uh she went on a trip and came back on the second day from like so. They were back Monday. She actually didn't go back till Wednesday.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I was pretty light on my on my older kids anyway. My younger kids were back and they're raring to go as always. So many. I got 42 stories of you know where they went, what they were doing, and stuff. So it's always fun, it's always good conversation.

SPEAKER_03 2:03

Yeah. When we get back, just a reminder, and everything that you're messing with on your desk is gonna pick up now because that stand is on your desk. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

Anything you touch, like if you touch on the desk, since it's sitting on the desk, it's gonna go right up into the into the microphone.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Okay, sorry guys, I was picking at something.

SPEAKER_03 2:22

That's okay. I know. I have a little squishy ball and it's very quiet, so like I can kind of just sit here and squish that and it doesn't bump anything. And just in case I drop it, no one can hear.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Give me a fidget.

Fidgets, Lost Toys, And Germs

SPEAKER_03 2:33

Yeah, no, not not a plastic fidget. You need a you need uh this is not a needle, by the way, folks. I know that you're listening, and nidos are like you you you so you can buy, you have to buy them on eBay now because they're so popular, I guess. Uh this is just a generic one that hasn't popped yet.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

So um it's a it's the new beanie baby craze.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

I mean well, what's weird is like they were they were semi-popular for a while, then they died off, and then all of a sudden, or and maybe I maybe I'm just experiencing that because my kids didn't seem to have them, and then it then it spiked again like COVID, and uh all of a sudden every kid has it and it's like a prized possession.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

I never heard of them until I found one on my bus and I grabbed it with the Kleenex because I didn't know what it was. It was like uh I thought it was slime and it was purple and it was just sitting on like um the underneath the seat. So I grabbed it with the Kleenex and I'm like, I don't know what this is, I have no clue what that what it was. No clue. Yeah, I looked it up, and you found out what it was, and I did, and it was leaking, so I'm like, well, this isn't a good one.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

No, right to the trash. The only time I get a little sed out on my bus when I pick up stuff is a Kleenex. Now I know you can't see this because you're audio listeners, but I like pick it up on the back of my nails like this, kind of. I don't know why. I guess I'm still kind of touching it with my one finger, and then band-aids. I'm just like, I need to get like a box of like latex gloves that I can just quick put one on to pick up all the like the icky stuff.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

I yeah, you can go to the McKinnah because I asked for some before.

Bus Trivia And Kids Skimming

SPEAKER_03 4:16

I always forget about him. He's kind of like the redheaded stepchild. Yeah. All right, stories from the roads, uh, roads, yeah, stories from the roads road. Um, okay, so I do every uh day I do trivia, which every day? Every day, and and so it's it's fine. And one of my friends, a friend of Joe's, too, uh says, Why don't you spend the weekend doing the whole week's worth so that you don't have to search for them? Because I search for them every morning, and it gets it gets a little long in the tooth, you know what I mean? Like, and and and I've seen I've probably doubled a few here and there. But, anyways, if you're gonna do that, prepare for like googling trivia questions every morning. It so it gets a little old uh for me. But the kids like it though, like if if I don't put a question up, which I have, like sometimes like, well, today I did not drive in the afternoon, so my answer didn't go up, so I'm gonna get heat tomorrow morning. Like, what was the answer? You didn't put I'm like, bro, I wasn't driving, like so be prepared for that. But, anyways, one of my trivia questions, uh, I believe was, and and we'll see if you know, what is the only letter that is not a U that is not in a US state?

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Like the name Oh, uh, they already did this one on the radio station.

SPEAKER_03 5:47

Oh, on the okay, do you remember?

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

So a lot of my kids guessed X, and then I'm like, well, no, New Mexico. A lot of them guessed Z, and I'm like, Arizona.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Arizona.

SPEAKER_03 6:05

The answer is Q.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:07

There's no Q. But the funny part of it was these kids don't read the fucking question. Like, and I I'm guilty of being a skimmer too, you know what I mean? I heard one of my girls, the one that maybe saw you fly the friendly skies, says New Zealand, and I st I hit my hand on the rest and I look back at her like this, and I'm like, Are you shitting me, right? Well, I didn't say that. Yeah, right, yeah. Are you kidding me? That is not a US state, and then I had someone pop off and say France, or or like F, you know, for France or whatever. And I'm just like, Yeah. What is wrong with you guys? Are you that dumb or are you can you imagine their teacher then?

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Because we get it for like what 20 minutes? Teachers, that's their question or their answers all day long.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

Yeah, I realize that I don't think that was the question I asked, but it was something I asked about states. God, what was it now? Because that doesn't make sense with their answers. I don't know, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

If if you decide not to do like a um a trivia question, can you do like a would you rather? Or you know, okay.

