We Learn More From Near Misses Than Quiet Days: Real School Bus Lessons

We trade the kinds of stories only school bus drivers collect, from end-of-year kid expectations to the little mistakes that snap you back into full focus. We also share what’s actually working for bus behavior and comfort right now, plus the road stuff that still makes us see red. 

• handling student expectations around year-end gifts and why costs add up fast 
• a roundabout close call and how repetition can dull attention 
• building a fair candy setup across multiple runs and age groups 
• field trip and athletic layovers, how far we drive, and staying reachable 
• overhearing “marital advice” at breakfast and why the logic falls apart 
• listener messages, music playlist requests, and how we collect song ideas 
• “Cheeks To Seats” and positive language that gets kids sitting safely 
• using a cheap temperature monitor to track the back of the bus 
• stop arm violations, subdivision impatience, and the chronic late stop problem 

“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

Morning Intro And Catch Up

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Hi guys, welcome to School Bus Banter, episode 17. Joe and Jerry here. We're here to talk to you about our amazing weeks that we've had. I know Joe had said something about uh she didn't have any stories, so she uh I don't know, has a story about marital vice, which really has nothing to do with bus driving, but how's it going, Joe?

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Nothing. Good morning with my sexy Phoebe from Friends Voice. Did you see that episode?

SPEAKER_00 0:55

I did. I I watched I watched Friends after it was out and done.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Like I went back and watched it on before after still today. It's a funny show.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

It's a classic.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Um, yeah, allergies are killing me. Thanks.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Yeah, yeah. This is a weird thing for us. We're recording the day before the episode comes out at like 9 30 in the morning, and so hopefully our energy is uh as good as it normally is. Probably won't be.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

But uh is this well, is this our last one for before summer? Um, so we oh man, we might keep it up.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

It might be. Although I feel like we can't finish on a news episode. I feel like we're gonna have to record one more, like a wrap-up for the school year.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Yeah.

Chasing Mr. Bus Driver Online

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Because I can we can't finish on a news episode. But so yeah, episode 17 got lots to talk about. Just a quick update, Mr. Bus Driver. I know we talked about uh getting him on the show. He has ignored me. Um so I'm gonna I uh so what TikTok does is when you're not following each other, when you send a message, uh you get one message, and like you just send it, and then you can't send any more. He has to follow or respond back to like open it up, which is kind of nice, right? So you don't get creepers. Um, you know what I mean, especially with the women and men on TikTok. You know, you only get one message. And so did you say that?

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Did you say, Hi, my name's Jerry? I'm not a creeper.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

No, I didn't. Maybe I should have. Uh, my guess is he's not on TikTok a ton. Uh he's popular on YouTube too. Everyone kind of picks a platform that like maybe they started on and they have more fun on. Um, I have more fun on TikTok than YouTube. I'm barely on YouTube. Um, and it may be reverse for him, but I did comment a couple of times hey, Mr. Buster, I sent you a message and I still haven't heard anything. So I'll keep trying. Um, I don't think he's specifically ignoring, I just think he's not on TikTok a lot.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

So yeah, he's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Oh my god, so freaking funny.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

What he does. Yeah, it's it's what it's so what we do.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

It is, and I'm really surprised. And uh his district lets it go because he he gets a little spicy. I mean, he never curses, I don't think, but he gets a little, you know.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Yeah, but that's true. It's all true. What he so yeah, he could he pushes up. Maybe he has that freedom, you know, to do that.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

But it's it's definitely spot on. Spot on.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

I wonder if his uh, you know, he never matches his district, but I wonder if it's like a little promo for them and they're okay with it because it's like it brings a little of like levity to that kind of stuff. I don't know.

Year End Gifts And Expectations

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Yeah, that could be it.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

All right, stories from the road. Um, yeah, it was interesting coming up with some stories uh for me. Uh, there was one that I read and read last night, Joe, when I was prepping for the show, and I'm like, I can't fucking remember. I finally did remember it, so that's good. But like when we we write these in, I need I need more context for myself because I read it, I was like, uh, I have no idea what this means. But uh you don't remember? I it took me like 10 minutes, and then I finally clicked. But anyways, uh stories from the road, not a ton, uh kind of uh an annoying one, and uh I fucked up one. Uh so I'm driving along and they I have these kids, and um these kids rode another bus last year, and you know what bus I'm talking about, and they're like, Mr. Jerry, are you gonna get us a year-end gift? And I'm like, Expectations, expectations, and I'm like, Do you I am not independently wealthy? Like, I I literally said that to them, and I'm like, I don't have all this money, I'm a school bus driver. And now, granted, my wife has a good job and we do okay, and but we work our asses off, you know, and uh as you do too. And I I just it's just interesting. Like, I don't know if it was from the previous bus driver, I don't know if she spoiled them to no end, but like I literally am not gonna spend you know hundreds if if not thousands. I mean, I have probably 45 to 50 high school, middle school, and uh intermediate kids. I'm just I'm just not gonna do it. In fact, I've never given them anything, even candy, except one time for Christmas. I bought them, I gave them each candy canes on the last day before, you know. Wow. I know. I just I don't know. I I you're mean. I'm not mean, but like well, I also it's expensive. Yeah, it's expensive. And I also thought about maybe at the end of the year if I can go to um there's a local uh donut shop, which there's a lot of them, but there's one real local to me, old school, and I wanted to go there and say, hey, can you give me a discount if I buy you know 75 donuts? But even at a at a you know, a discount would be a dollar a donut because they're more than that. That's 75 bucks.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Oh yeah, for sure. And I mean, can you do donuts? I I would love to, but I have to stay peanut-free.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Uh, I mean, I don't think there's peanut stuff in donuts, but I I don't have any peanut allergies. And if you do, I I let my elder kids eat on the bus. So, like, it's it's not don't give me that. She just gave me the stink eye.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

No, I'm not.