Birthday Perks That Actually Work

SPEAKER_03 7:20

I've done those because there's yeah, yeah, they like to change it up, but then I'm trying to encourage the girls behind me. I'm like, hey, why don't you bring me some? And they one of them did, they gave me a week's worth, although I needed, you know, like uh a cheat code how to read their penmanship because they were writing with a fat marker, but yeah, I need to encourage the kids to give me some because that gives them a little pride, right? Like they yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

On on my kids' birthdays, um, I actually was so scrappy this summer. I was enough to get like enough fidges and stickers and stuff to have a birthday bag for 42 of my littles, and so I got those all done this summer. So when it's their birthday, that birthday month, then we just do like at the start of the month, we'll do April birthdays and May birthdays, etc. Um, and then if their birthday is in the summer like mine, we do them like August and September. I just spread them out, but they also on their birthday, they get to add a song to our playlist, so that's how we kind of create. And I'm like, nope, that's already been picked because all of them want golden or k-pop or something. I'm like, nope, it's already been picked. Go home, think about it, get me back, your get back to me, or like a really good, you know, original one. And and so that it is, it's funny. I mean, it's their birthday, it's a huge, you know, you gotta make it big. You gotta just maybe their birthday, they're not their party isn't until Saturday if they get one, you know. So, but that day, that I mean they're like they got a sticker, they got a sucker, they got a fidget, and they got to pick a song and put it on the playlist. It's the least, I think it that takes no time, no time.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

Yeah, I appreciate you saying that, and I think I'm gonna, you know, I I always worry I'm gonna lose the route, you know what I mean? So I I I've had it for two years, and I do plan on being a little bit more intentional about birthdays this year. Um, you know, at like right at the beginning of the year, like write your birthday down, you know, and then doing doing kind of like a little like a little treat, like a sucker or sticker, and then exactly just something small. And I let them sit. Uh the one thing I do do if it if they tell me it's their birthday, I let them sit wherever they want, even if they're kidding. I mean, my kids are pretty decent. So even if the kindergartner it's a their birthday, if they want to sit in the way back, I say I don't care for that day.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

That's a really good idea that I'm writing down.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

Are you?

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Yeah, yeah, for birthday. Sit where you want.

Band-Aids And Playground Gross-Outs

SPEAKER_03 9:38

Yeah, I mean, as long as they're a good kid. Yeah, as long as they're a good kid and they're not, you know, a dickwad. But and then the last thing, oh my gosh. So on the playground, you get bumps and bruises and scratches and all that stuff. I need a band-aid. And the the other day, one of the kids came up to me and and said, Mr. Jerry, I need a band-aid. And I look down at his knee, and there was the whitest, disgusting gravy coming out of this kid's knee, and I'm like, like, I don't get like I can deal with blood, it doesn't bother me. But when I see like um one time my son, oh god, he maybe it was like two, we were up at the cabin, and he ran and and hit a like what are those ceramic uh pots with plants in it on the deck, and it split his knee open. And I I said to my wife, it was white, and I go, What is that? My wife's like, Oh, that's the fat. And I'm like, bubble fine with blood, but any kind of white whatever pus. Yeah, well, pus I'm okay with it's the like the it's the cartilage. Yeah, this is why like I don't like cottage cheese. It's the white consistency and whatever. So I know that's what was coming out. I'm like, dude, go in the bathroom and whatever it was, and I'm sure it was just infected, but it didn't look like regular pus, it looked like cottage cheese chunk.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 11:07

So that was that was fun. So there's a little ins insight into my like psyche.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Do you wear a fanny pack? So you've got all the band-aids and stuff out there, because I'm picturing that right now.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

Well, one of our friends used to wear a fanny pack, and honestly, I I'm a fanny pack kind of guy. I don't have one, but I would sport one. I mean, it's not, I think it's kind of come back a little bit. I know back in the day it was bad. And and and one of the actually funny you brought that up. One of my the volunteer places I work for, they have fanny packs, but they're bright yellow, and I'm just like, I can't do it. If it's black, I think I'm good. But no, we actually have a little like cooler that we put ice packs in, and then it has band-aids and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Oh, that's nice.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

Yeah, so that's really good.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

So yeah, you guys are ahead of it.

SPEAKER_03 11:54

Yeah, we are. The it was very, very gross. So stories from the road from you, Joe.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

But no, I my I was just talking about, you know, my kids returning from spring break. How um when I went to pick them up, well, they haven't most of them have returned now, but like my um our first run is fifth grade through twelfth grade, though most of my seniors drive, you know, they were they were tan and tired, and then the energy level to your next run from you know K through fourth, it's like 180 because in and I use my layover, which I don't have in the wintertime. I have zero layover because of the roads, but um, and when when the roads are good, I have probably eight eight to ten minutes of a layover, and I I have to prepare, you know. I don't know if you watch The Office, but how Dwight would go in the car and listen to heavy metal get ready for a sales. Yeah, I think of me doing that, like I check my bus, I kind of I clean up a little bit and I turn the music on or whatnot, and I'm getting prepared for my K-through, especially like after a break, because they are just what they're just on top. They go, Miss Joe, did you know we went here, we did this, we did, and I'm trying to catch everything, and I'm like, okay, we got to go to hand raising because I want to hear all the stories. I don't want to miss anything, right? And uh, so I'm like, okay, we're we're starting. And then the ones in the back are like, what are you guys talking about? I'm like, no, uh-uh, you can you can sit up here if you want to join in the conversation, but you choose to sit in the back, you know. But that is just um, yeah, that's especially after a break, is that energy level because you you're lucky if you get a couple stories from your older kids, right? Your upper L. Right. Um, they're just like, Yeah, I went to Florida. I'm like, You're lucky, you know, that's nice, or or oh, we just we just stayed here. I'm like, um, some kids um that I dropped off, you can clearly see that they're starting raised garden beds. And so they're like, these um boys are like into it and they're they're gonna create some great gardens. And so they did that. You can see that they did that. And but yeah, it's it's the energy level is so funny because it's just like our tired, we just got in at midnight last night. I think even our boss rolled in at like midnight before we had school the next day, but and then I prepare, I use my layover to prepare for my my younger kids because they're gonna be all about it. Oh, one already had pictures printed and in a book for me to look through. Damn, I know, and I loved it, it was great, but we've settled down back into routine now.

SPEAKER_03 14:26

One thing I did notice on the playground is their bathroom schedules are all messed up. Like the amount of kids ask, so we have a little electronic badges that only work from like a certain for like just during recess. So if kid takes it, it can't it, it just you know, obviously they can do something between like 11 45 and whatever. But um, I was given those out like candy, like, here you go, here you go. Because you know, they eat, they they sleep all messed up and they eat whenever, and you know, at school it's regimented, like this is your bathroom break, this is the time you eat, and so on and so forth. So, yeah, yeah, that was a little crazy for the first couple days.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

I do have a lot of kids that they like that routine. My mine um is a great example. When um when my kid had time off, it was like you know, the ants move and they're all running around like they don't know what to do. So structured routine. A lot of my kids thrive on that. So when they go away for spring break and come back, they're just like off. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:28

For sure. Anything else for that?

SPEAKER_01 15:30

No, I'm good.

Text Line, Email, Reviews, Facebook

SPEAKER_03 15:31

All right. School bus banter business. Man, say that time five. Say that geez, I get fucked that up.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

Time five one.

SPEAKER_03 15:39

Oh my uh phone number. You can text us at 757-529-1574. You can email us schoolbusbanter at gmail.com, and then we have a Facebook group. Also, would love a review. Brian, our first guest on the show, left a great review on Apple Podcasts, but you can also do it on Spotify as well if that's where you listen. We would really appreciate it. Helps us grow the show, makes us feel good and uh warm fuzzies when we see those as well. So go ahead and do that and join the Facebook group because we're awesome.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Um text that text that phone number like all times of the night.

SPEAKER_03 16:20

Yeah, go ahead, do it. I know you don't answer, just keep it safe for work. I don't need to see any toes.

Stickers, Tickets, And Cheap Rewards

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 16:27

Tips and tricks, Joe. What do you have? I see what you have, but um, I'm uh I I'm interested on your second one because we did a lot of talking about the last episode about stickers.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Yeah, so we talked about um getting those tickets for your window putter uppers and any chores or jobs that they do. And when your older kids were saying, like, I'm not gonna do that because I don't need you know, I went to Michael's and you can sign up. Even as a bus driver, you can get the teacher discount, right? Because they're like, Yeah, bus drivers count. So you get the teacher discount, and I bought stickers and they have stickers on clearance for nothing. I get packs of stickers. Now the kids like stickers because they go on their water bottles or folders or something. And now the stickers have taken off. They I give them a chance, like you want to be you want a ticket or you know, for a possible chance of a prize or a drawing, or you want a sticker right now, or even a hubba gum, you know, for ones that don't have braces. My kids all have braces right now, but um uh and again, maybe I'm spending a little bit of money, but I'm so scrappy on all my other stuff that I don't mind, you know, getting stickers and stuff from here, but uh it it's it's good. They're excited and I don't I don't show all my stickers. I like give them because oh my, can you imagine if you throw out a bag of stickers how long it would take for them to pick one? No, so I'm cutting you off right there. Just give, just take a few. And I don't want to show them everything I have because they're and I kind of know I'm like, oh, they have a dog at home, so I'm gonna grab a couple dogs. Oh, they have a cat, I'm gonna grab, oh, they have a horse, I have a horse because I got animals, and then I got sports, so I know football, you know, baseball, hockey's going on right now. So yeah, I kind of got them all I don't know, maybe this is just going too much over, but my daughter is like 24, so she needs nothing from me right now. So these are my kids that I get to do this stuff with, and um, yeah, so the stickers are working good, but my little little ones, they still like their tickets because they know what prizes, you know, their classroom and stuff is gonna do. Yeah, so I I kind of added that. I'm gonna streamline it probably a little bit over the summer, you know, get them a little bit more organized so it fits in my um cubby. You know, I don't want anything on my dashboard, so I'm gonna have my husband 3D print like a bunch of little containers and I can just put my tickets behind it and just get a little bit more organized for the bus because I got stuff everywhere right now.