Roundabout Mistake And Staying Sharp

SPEAKER_00 6:28

I'm blinking out my sleepies in my eye for sure. Um, so I don't know. I might do something for everybody. Uh, I'm definitely doing something for my fourth graders. I bought some thank you cards. Joe gave me a great idea. I didn't do it last year because like I feel like as I get a little bit more seniority, I feel more comfortable in my route, which but that doesn't mean anything. It could get torched from from someone else, but I didn't do anything for my fourth graders last year, although a couple of them were annoying. So I was like, and this year they're great, so I'm looking forward to writing them a little note, give them uh you know a little bit of bigger gift, and uh from there. So uh and then I I recently got honked at in my bus. Now I pride myself as a pretty good driver. I I really try to pay attention and do things. Now, will I run a red light here and there? I mean, because I if I slam on the brakes, you know, we're all gonna go through they're yellow lights.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

You don't run red ones, you do yellow. I do yellow. It's like again, if you slam on the brake, what's you know mine are pink, definitely pink. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

So uh there is a roundabout in this subdivision that I do, and so there are no yield signs, mind you. But in a roundabout, generally, if someone is in the roundabout, you must pause so you don't hit them, and no one's ever in this roundabout. And I go to the right of it and then straight. I don't actually turn all the way around. And there was a uh a big old plumbing truck in it, and I just fucking went and uh he had to slam on his brakes, and I just my brain didn't comprehend that he was doing the full loop, and he was like, I'm like, and then my kids are like, What's his problem? I'm like, Yeah, what's his problem? You know, because they don't they don't realize it.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

You never do anything wrong, yeah. No, I mean driving, driving, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Yeah, I mean I'm I'm not perfect, but you know, and I'm very anal about putting my blinker on, and I just I kind of felt like a douche canoe. And then I'm like, okay, Jerry, we're gonna have to pay attention. And sure enough, about a week later, maybe a little less, a car went through there and I stopped, but I don't know what it is. Like, I just think it's so it's never busy, and I just whoop around, whoop around, and I just whooped around and cut that truck off.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

So I have a roundabout also, and same, like there's nobody there ever. And you know, I approach it. There's no buildings or anything, it's it's pretty wide open right there, and and uh yeah, it that one or two cars that gets me every once in a while. They're they want to go where I want to go. And I let I try and let them go first because otherwise they're gonna get stuck behind me, which has I have like you know, five more stops yet. But yeah, it's uh it's it wakes you up a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Well, you gotta remember you gotta remember there's a hundred and four hundred and eighty-four days of school, okay? So we do that loop three hundred and sixty eight times. And when you're you you're I mean, it's just the same. You hit the curb the same. Well, not hit the curb, but like you hit the the around it the same every time. Some people hit it. Some people you barely have to look at your mirror. I mean, you can use your banana mirrors to kind of judge where you are. There's another turn I make. I really used to look at my my my uh door side mirror to make sure I didn't hit the curb. Oh no, I just aim the banana mirror exactly where it needs to go, but you just do it so many times. So when that truck went through, I'm just like I'm like, oh shit. I'm I'm real, I'm real sorry.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

So hopefully you'll never see him again, so you won't worry about it.

Candy System And Fourth Grade Goodbyes

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Yeah, hopefully. How about you? Uh any stories from the road?

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Yeah, a couple. I want to get back or just um go back a second too. I'm lucky that my mom buys some candy for my kids. So we do um the holidays, you know, on there. I try and be consistent with that. And then once in a while I'll throw in. But same. I have 52 fifth through senior. So five through that run that goes five through twelve. I have fifty-two that ride, so that's a good chunk of candy there. And then um I have 42 K through four. There's you know, we're at almost a hundred or we are at a hundred. And then I have that um private school run. And um, there's 25-ish on that one. And so that that, you know, that's that's a lot. I want to be fair. I don't want to hide the candy away from one run and bring it out for the next, you know. So I try and buy for everybody, but yeah, it's it's hard to find cheap candy in it. So my mom helps a lot. So shout out to my mom. Oh, on Mother's Day, that's awesome. Oh, yeah. Um, but she she buys the candy.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Real quick, I'm gonna tap on the candy again. My issue, I think, with the older kids is I need to get some sort of basket that's open. So right now I have a backpack, and it's fine for the littles, right? Because they can bend over. They're tiny, right? The the you know, uh, maybe the fourth grade is a little taller, but they can bend over. But if I would to provide candy, which I'm not uh completely opposed to for my older kids, because I go to Costco, a big bag of like the chewy stuff is not you get a lot in there, but I need something that I can mount on my dash like that doesn't slide. That's what I do. Oh, you do?

SPEAKER_02 12:00

Mm-hmm. I have shallow plastic containers and um they sit right up on right up by me and they don't move. They got little rubber things on the bottom. You can find them at any like any big retailer store, Target, Walmart, I think, is where just go to like the container aisle, like either bathroom or kitchen, and look for all the little module things that you can fit into drawers and stuff. They're shallow, they got little rubber things on the bottom, they stand right up on there, and then that's where I put my candy. And then if you need to refill it, it's behind me, and then I just refill it.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

Oh, interesting. And they it don't slide around?

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Nope.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Oh, okay. I'll have to take a peek at that because maybe I'll do that for next year. So anyways, carry on.