SPEAKER_03 18:54

But I like the sticker idea. I think for me, um, I think I would organize them like you did. I think I would like have a bag of Taylor Swift stickers and you know, K pop and then sports and then dogs, and say, Okay, do you want K-pop, Taylor Swift, or whatever? And then I would grab three out and I'd be like, pick one of these three.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

And you have five seconds. Yes, you know, especially if because I do a lot of my stuff as we're going home. Yep, because I I did snacks once in the beginning, or I did something or tickets at the beginning, and they're like, Miss Joe, I lost it on the way in. And I don't know if they did or not. So I'm like, well, that you know, that sucks to you know, lose it, but I don't have any more type thing. So I do it on the way home. I have the time, I go slow. I'm in great neighborhoods where I don't have a lot of traffic, and I'm like, here you go. I've got a dog, a cat, a whore, whatever, or a sport. Um, you got five seconds, five, four, three, and boom, they're out. Otherwise, they don't get one. I mean, we can't do this.

SPEAKER_03 19:55

The last time I passed out candy, I did. Well, I always reward these kids when when Mr. Jerry forgets shit. So I forgot it on the Friday before spring break or whatever before. Oh man, I had a kindergarten that if they if they had lasers in their in her eyes, I'd have been toast. So then I go, okay, I'm so sorry. When we come back, you can have two. Come back on Monday. I forgot it. So I was like, okay, you can have three. And I had just refreshed the backpack too. And so then I did remember. So the next day, they all got three, and then one girl got four because it was her birthday on the day, the last day of spring break. I'm going broke on this, but yeah, I had to do the countdown because they pick one or two, and then they're like dicking around in there. I'm like, okay, five, four, and then they grab whatever it is and they run out the door. So, and I also I was gonna bring up two don't feel like you're going overboard because like these are your kids, like you would step in front of anything for these kids. If someone came on the bus, you would fight that person to the death for those kids.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

You you do, you're your protector, you're in charge. But I, you know, there are drivers though that are on busy roads. I understand that they're on, you know, they've got 10 cars behind them waiting to pass, they don't have time to publicly do stickers. Maybe they have you know a crazy bus load and there's 60 kids on there. That's not affordable, you know. That's really hard. But reach out to your B U Y group, buy nothing on Facebook. I know all the communities have one and say, you know, I'm a bush. I got a lady down the road that she's saving up fidgets for me, and I can walk down to her house. And I know that any given time on her porch, there's a bag that says Miss Joe, and I can get it, and that's for me. And there's some fidgets that they're brand new, right? They're brand new. So get get people to know who you are and like drop stuff off at your house or go pick it up. And I'm like so I'm scrappy. I I get a lot of that shit for free.

SPEAKER_03 21:59

Yeah, no, it's it's good. I just saying don't feel bad. My problem is, is I am such a spoiler, and I gotta be so careful because, like, for a while there, I was buying a lot of candy, and like, you know, my my wife and I we sit down for the budget and she's she's okay with that. But when she sees$45 for candy for bus. Kids, she's like, okay, bro. Like, you know what I mean? Like, let's let's try to balance it. So I like the sticker idea. I think I and I like the birthday. I I have all these ideas, and I think you and I have to um, so here's a little insight to you listeners. You know, we're not gonna record in the summer, so we're doing seasons, so we're we're coming up on you know, a couple weeks left.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

You'll have a show on 57 and a half days.

SPEAKER_03 22:44

Yeah, so school days, and we record uh, you know, so yeah, anyways, that being said, you and I will have to connect and kind of go over all the things we talked about because I know you write shit down like crazy. Hey Jerry, remember we talked about stickers and like oh yeah, yeah, yeah, because I'll forget. I I'll hit stop record today and I'll forget.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

I just yeah, just make their birthday special and then uh because I used to do a lot of Fridays candy also now with either stickers or the tickets that I get for free from the school birthdays, and now I just do holidays. I just do the holidays, and then so and if I have you know, my mom also I'm lucky that out of four daughters, I'm the one that's on that's closest to her, and so she'll be like, What do your kids need? Let's get some bag of candy, you know. So she contributes a lot of that, or she'll help me put Christmas stuff together, what it is. And now with my husband's 3D printer, we make a lot of cute stuff there too. But uh keychains, you know, all that stuff. The kids just want to be recognized, and and doing doing that, I think is a behavioral difference. Yeah, boss.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

Yeah. Uh for me for a tips and trick, uh, it's kind of comical. Please don't give the finger, or please be careful when giving the finger. I I love giving the finger, it's just it's turned into my hello, and I just fucking love it. I've had so much fun. I mean, there's been some angst at this job. Uh, just and and you know, it's it's it's honestly adult drama. It's it's that's what it is. But other than that, I've had so much fun uh connecting with people and stuff, and I do that by uh, you know, giving the middle finger. And one day last week, I'm driving along, and one of my friends, uh, we actually meet and chat in the morning on our layover, and I see this person in the lane that I'm like, she never goes in that lane to get to our destination because we usually drop off at the same time. So I'm like, oh yes, I am gonna get her with the middle finger. So I pulled up next her and I go up and I've just got it flying like that. I'm like, oh god, she's not here today. It was a subject. So thank the holy lord that sub didn't see it. I think this person would have been fine with it and laughed. But like, yeah, they didn't see it. I quick Well, they didn't see it. No, they didn't see it. I quick pulled it down and I'm like 10 and 2. Like, I didn't even look at her after that. Like, we made no eye contact and uh she didn't say anything to me later. But like, yeah, just a tip and trick. If you're gonna fly it, make sure you remember that your friend's off that day because she's got shit to do.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

No, that if it's a sub that I'm thinking of, then I they they probably would have been fine with it, but you would have had some explaining to do for sure.

SPEAKER_03 25:35

For sure. And and that's one I don't really have a relationship with. It's not bad, it's just it's a sub. And like, and I yeah, I think they would have been fine with honestly. I think uh everybody except maybe two people would have been been upset with that. But so yeah, tip of the day if you're gonna fly the friendly skies, make sure you know who's on the other end of that.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Yeah, oh, I learned it's I'm never frying flying those friendly skies because I know your kids are watching. So god damn, if I could go back any morning, it would be that one.

SPEAKER_03 26:05

So funny, funny uh folks. Uh the other day, Joe was like, Did you whip me off the other day? Because like she's like so not gonna do it. I was like, Oh, yeah, you saw that, huh? Like, I'm really you guys I know are gun. I'm gun, you guys are gunning for her to do it again, and I'm trying. I'm trying.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Um, I saw it in front of the steering wheel. You were down by the window on the dashboard, and I'm like, Yeah, you got me. Yeah, you got me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:33

The other day, uh, the same person that I thought I was flipping off, she said she went to one of our other friends and said, Hey, you want to see a backflip? And like go to backflip and then put the double barrel. Uh, yeah, so it's just funny when it's random because you're not expecting it. There's times when I wave at those friends not thinking, and they just do, and I'm like, Motherfucker, like I was trying to be sweet, and I get the bird.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

It happened today as you did that. Um, one of our very, you know, our rider dies. Um, she was coming up from behind her bus, and I was passing in front of it, and I I wanted to scare her, but I know she saw me and I saw her, so I just stuck my head um to to say hi, and there they were both flying. She got me. The best part is when it's funny when it's unexpected like that, you're just expecting a friendly wave, and they're just like it uh I laughed all the way to my bus, like because it's just you know, you don't know it's so stupid, it's so dumb, but it it makes my day when someone cooks me like that.

SPEAKER_03 27:37

I'm just like, fuck, they got me.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

It's good. We gotta have a little bit of humor, yeah.

Wrong Radio And Other Driver Grinds

SPEAKER_03 27:43

Of course. All right, what grinds are gears? What do you got, Joe?

SPEAKER_01 27:49

There's but okay. I love, I love when um our drivers use the wrong radio. It's my favorite. Two speakers right next to each other, right? Or walkie-talkie things, and you grab one and you hit it, and you're talking to all of the bus drivers and dispatch, but the other one, if you grab it, it's your indoor speaker for your kids. And there's a bus driver that is currently been off now for a while. And um, years ago, six, seven years ago, um, she pulled into six seven. Oh she pulled into the school that you go that you go to and uh it was towards the end of the year, and she got on her she got on the radio that goes to all the drivers and dispatch, and she goes, Okay guys, you know that we've had just a great year. I love you all. She just went into this because she's very close with her kids. She went into this speech that probably lasted, I'm not kidding you, six, seven minutes. No, yes, on the on the main channel. On the main channel. We all got to hear how you know she she just uh go and make a difference to like it was the speech of all speeches. It's like that speech in the beginning of oh shoot. That newsroom show. If anybody watches that. Newsroom, yeah. He gets on, does like why is America great? And he goes, like, it's not. Is it one of the like an old show? Yeah, it's a okay boomer. Where they do the news. Yeah, we'll go back. We'll revisit that. Somebody, somebody email us. We won't revisit it. Um but it was just like the the best, you know, like, oh dang, I gotta up my game because you know, she just loves on those students. I mean, she's on our local news when they come, and you know, so she's a good like representation of of what we try strive to do every day. And we I just sat in the parking lot just listening to this, and then she got done and somebody went wrong mic. So her kids her kids heard nothing of it. She probably wondered why they weren't even paying attention to her or they were already getting off the bus, but um heard nothing of of any of it. It was like the best speech, and they got nothing of it. So I think something just happened. Oh, a lot of times we'll hear sit out. And we're like, wrong mic. Um, but it is it it's with them being hooked like minor hooked up right next to each other, you know. So you have to think like actively when I get on which one, which one I've got.