Field Trip Layovers And How Far

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Okay, and then um I was on a field trip, which um will tie into my next story the other night, and I got my fourth, I have 10 fourth graders that are gonna move off my bus. I will miss nine of them. And um, that's bad to say, I'll miss all ten, of course. And um I got their cards and candy bags and everything all set and written out, and I was sad because these kids love on my little kids and other safeties on the bus. They help me. I'm I'm so blessed to have these ones on here. Like, really, I couldn't ask for a better crew. They're really, really, really awesome. And you know, I told them, like, I wrote on there, like, what I think you're gonna be when you grow up, and a lot of like teachers or policemen, one of them, um pro football player. I've got uh um Joe Burrow lookalike on my bus, and he wants to be football player, quarterback, a singer. Every time I hear golden from K-pop, I will remember this student forever because she has perfect pitch and we sing it together. Um, I'll never I'll I'll just never forget her. And you know, they're gonna go off my bus onto another good safe bus, but it's um I'm gonna miss him like mad. Yeah. So, which ties into my story from the road is I kind of wanted to ask our listeners what they do when they go out on athletics at night. So I drive, let's see, I had to take soccer, girls' soccer out to the lake shore and good 45-minute clip out there. And then I had what four and a half hours, five hours before I have to bring them back. So, like I go to our local stores or you know, go get dinner, clean the bus, you know, that stuff. But I actually had another driver text me and say, Hey, I have a big trip this Saturday. How far are you allowed to travel when you drop the kids off at an event and then you go and get dinner or go to the mall or something? Like, how far are you allowed to travel? And I'm like, when you have like an eight-hour shift or nine or 10-hour shift like that at a different city area where you're going like maybe an hour away or so, I I really don't put limits on myself because my god, you have an entire day to you know to spend. So I mean, I've gone up to 15 miles away from a place when on a long day. So, like the other night when I was just, you know, over at um at another district, um, I went down the road. You know, there's there's plenty of, you know, the town was like right down the road, but I actually I I didn't know how to respond because I was kind of like I there's I don't know if you recall ever seeing any rule about that that we have, how far you can travel.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Yeah, I don't think there is anything. No one's mentioned it to me. I would just say whatever you're comfortable with, right? Because I mean, you know, I don't think people are gonna abuse it, but like also, I don't think the district expects you to sit there for eight hours and not go get some food or do some. I mean, I it would be different if you they dropped you in the middle of the the forest, a national forest where the school was, and it was uh an hour just to get out to a main road to use to go to the you know what I mean? Like it's it's not gonna be obscene. My question is, are you comfortable going home? How far? That's what I want to know. Like when you have a long trip, where how far is too far to go home and sit home and then go back?

SPEAKER_02 16:29

Yeah, um, it's usually between seven and ten miles. I'll come home.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Yeah, definitely. Because those are long, you know, I can kill five hours easily cleaning. I got Netflix on the phone, but as far as um, like, you know, you got something to do at home or whatever, and you are just at a neighboring district, hell yeah, I'm bringing my bus home because it fits perfectly in my driveway.

unknown 16:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Yeah, so that that I mean, no, I have not seen anything in our contract. Our supervisor hasn't mentioned anything. Um, honestly, I don't hear a ton from other drivers either. Um, I just kind of do what I feel is respectful to the district. I don't abuse it, I don't do any of that. I just try to just, you know, I I try to do what I would if I was in the if I was the business owner of like, I mean, school is a business. Um I I'm not out to like F the district by any means. I mean, of course, I want them to pay up because you know, we we're worth it, but I just try to be respectful to what I would do, you know, or what I would do if I owned it.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Also, um, I've been burned on this before years, years, years ago. I dropped a team off at a neighboring district. I went and got dinner, and they called me right away. The power was out in the field, they couldn't play. So if you're now 15 minutes out, you know, and in the middle, you gotta check out your food or whatever you gotta do, and you gotta get back. So I think of that time also. Like, how long would it take me to get back there?

SPEAKER_00 18:12

That's a that's a good point. I mean, but don't not go because that might happen. I mean, that was such a rare thing.

Breakfast Eavesdropping And Bad Advice

SPEAKER_02 18:19

Well, yeah, and get your coaches, you know, make sure you and your coach have communication and phone numbers and stuff. But yeah, it was uh that that was weird. But um, so on so my my weird marital advice, my gosh, I can't believe that we've been talking about this for so long. Um, I had a layover in a neighboring district, and I'm like, I'm just gonna go get breakfast. So I dropped the kids off, plenty of places to park a bus in the neighborhood, parked it, secured it, went in, had my own table across from an older gentleman with a younger couple, maybe in their 20s. And they were like really really in into this conversation, like they were focused on him, and he was just telling a story about I guess like not having affairs. What I what I got of it was no again, I'm I'm just trying to mind my own business and read a book.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Sure you are.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

Yeah, yeah. I I actually tried recording it so I can tell you that this was true. This was like really going on, but you couldn't pick it up. I I do not have a recording of him because you could only hear like the the waitress and everything going on. It was very loud. And what I gathered of it is he had an affair or multiple of them because he had a job that allowed him to travel and the sin was right there all around him. It was flaunting itself at him. And it was um the the people again, the the couple were talking, we're like looking at him and and like, yeah, like it is, it's all around, it's all around. And so either change jobs so you are not tempted, um because to the temptation that was the word too, was was all around, like almost like I gathered like throwing throwing it at him, you know, and he took advantage of it first of all. And um, so the couple were just like nodding their head, like, yeah, yeah, like this is this is good stuff, really good stuff. We're gonna learn from this. And the waitress kept coming like through and stuff. So um I I have bad focus, like I could have focused on them, then I focus on the waitress, like, oh shut up. I want to hear more. Um, but it ended with a little prayer and to not be tempted and choose change jobs if it's too much. And um I couldn't remember like the last part of it, but I was just like like reading my book and I realized I hadn't turned a page in like 20 minutes on my book. Yeah, so I think they knew maybe I was listening. No, I don't know, they didn't pay attention to me, but it was so I turned a page, like pretending I was reading, and then when they they left, I had to go back and reread my book because I wasn't reading it.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Of course.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

I mean, it that was new, that was different. That I love my layovers like that because I'm like, oh, what can the public give me today? Was good.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

Yeah, that's a weird thing. Um, yeah, quit your job because you can't keep your penis in your pants. Like, I mean, I know I I'm just like, what is happening? Like, that is a weird piece of advice. I I, you know, fully I'm glad he's talking to young folks about temptation and you know, kind of reflecting on the mistakes he made, but quit your job. How about maybe get some therapy then? Because you clearly aren't committed to your spouse or what like that's the dumbest ass advice. That part of it is like quit your job. I'm like, okay, you're you're your fucking problem.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Yeah, I think that that wherever you go, it's a you problem.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Yeah, not a oh my god, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

So that was a fun one. And I'm like, I write it down going, this is going on the podcast for sure.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Yeah, I don't know if I've ever, um, I'm kind of a loner. when I do trips. Like I might go to a like a fast food and eat in there because it's like just easier. But I I typically just sit on my bus uh and watch Netflix. I you know catch up on my I always tell the old folks I drive for an old folks home and they're like oh are you coming into this concert I'm like I'd rather get a root canal. But in my head I'm like oh I got to catch up on my stories. You know I always try to like relate stories yeah yeah like you know the soap operas back in the day and they laugh and chuckle. But yeah I'm pretty much a loner I I I just hang out in my bus as long as the well I have air now in my bus and say when it was really hot I would try to find some air conditioning. But um I would say this year with my extra trips I haven't really taken any long ones but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

I um like I said air conditioning is a big factor. I do not have an air conditioning bus. Though it's funny my kids think we do. So I'm like there you go put all 26 windows down. Right. Um I try and find you know a play but I do like going I'm not afraid to go and sit by myself or you know go to a movie by myself or anything like that. But yeah I try and find a place where I can sit quietly I like you know if you can find restaurants that have um nice singing areas where I can sit and read for a while but and then I get conversation I pick up on conversations like that. So that was classic.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

That was that that is a good story. Uh one last thing before we jump into business I uh the last long trip I did it was like an hour and a half away I went to movies. Like I like if I do some if it's a longer trip where I'm like out out away from my my normal like area I like to go to movies. And there was like a last school year I bet I went to like five movies just not things that I was like really wanting to see because I actually hate the movie theater. Oh same I I would rather watch it at home. Yeah it's just I don't know what it is. I just think like you know what going to the bathroom and it's just yeah same.

Listener Messages And Music Playlist

SPEAKER_02 24:20

I mean you can pause it at home you get you get food good food you know at home so yeah it it takes something really really huge to come to the theater and to go see it and you know like the Star Wars stuff or whatever action stuff that you need the like the sound and the screen and all that stuff I I think so yeah but I don't I know my mom's always I could never go by myself I'm like I prefer to go by myself no problem go with a girlfriend who would be on her phone the whole time and light up you know next to me and was like no yeah for sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

Business for the show email schoolbusbanter at gmail.com obviously our Facebook group I still haven't figured out why I don't get notifications for like I literally we're both admins and maybe you do but like I would see people join and then I'd go to check it like a couple days later just to see what's cooking and then like someone joined three days ago I'm like why is it not sending me notifications?

SPEAKER_02 25:19

Yeah I don't get notifications.

Cheeks To Seats Behavior Reset

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Yeah I haven't figured that out yet but please join uh our phone number uh 7575291574 I got a message I'm not sure who it was it their their name was on the on the because I use Google Voice let me bring it up real quick it was uh Keysville Assembly of God that was the name on it not even a number and they were like hey where can I find the playlist mentioned this will be my first Friday with my littles and then I actually sent them this I I know Brian uses a different service not Spotify which is totally fine he uses it's called title I guess but I sent I took a lot of his songs and put them on mine so I sent uh this person the Spotify list so oh cool I was like this is mine Brian doesn't use Spotify so I but I took a lot of his songs from his list and put it on this one there are some in there that are rap okay I did voice a text and it said W-R-A-P. I just realized it they're they're edited but they might be a little rough for little kids. She's like or he I don't know low yeah I used the idea of I used the idea of having the elementary students write their song down and some of them were a no go and I'm like yeah yeah same thing for me I was like nah nah although you're gonna be super excited about this one of my kids one of my third graders is like Mr. Jerry we need some foo fighters on here and I'm like let's go let's go Joe and I are going to a food fighters concert in August so um I keep forgetting to do it my kids asked me so many requests and my ADD brain is like yeah sure and I like get get off the bus close my door and I that never think of it again that that life is gone like I'm onto my real life so that's why I have pen and sticky note and I'm like here you go take it to your seat write it down. This is where I wish you know a lot of people hate AI but I wish and my phone can do it a little bit and I can use voice to text but like I feel like it needs to like pull that information when it hears it and just automatically even without me asking it like I get home and this is all your this is all the things that were requested of you and you're like oh yeah that's right and then you do it right there when you're on your computer or something. But tips and tricks Joe I'll let you go first since I went first last time I see you're using one of my sayings and uh yeah I'm actually impressed with that because I'm usually pulling shit from you so carry on.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