SPEAKER_03 30:31

Maybe we need to start labeling those. I mean, it when you just get a label maker, I mean, I don't know. Um, yeah, it's too bad. Uh oh, I know what I was gonna say. Why don't kids ever like we talked on the last episode where you had that type A girl that says everything and is is literal and stuff. I have why don't kids speak up and say stuff like, you know, if I got the heater blaring in the back, like remember, my my temp is different from yours. Like, I try to like if I'm hot, they're hot kind of thing, but sometimes I forget. Sometimes I'm cold that day and I just can't get warmed up or whatever. Why don't and I the kids never say anything? I'll the only thing I'll know is that sometimes they drop a window. I guess my point is, why don't kids speak up with that stuff? Like, hey, I'm I'm super hot back here. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Or, you know, obviously, if you're you're um, you know, too hot and you want the air, I can't help you with that. But like, I don't understand why kids don't say stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

You got the ones that do, they have no problem. Um, but yeah, majority of them, they're just sitting back there. I had band. Whenever we go out with band, we got four buses, right? The band, they're in their uniform, right? They're all they got their probably their cuddle duds on underneath and their uniform. They all came up, the ones in the back came up red face, red face, and so and I'm like, You guys okay? They're like, Yeah, it just got a little hot back there. Nobody said anything. I had both heaters running the whole time to to the next district that we were playing at, and they were just rosy cheeks from like, you guys, and they didn't put windows, they didn't move anything on the reverse side of that. I took a team very, very early, very early morning. I want to say like the swim team somewhere out out to another district, and I turned the heaters off because the coach was doing attendance. I never turned the heaters back on when they were getting off, they were frozen, and I'm like, oh my god, you got I had my heaters run, I was just fine. Yeah, you're comfortable. I forgot the heaters in the back. I've done it, I've done it, I do it all the time.

SPEAKER_03 32:40

Yeah, we've all done it, and I just I guys speak up a little bit. Like, you're the generation of whiners. Why aren't you saying, hey, Mr. Jerry, it's cold as shit back here?

SPEAKER_01 32:52

My name is literally scrolled in stickers and big letters across to my top mirror. You can see my name all the way to seat 26. And they still don't say anything.

SPEAKER_03 33:07

Do you ever? I have now, I I'm not as close, and and this is not a cut on me or a cut on you, or like, well, it's not a cut on you for sure, but like, um, so I feel like you have such a great connection with your kids. You've had them a lot longer, too, and so on and so forth. But yeah, do you ever get it when they're like, well, they say Mr. Bus Driver, and I'm like, Yeah, yes, yeah. Bro, I do that. My name's right there. Like, even if you did forget, you can look up and it says it.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

I'll go, Bobby. I know your name. I've been your driver for four years. I even learned it on the first year, right? So let's, you know, let's call each other a name. Yeah, yeah, exactly. One of my my private school runs that I do in the morning did that. Like, Miss Bus Driver, can we have one heater on? I'm like, no, not until you use my name. Yeah, I know yours, so let's do this professionally. Yeah, I call them out on it.

SPEAKER_03 34:03

Yeah, good. Uh so you got uh another line in there. Do you want to touch on that?

SPEAKER_01 34:08

Oh, yeah, that's just something I did um in the winter time when you got I was on one of the main roads, and uh one of my kids was just standing up most of the time. Uh now, granted, my run is very small, so he stood up most of them like sit down, we're almost to your house. You're the first drop. You don't even have to ride that far. You're the first drop. Now he's quite tall, so I'm gonna give him that because the seats are uncomfortable for tall people. But stand up, stand up. And so I did not stop at his driveway, I stopped in a snowbank. It was a pretty tall snowbank.

SPEAKER_03 34:41

Did he get did he get out?

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Yeah, he got out. I'm like, oh sorry, I stopped a little short. Yeah, it was just it wasn't, I didn't make a thing of it, I just did it that morning. Just for me. It was strictly for me.

SPEAKER_03 34:55

I'm surprised that you did that. That's something I would do. Like it's like wolf down. Whoops.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

I did. I was like, oh, nope, nope. And it was dirty snow right there, just got plowed. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:07

So this is under grind your gear. So that means what grinds your gears when kids I'm gonna get.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

It's karma, bitch. It's karma in in a nicest way, right? Because that little bit didn't kill him. He's fine, he jumped out anyway. But me, I'm like, huh, I hope you have snow in your socks, right?