Yeah that's that's why we're doing this right so we can get good things only I didn't know if it was e k or e a k I had never spelled the word cheeks before I think I think it's did I spell it right I mean it's it's e k it's gotta be because I have a little I have grammarly installed and it's not highlighting it.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

So that's gotta be right.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

So the whole time I've been using if you know just yelling sit down you have to assume that some kids don't even know how to do that on a bus, right? You have to assume that they've never been actually physically shown the proper way to sit down on the bus. So when you say bottom to bottom back to back and we've used that for I'm in my 14th year and we've used that this whole time your bottom sit your bottom your booty to the bottom of the seat and you're back to the you know you're back to the back of the seat. And so you know I get on the walkie talk yeah walkie talkie and I'm like bottom to bottom back to back and that usually works. But Jerry came up with this cute it's cheeks to seats and I love that like my kindergartners giggle like they were like oh my gosh that's so cute. Cheeks to seats or I choose the seat. That is my new saying so you you are free to sit in the seat that you picked you know six months ago or whatever we change it up once in a while your name tag is above there. You are free to sit there or I'm gonna choose your seat if you can't put your cheek to the seat and that has just been a game changer for this last year because everybody every bus driver knows this leading up to spring break and leading up to the end of the year are the toughest in my opinion the toughest time to handle behavior and safety inside the bus. It's just like a free for all and I'm like we got to keep it together for what is it now? 13 and a half 14 and a half. What is it? 14 and we gotta keep it no okay it doesn't keep it together for that little amount of time um I've already got your candy and your bags made so that works too if you can do that. But I have no problem not passing that out at the end of the year if we can't just keep it together for the remaining part of it. And you know I I still everything's the same keep everything consistent keep your music on Fridays if that's what you do. Because kids thrive on routine I believe so keep everything but it's it's been rough we've for me and because they're just it's been field day. We've had field day already oh wow and sometimes some years a lot of my kids will just go home with their parents and so I bring home like half of my students right but nope this year they all wanted to ride home because it was Friday and we play music on Friday and I'm like oh feel free to take a ride home with your parents though you know just not to have to ride the bus. But it was uh cheeks to seats is cute. It's it's been very helpful because I can just add that part like or I choose the seat. I keep it positive like instead of you know okay nobody's we're not moving because nobody's ready to go well is that really true is nobody ready to go so call out the positive part on it. Oh kindergartners kindergarteners are ready to go they love that they look at you at least mine do they look up like look at me I am ready to go like oh because I kind of go kindergarten first grade second grade you know all the way to the back and I'm like my fourth graders as good as they are they're looking kind of to see um how the littles are doing but then they remain standing and I'm like you can sit down now we've got it under control up here so you can sit so um you know fourth graders ready to go so I I try and change the language a little bit to to the positive part of it of um who's ready to go and we can roll out because just yelling sit down sit down it's it's ineffective I think other bus drivers will um be with me on that and then I think you do I I think you said that you do it too like when you're in the middle of the run and they're standing up and you just you just stay there. I don't leave I just I stay right there and I'm just like oh let's try again I'd I'd like to go but instead of you know we're not leaving until y'all sit down again it's just kind of negative so I'm like oh you know let's let's try it again I I was gonna go but we're not ready so let's try it again. Like he was trying to rephrase that stuff and I don't know whoever whoever I got that from it's working because I I'm on a lot of you know bus driver feeds and stuff and and it it seems to be it seems to be rolling out pretty good if I can remember to use it next year. But and then I did go and ask Google to like get me some jokes for like um bus driver kids and how to use that to be safe and it was like okay your school but um this is a school bus not a trampoline it's all that's all like chill in our seats cheeks to seats I like this one like this isn't a safari tour. This is a school bus. Y'all need to like look out your own window not you know three neighbor or three windows down and you're the person that you're talking to is only six inches away you don't have to yell right those ones that you separate your brothers and sisters so they're yelling for you know Bobby Bobby Bobby when we get home mom's gonna be so Bobby is three bus lengths back. I mean come on let's you know let's wait till we get off the bus and you can explain what Bobby needs to do. But yeah I don't know it's the I like so I wanted to thank you for the cheeks cheeks deceits because that that's been fun.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Yeah the same on my bus when I use it the kids laugh about it and they I can hear a little chuckle you know as I as I'm listening you talk about it like you and I you know we have decent kids but I really do feel like just a little bit of connection with these kids like it goes such a long way like I I may not use I may not be as chipper as you as far as like when I'm asking them to sit down or whatever. Like sometimes I'll be looking in the mirror and I'm like I mean it's a visual but I'm like this dispointing and it's it's more it's more firm you know what I mean and and but they listen they see it and they're like oops and it and I know that they're just whatever they just they're kids fuck shit like I mean they got energy they're like can you imagine having their energy at 50 years old you'd be running the world but you know I just just having a little connection I think about some of the other buses that I know are always having trouble other than if you know there are some routes that are gonna be trouble regardless and you know what I'm talking about. And but some of these are in areas that are you know fine and they still have trouble with them and like I don't think you're having you kind of got to be goofy right you kind of got to be like I'm a dork with my kids.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

I say some of the dorkiest stuff and they're just like that makes you a real person not just that stiff driver in there.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

Exactly and I have some of the kids they'll roll my eyes and laugh or Mr. Jerry stop you know what I mean and it's just I'm I'm being the dumbest I'm saying the dumbest thing like are y'all gonna be chickens today because like one of them might have been like making a thing and they're cackling and like no no we're not doing that you know just dumb stuff when they're unloading and loading it's it's um it's playfulness and you're you're on you got down to that level.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

I don't think it's it's degraded you're you're getting to that level because like we have said you you get what you put into it. So if you are just going to be that body in a seat then this podcast is not going to help you that much because we are connected with our kids as a lot of our listeners have told us that they are too and it's it's like getting out of it what what you put and I put all of it into it because that's that's just how I am it's I am at my other job too you just put all into it and and have fun get to their level understand train yourself read read up on it maybe get some mental health training if your district should offer the stuff to them to to drivers absorb that energy I use that word a lot I like that you use that because it's not what is it it's not bad behavior. It's it's just a vibe it's an energy so absorb that and get goofy with them and you'll see that magic happen where they're like laughing. And when you said you know it's a visual where you just point your finger down mine is not just turning the radio down and just the click of the radio cuts off the the music that's all I can do I click that radio and they're oh shit yeah something's happening. And I'm like chillax back there. You know and the bus drivers that do go through the neighborhoods that might be just a little bit harder um those bus drivers have found they're they're the special ones they actually take you know we bid every year on our routes they go for that same because they have made the connection with those kids and they have turned it around they have they prefer that style of um of the students where they're making a bigger difference than what I am and they they've learned they've learned like there I'm sure um we should have one of them on our podcast for the fact that they have different behavioral ways of reaching out right to them.

Cheap Temp Monitor For Back Seats

SPEAKER_00 37:44

So they're a lot of the kids the parents aren't there at the bus stop or mine the mom is there, the dad is there the dog is there you know so it it's really just how your clientele is and and what but our bus drivers that drive in in the start different neighborhoods like that they actually they prefer that you know which is wild but I think you're right they connect with the kids and it's hard like regardless of how difficult your bus may be you have great kids on there. So you know when you leave that route you're leaving those great kids too. So it's tough. It's tough like I yeah I don't know how they go back to it but props to them. Um my tip and trick is really quick and this shout out to Brian and I did this and and I freaking love it but I bought a uh Brian so what did we talk about? I think in the last episode we were like these kids don't tell us when they're hot like they don't communicate with us. So he has a temperature gauge monitor in the back of his bus that he mounts and then he has a little display in the front that will tell you how hot it is back there. Oh wow so I bought one and I've always had one in my bus up top just so I can see I just I love statistics and like the one day the bus it said it was negative four in my bus and that was someday in December. Uh and I just love like oh my god it was so cold or oh it's so hot or whatever but I didn't it was only monitoring just my temp right in the front like it wasn't doing anything else. So yeah he does that I bought it it was 10 bucks I uh mounted it to the back by the emergency door and so now I get to monitor it and it's it is interesting how to uh to see how hot it gets back there. And um yeah that's it was just kind of a cool tip for 10 bucks and you can kind of make them you know not sweat it out or you know if it's too cold to put it back on.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

So it that would you know I mean that it's really cool if you get the ones I I would thrive on that because I love our weather here where we live we get it all in a matter of about five minutes. But um I'd like to see the difference in your air conditioning bus. Because I know the air doesn't reach back there it doesn't blow out back there does it it's just your driver.

SPEAKER_00 40:03

Right and honestly the heat is a little interesting too because if if you when you go to do your child check like right everything's been blown let's say it's in a you know a cold cold day yeah and you turn everything off it's toasty in the front it's still a little chilly in the middle and it's toasty in the back so yeah maybe I should have put that gauge in the middle but then I I I've I think well if it's if I keep it cranked to try to warm up the middle then the back's gonna fry. So I'm like I'm gonna put it in the back you know the middle I guess if you're cold you're gonna have to switch seats or something. I don't know. But yeah that middle people suffer because the heat doesn't like coming through right there but yeah I I feel like the buses should put one you know you got your front driver stuff and mine I know some of the older buses have like vents in the bottom to get heat there. Mine is completely solid. Yeah mine's solid there so there's no heat coming from me to them. So I feel like you need one like you got the front by me then you need one like at a third like a third and then the one in the back and then I think that would be sufficient throughout but more comfortable I don't know why they don't make them but yeah shout out to Brian um I got it for 10 bucks and it works great.

SPEAKER_02 41:22

So nice yeah now you'll have your own little weather people in the back.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Right right yeah so I try to shoot for 65 I know that just sounds a little cool but like at least in this type of weather once it hits 65 on my little monitor I turn it off and it's interesting to see how long it takes to go down. It doesn't go down as quick but again it's not four degrees out it's you know 50. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:47

It's like immediate because it's just a tin can rolling down the road right you turn off the heat and it's just immediate like oh that was stupid because now I'm cold.

Stop Arm Stress And Late Riders

SPEAKER_00 41:56

Well it's interesting I one of the the old people buses that I have uh the air in there is in the back and it's I mean it's ice cold and I took a long trip and I had to like literally set a timer because it really doesn't have a thermostat it's like on or off. You know that that's it's kind of like our buses. And it kind of has a thermostat knob knob for it but it doesn't really work. So I literally would set my alarm for or I would look at the clock it's okay it's 10 10 at 1020 I'm gonna turn it off at 10 30 I'm gonna turn it on at 1040 I'm gonna turn it off well because otherwise they're freezing or it gets hot you know and so it's maybe I need to get one of these to kind of monitor the tent back there as well. Uh what grinds our gears uh I'll go first people in subdivisions thinking that they don't have to stop. Amen. You know I don't have a lot of runners in subdivision but they'll pull out but I look in my mirror you know you turn your yellows on you see a car behind you I'll look in my mirror before I've hit my my door they're trying to sneak around and I'm like what the fuck like you I get it you're late for work but you know I'm not I'm gonna be here 15 seconds and why why can't you wait 15 seconds? It's like it's almost like they feel like well this is my subdivision how dare you stop this bus.