SPEAKER_03 35:29

And they probably don't care, anyways, because they freaking go on the playground with shorts and oh, speaking of this is just a squirrel moment uh today. So we let the fourth graders like you're fourth grade, that's our highest grade that we're at our elementary. You can wear whatever you want. I mean, obviously, if it's a dress code violation, then we're gonna say something, but you you don't have to dress appropriately for the weather. Kid came out today, shorts and a tank top. Now the sun was out, it was beautiful, but it was 42. And my work partner, which you know, is like, no, no, go. I'm like, bro, they're fourth grade. Let them cook, let them cook, and it's just they don't care if they're wet socks in the snowbank or tank tops and like literally uh winter, basically.

SPEAKER_01 36:20

That's what it felt like today, especially the boys. Um, same with mine. I have a second grader that looks actively for the mud puddles or just stuff that he can destroy or just you know, and I'm just like, I mean, it's boy, all boy. That's you know, I accept that, but yeah, um, shorts all winter long, and as soon as he gets on the bus and mom is in view, coat comes off, and like, yeah, right, that's all right. You do you, man.

Why Random Kids Cannot Ride

SPEAKER_03 36:49

For my grind, my gears, I don't have this happen very often. And if you're a pay attention bus driver, meaning like you're really you mean I may not know all my high school kids' names. I'll be honest with you, I don't know them all. I just don't, but I know their faces, I know their faces, and and one thing you need to do if you're a new bus driver listening to this is when the kids load on the bus in the afternoon when you're bringing them home, you need to look at every one of their faces. And you don't even have to say like in the morning, I say hi to everyone, and this isn't going to be a problem in the morning, typically, for you if you're a driver, but if you're picking up the kids in the afternoon, but in the afternoon, I don't say hi to them because I want to focus on their face because they're rapidly going in. You know, you're loading 60 kids in you know a rapid amount of time, so you look at their faces, and well, the last week I had a kid sneak out like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like it was a girl, and she's like, What? What? I'm like, you don't ride this bus, hon. And she's like, I go, what bus do you ride? And she gave me the number, and I'm and I'm like, Well, go to that one. Well, come to find out it was first wave, and I said, Well, go to the office. She's like, What? I was like, Yeah, figure out another ride. Sorry, you missed your bus. You're not riding this bus. Come to find out, the one of the girls that is a middle schooler who I I do adore. She can't, I'm like, hey, I'm I'm really sorry. And I was like, Well, listen, if you guys make arrangements, your parents make arrangements, the transportation. I'm gonna, if I know, that kid can definitely ride, but I don't know that kid's circumstances could be runaway, could be, you know, maybe they're running away from home. Like, I I don't know where you're supposed to go, and I don't want to be responsible in contributing to that. And she was like the friend was like, I get it, I get it. We'll we'll do better next time. But yeah, you can't you can't let them kids on. I mean, you know, and I know that it happens all the time and it shouldn't be half days, half days are a big one, and I I and again, I even said that to the girl that rides my bus, I'm not trying to be a fun runner. She goes, No, I know you're not. I just, you know, we we kind of came up with this plan and we thought we would go with it. And I'm like, Well, yeah, I look at my kids, I know who's getting on this bus, I know you do not belong. So yeah, just that can kind of annoys me that that happens.

SPEAKER_01 39:08

Yep, they do. They try and they try, and I tell my kids, so don't try and sneak on another bus and don't bring we're not an Uber, you know. This is an Uber. Your parents are expecting you to be at those bus stops. And if you bring a friend home, pitch, you know, because I had that same question, like, yeah, why can't we bring friends home? Because that big that day uh last or was it earlier this week or before spring break when they held everybody the whole fleet up?

SPEAKER_03 39:31

Yeah, that was last week.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:33

Um that was ridiculous, by the way. If it if the kids just being uh uh uh if it's just getting a transfer, like let's let's deal with it on another.

SPEAKER_01 39:43

Let's get yeah, yeah. I I agree. I'm like, can we deal with this when we're all done? Yeah. Um, but you know, it's it's still they they don't need to get on because I told them specifically, I'm like, here's why that that person or that student is now being expected to get off the bus stop and we're not there if they don't get off of the bus and their parents are there waiting, like they didn't say they were riding home with somebody. Now we got a missing kid. And you guys have heard before we're looking for so-and-so. Hey, we're looking for a student. Did they ride home? We're just as scared as your parents said, we're looking for kids now. You know, that's it. There, how many kids go to this school? There's a lot, thousands, right? So if we're looking for a kid and they're not where they're supposed to be, it's panic mode. And now we got to drive the bus, look for a kid. It's it's a lot, it's a lot. I try and scare them with those stories.

SPEAKER_03 40:32

Yeah, a story related to that, to what just happened. Um, the kid, one of my favorites, the one that saw the friendly skies, uh, said, Oh, why what what happened? I was like, you know, I explained the story, and she goes, I remember one time when I was you were new on this route, and I asked if I could get off at a stop, and you said, Absolutely not. And she had asked after I said, you know, I I kind of chuckled, and she goes, Well, that being said, can I get off at so-and-so stop? I'm like, Yeah, absolutely. And she's like, Well, why are you letting me? I said, Well, before when I said no, I didn't know you, I didn't trust you. And this is in the same neighborhood. Oh, yeah, in their couple driveways away. So, and and I'm like, She's like, Well, you're gonna let me now. I'm like, Yeah, we have a relationship, and I know you're not being shady. If if I knew you, even if we did have a relationship, if I knew you were being shady, I wouldn't let you, but I I trust you and I know you communicate, I can tell you communicate with your mom. I hear you texting, and like I I know you're a good kid, so absolutely, but no, you you can't be a random on someone's bus.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

I only do that if um because my my route the way that it is it circles back. So I'm like, okay, can I can I get off with you know so and so today? I'm like, yep, because I'm gonna see your you still walking, you know, they're four houses apart, so I'm gonna see you go from one driveway to another. Yeah. But if I if they're down a whole different area or road or whatever, no, I'm like, same, I'm sorry, you gotta get off at your stop, make arrangement. Then what you do from there is fine. I just gotta be able to say, I dropped you at your stop.

SPEAKER_03 42:04

Well, yeah, because I have two big sections and they're they're two and a half miles away. I'm not gonna drop one at this section because, like, if if if what happens if the pay they get there and the parents like, nope, you can't stay here. And I'm like, now you're two and a half miles away. Instead, if you're in that one neighborhood, you can just walk down to the house and it's like no big deal.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

Yeah, that's also a good, you know, really good reason for doing that. But most of it is is just like we gotta what if we have an accident? Yeah, and I know who's on, you know, you either count your students or you know them, or we have name tags on. I got extra, or somebody's missing. I mean, I know I don't have a lot of my upper LR um in sports, so I know a lot of them aren't gonna be on, but the it's the extra kids that come on, you know, those ones are the ones that I'm like, I don't know any of your situation, I don't know if your parents know. Well, I can show you my text on the phone. I'm like, no, it has to go to dispatch, yeah, and then I have to have the official letter in my mailbox that says you're able to ride.

Bus Stop Drama And Parent Boundaries

SPEAKER_03 43:02

Yeah, the kids don't just like they don't tell us to turn the freaking heat down, they don't understand the responsibility and consequences. Like, yeah, is it a is it as a lame or is it not a big deal? Of course, it's not a big deal, but I don't know what your story is. Like, you I gotta keep you safe, and being safe is like riding the appropriate bus home. That's just it. I know it sounds like a ball buster, but I'm just not gonna do it. I I'm just not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

So along the lines of um bus stops, I get to one stop in my lower L, my my K through four, and there's eight of them, and they're all within, they all live within like house to house, how like right there. And they have, you know, my my students on there that's very literal, along with um the boy that likes to get in himself in trouble. And so I open my door and I am hit with violence of I can't believe he did this, and you gotta take care of this, Miss Joe. This I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. What you guys do at your bus stop, you need to get parents. As soon as I open the door, it's my you know, I'll handle anything that happens here. But if it but if you guys, you know, want to pound on each other, you can do it at the bus stop. That's fine. Get a parent involved, you know, like brothers and sisters that fight and like stop. Doing it on the bus when I drop you off, pound on each other out there. But if if when I open my door and these kids get on and something's happens at the bus stop, if I can handle it, that's fine. But when it came in like from this morning, the walk down to the bus, no, get the parent, get the that is their that is not our responsibility. I will always watch out for them and we'll try and figure something out. However, like I've split up a bus stop before because the kids absolutely did not get along. I'm like, great, you go walk to this corner to the left, you walk to this corner to the right, because I stop at both corners. How's that? But when they're all together, I'm like, go grab grab a parent and I have a parent stand at the bus stop and regulate that. I because I don't know what's going on at the bus stops.

SPEAKER_03 44:58

Right. That can be frustrating. Same on when I'm on recess, we get a lot of stuff spilling from the outside, and then they get stuff spilling from us, and I'm and we'll get an email from the teacher. I'm like, it didn't get reported to us, like you know, and and they get the frustration too. But like, yeah, kids, I mean it feels good, like, okay, I'm a trusted adult, so you feel comfortable to you know to tell me, but still it's it's yeah, this is a parent issue. This is not uh a bus drive.

Sign-Off And Ten-Four

SPEAKER_01 45:26

I'm not gonna make this ride any more rough than it was on the bus stop for these kids because you got ones that don't want to say anything, and then they get on and they're like, Am I gonna get in trouble? I'm like, not for me, because I don't know what happened, but let's have a cool bus ride in, you know. Yeah, aye. That's it. So I hope everybody has a great day and email us our links in the Facebook, text Jerry anytime at that phone number, likes those late night texts. And as always, thanks for listening. We're the same bus, same kids, different stories.

SPEAKER_03 45:59

And remember, just say ten four, and we're gonna be able to get a lot of money.