SPEAKER_02 43:26

I don't know if you have that oh all the time and what's funny is they will go around if if one chooses to go around both of my stop signs my kids will know who it is and a lot of times it's student drivers they're coming right back from the high school and they'll pull right into their driveway and I'm like well that was easy you know me and my crime scene unit that I drive um my kids are on it all the time but yep yeah it's uh it happens more often in my little subdivision that I'm in for six whole minutes and it's probably weekly where they're coming at me trying to be you know I turn my yellow in and I give a huge grace period. If somebody's coming at me I am holding back and waiting so they can you know they'll give a little wave like I didn't have To interrupt their their commute and same with whoever's behind me, but sometimes there's like a few stops in a row where I can't pull over and let them go around. But my god, I'm here at the same time every day. Figure it out, right? Adjust your time because I can't adjust mine.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

Right. Yeah, that's exactly it. And honestly, it's more dangerous to run a red in a subdivision than it is on a main road because we're not crossing kids on those main roads, you know. So yeah, you run in a red in a subdivision, there could be a kid. I mean, yeah, it's you might be doing 25, but you could still fuck a kid up doing 25. Like, so just chill out, chill out. And then also, I have this child at a stop. It is an older child, and they are always late to the stop. And there have been a couple of times that I've rolled, and and they, you know, they go to the next stop because it's like a horseshoe, right? So you end up slinging back and near their home, but their mom brings them. But it's so frustrating. Like, you know what time I'm there? I'm I'm almost perfect. I get it. There's mornings where you're running a little bit late, but this is kind of a habitual thing. And then I've kind of started to notice that if the garage light is on, then they're probably coming out. So I've tried to pick up patterns just just because I don't want to roll past it either. And um, and if I see the person, I will always stop. Like I see them coming out of their garage, I'll stop. But it's just frustrating. And one day last week, no light on, and I have a a second kid I pick up that stop that just started riding again. And so I pick them, uh, pick that person up. They're on the bus, no light on the garage. I start rolling, and all of a sudden the kid comes running out. So then I stop and pick this child up, and then the mom comes running out, and I'm already started rolling with a snack in their hand, and I just kept going. Oh, like I'm not, and and this is an older child. Like, this is not this is on my older kids. I'm not gonna give the a I'm trying to keep it as vague as possible. Yeah, and and maybe the snack kind of brought that out, we'll kind of pinpoint what it is. But I'm I'm just not gonna stop for that. Like, I'm sorry, you're you're obviously helping your child get ready. Like, so this is both of you not able to maintain the thing. And and then again, it if it's once in a while, don't care. But yeah, a couple times a week gets old.

SPEAKER_02 46:52

If we cater to that one student, then the rest is gonna be late. And I don't, I don't know, maybe parents don't realize that that that schedule that we keep is is pretty tight. Like follow us once just to see, you know. Um, but yeah, the the one now are you able to when you roll up to the stop, are you able to um you have eyes on the house like it's at the drive or it's by the way?

SPEAKER_00 47:16

Right at the drive. Garage door is you know, during the winter time, it's an earlier stop. It's you know, it can be sometimes hard to see, as you know. And I do my best, I'm not trying to like screw the this kid by any means. I'm uh that's an awkward thing to say. No, uh uh you know, I'm not trying to leave this kid in the dust and not make it to school, but I know mom's home. I know that mom could take it, but I also like we need to have a little lesson and like punctuality. You're not helping your kid by allowing them, like you know, obviously, they're both, you know. I I talk like with my wife, I call her a free spirit. They're both free spirits, I get it, and they're not type A, and and that's that's great. And but in these kind of things, I need a little bit of type A so we're out on time. Because if I get behind a minute, I'm annoyed. I actually have my stops are set up in the morning for my older kids. I have to hit a light at a specific point because if I go too early, it's gonna screw up one of my big stops that I have 20 kids come out, and that will piss me off because then I then I'm waiting and waiting. I got a kid coming eight doors down from this stop, taking his sweet time.

SPEAKER_02 48:29

So my kids, they they huff it. They're like I stop at a lot of cul-de-sacks through mine, so they gotta come down from the cul-de-sac. But I look down there, I look, I look again, I look again, put it, you know, take the emergency break off. I'm looking, still looking, put it in drive. Here comes one booking it. But they're they're running, they're trying. So I have I have cushioned so much time in my run that I'm like it, you know, it is what and it doesn't have it's not a habitual one, so um, you know, I will I will wait for them, but I don't know. I can't, it's hard to see down there in the dark, you know, or rain and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 49:03

So I think my problem is is I didn't cushion mine. So I I you know when I drop off when you were I'm the last bus. I am the last bus to drop off. So I I decided to give my kids more time sleeping in, but we gotta hit our numbers, you know what I mean? Because otherwise, this last drop off is you're gonna be late for school, and maybe next year, I don't know, maybe I need to pull it back a little bit to give me a little, but yeah, I I actually there's a lot of drivers that actually go the other way where they're like them kids are there right when they're allowed to be there, and they're waiting there for 45 minutes before school starts. I'm like, who wants to do that? Like, I want to sleep in more because me being later lets me sleep in a little bit more, lets them sleep in a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 49:51

So maybe that's not the right way to go, but there's a difference of like I'm gonna pick you up at seven, we're gonna push that to 705 because your bus driver loves sleep more than you. Right that five minutes, right?

SPEAKER_00 50:05

I mean, it sounds silly, but like, no, I I would I want to be there on time, but like right at like boom. There you go.

unknown 50:12

Peace.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

You're very consistent because I have to wait for you and our other friend that comes through. Uh, you guys are very consistent and you're you're plenty early enough for me.

SPEAKER_00 50:23

Yeah, I'm I'm 727 and you need you need to roll at 7:30. So unless it's winter time where sometimes I can get a little behind because of weather. But yeah, I'm 727 every day.

SPEAKER_02 50:36

And and um again, um, the office has assured me that hey, if you can't leave till 7:40 one morning because of weather, whatever, they get there when they get there. They chose to ride, you know, the public bus to get to the private school. So um, but I love those, those are great kids, and they're they're all great. So you know, they're patient and it is what it is when we get there. But yeah, we do pretty good throughout the school year.

SPEAKER_00 50:59

So what's grinding your gears as we finish slowly wrapping up?

SPEAKER_02 51:05

Oh, I'll go, I'll keep on this topic of the red of the red light runner, or you know, people that go through our reds. Um, I'm in my subdivision and I'm at a quiet corner, and out of nowhere, like I I have it's a T and I stop down at the the top of the T. And um, so I look to my left, look to my right where my kids are coming from, and um there's there's no cars, so my kids are loading, unloading, my kids are unloading. This is in the afternoon, and I have two that have to cross. And where this minivan came through, I swear to god, it was just dropped from the sky, and the minivan was there. And he just proceeds to turn the corner into my stop sign. And I my kids are waiting because I've got my I haven't even yet got my sign up, and I'm looking, you know, eyeball to eyeball at this driver, and I honk my horn, like I I didn't honk it, I laid on the horn, and he stops and he looks at me and I point to my stop sign, like right here. Like, do you know what this means? My window's open, his window's open, he can hear me. And I'm not yet pissed, I'm more like annoyed. Like, where the hell did you come from? I would have let him pass me before I turned my stop signs on. And um, my kids are waiting in front and he's looking at me, and I go, Do you see my stop sign? And he didn't answer. And I'm like, Oh great, you know, language barrier, I don't know. I'm like, I have two stop signs, you stop, okay. And then he pulls up to the stop sign. So now we're driver to driver, right? With his one out. He stops, he looks, he goes to my second stop sign. He stops, he looks, and then he goes. It's like they're not, they're not like four ways. You don't get to stop and go. And I'm looking at my kids who are looking at me, and I I cross them because they just want to get home, right? They're like, whatever. And I'm like, did that just happen?

SPEAKER_00 53:11

Right. You're like, what is this real life?

SPEAKER_02 53:14

This did I get punked? So yeah, he treated it like a four-way where he stopped at the first one, look, and then he stopped at the side, and he went, and I couldn't catch plates or nothing because I'm right. My main goal, my main concern is my two kids in front of me that have to cross yet. So I'm not looking at the license plate because I want them to cross safety, and they do. So I I also know is an old minivan. That's all I know. I've never seen it again. I couldn't get plates. I only had one kid left on the bus. He didn't seem interested in helping. So I was just like, we need those cameras on the on our stop signs that come out like that.

SPEAKER_00 53:51

That's hilarious, though. That that that that is a new one, right?

SPEAKER_02 53:55

That's a new one.

SPEAKER_00 53:56

Yeah, I would die if I if you had a viral video, like that would go viral if you had a video somewhere that could see that driver doing that. Or like, look at this dipshit.

SPEAKER_02 54:06

I I like because I pointed to the stop sign. I think he thought he could pull up to the stop sign. Yeah, he probably did. Okay, and then he went to the second one and didn't like what is he doing?

SPEAKER_00 54:16

I mean, at least he stopped.

SPEAKER_02 54:18

I can laugh at it, but I was like, I was hot for a while.

SPEAKER_00 54:21

Yeah, isn't that funny when you have those little out-of-body experiences where you're like, is this is this happening in real time?

SPEAKER_02 54:27

Is this going on? Um, like obviously, driver's training isn't teaching enough. For I mean, this was an this was an older gentle gentleman, older, older gentleman, but okay, he says, and he pulls up to the stop sign. Like, I'm like, oh my god, no.

SPEAKER_00 54:42

Fucking hilarious.

SPEAKER_02 54:44

Yeah, and then my last one to to wrap this up is the like I I had said earlier, the two hardest parts of the year is leading up to spring break and leading up to the last day of school. You're you're saying kids' names that you never usually have to say through the school year. And I know all my kids' names, that's not a problem, but it's like you're your habitual cheeks to seats, cheeks to seats. Come on, we do this, we know how to do this, you know, we gotta roll. Let's we know what to do. But then you look back and you're like, really? You I got what I have not I haven't said your name all year, and now we're just deciding that this is something we're gonna do. We're gonna dance in the aisles, really? I mean, you know, I'm all for dancing in the aisles, but we gotta keep rolling. And I think it's just funny how you know that changes. Like, are they getting influenced or did they just have to sit down all day? And now's the time that they want to get their energy out. But yeah, so I'm saying kids' names that I normally never have to tell them how to do anything. They're perfect little sit-downers, you know, get in the bus and sit down. And uh now all of a sudden they decide like, oh, thir 14 and a half days, yeah, let's let loose.

SPEAKER_00 56:00

Time to go. Yep, for sure.

Final Takeaways And Sign Off

SPEAKER_02 56:01

We're gonna wrap up then. Thanks everybody for listening. As always, same bus, same kids, different stories.

SPEAKER_00 56:07

And please, for the love of God, just say ten four.