Last Stop Before Summer: What Bus Drivers Miss When The School Year Ends

The last ride of the 2025 to 2026 school year brings a mix of relief and surprise, especially for drivers who live by routine. We trade road stories, talk safety and professionalism, and land on small ways to stay connected to our bus kids over the summer. 

• End-of-year traditions that keep kids focused 
• Loving routine while bracing for summer schedule shifts 
• Finding summer work when district budgets tighten 
• A kid wipes out after his leg falls asleep 
• Thunderstorms at pickup and what policies actually exist 
• Helping storm-anxious kids feel safe 
• Kids turning into mini meteorologists with radar apps 
• A sweet friendship at the last stop and how long it might last 
• Showing up for student sports and building community trust 
• Seniors riding back to their elementary school in gowns 
• What works in the lunchroom versus the playground 
• Ticket rewards, sticker ideas, and keeping it fair 
• Reports about substitute drivers and why we reset the next day 
• Cars cutting off buses and why it is so dangerous 
• Wanting privacy in dispatch without killing camaraderie 
• How we plan the break and what could bring us back mid-summer 

“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

SPEAKER_03 0:05

Hi guys, welcome to School Bus Banter episode. I almost said 2019. I don't know why I said that 2019. I know. I'm like 2019. Episode 19. This is the last episode for the 2025-2026

Last Week Of School Check-In

SPEAKER_03 0:25

school year. Uh yeah, this is it. We'll be we'll be done and on a break.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

So fastest year ever. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 0:34

You think it's been going what why why do you think it's blue by? Why why do you feel that way?

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Because I remember um Christmas break, like it was yesterday, and telling the kids, okay, you guys, when we get back from Christmas break, it's a long stretch till spring break. It's a long stretch. There's not much happening. It's long winter, and then it's spring break. Now we're done. We're gonna be done. What do we have? Seven and a half days?

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Uh yes, I believe. Something like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Seven and a half days. We get out, you know, the end of May. So, oh, it's yes, I I literally remember saying just yesterday, all right, have a good Christmas break. And here we are.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Quick check-in and how you're feeling about the end of the school year. I know it's gonna be a little, you know. Well, there's several things. How are you feeling about how the kids were this year and how you're leaving them and going into the fall? And then how are you feeling about not working possibly? I mean, as far as you know, as this point, not working in the summer for the district.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Yeah, so um we're holding it together because my kids know that I do end-of-year candy bags and we pull our name tags down like it's a tradition. And I'm I said if we don't have a good bus ride, I'm gonna just we'll wait till the next day. We'll wait. So they're doing really good. Um, but we did have the let's get it together talk, you know. We've got we gotta hang in there. You know, it's it's been hot, it was hot today, too. So we're I think I'm sending my fourth graders off to, you know, I think they they have some good lessons, they'll be fine. I think they're gonna be really good on the next bus that they go to. And I will miss them. I like routine. Um, for somebody that I don't think I'm like ADHD or ADD, but somebody who I thrive on routine. And so when we have two weeks off at Christmas or spring break and that routine is is broken, I turn into a third shifter. So I stay up all night. I start like painting, you know, the walls at like 10 o'clock at night. And I don't necessarily like I'll sleep in, but I'll take a nap here and there. And it's just my routine is so I love routine, I love the school year routine. Um, I fall into it easy. And as far as uh the summer goes, I have been lucky enough to work for our district year-round. So when we park our bus at the end of the year, I switch over to the maintenance side. I help paint or weed or or carry boxes, whatever. But there's no room in the budget for that anymore. They're not putting on any extra help, which I feel bad for everybody in the summertime because it's busy. You think of all the students that have all their records and stuff have to move to the next building. Yeah, that's that is a lot of work. And but I did get a summer job. I got the summer gig. Um, the summer, you know, we go to the zoo. What is it? Rec. Yeah, I got the summer daycare gig with some good drivers. So that's two to three times a week. You know, we go to the zoos, we go to the movies, we go to splash pads, and we start off, I think, right away, like the the then wait, I think we have a week off, and then we start right at it. So I'll have that to do, and then um, I got a backup job too. So yeah, I mean it's it's gonna be a different routine. Like I said, I I love the school year routine. I do, I love it.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Yeah, I think I'm with you. I do like a routine, but I also excited to have the flexibility. But my wife always says, Hey, you because it usually she just lets me go, right? And then I'm like two weeks into summer break. Um, and now remember, oh, long, long time ago, I was laid off in the winter, so I had a bigger stretch. I mean, I still worked, but there was no like schedule, and she's like, she sees me starting to like and she's like, You need to give yourself a schedule. And I usually dialed in, like, you know, maybe do you follow her around?

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Like, what are you doing today? What do you got going on?

SPEAKER_03 4:39

No, what are you doing? No, I usually I'll you get a little depressed sometimes, and she's like, Hey, what's going on? And I was like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

You know, it's just uh it's it is for people that like it, like what you know. I mean, we had a uh for me, I had a great year, kids are good, we had a fun time. I'm I miss it. I I need you know, I'll need a break, a three-day weekend, four-day weekend here and there, but year-round school for me, I'd probably do pretty well.

SPEAKER_03 5:07

No, I'm looking forward to the break, and um, yeah, no, I couldn't I couldn't do it year round, but um, yeah, we're we're ready to go too. Um, interested to see, it's always you you think about your big bad fourth graders going into the big bus, and now you know it's just it's a big shift for them because they've gone from the back of the bus to now they'll go to the front. At least I put all my fifth and sixth up at the front.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

Just because that's just how it works, man. You know, yeah, you gotta re realign yourself in the pack. But um, I have a couple kids that I think will struggle a little bit, they're just very um they're very meek, and I and and I hope that the bus that they're going to it'll be okay for them because I think they'll be shocked at some of the things, depending on the the driver, right? Because like I wouldn't be worried about them going on your bus. And I'm actually not worried, I know where my kids are going, and I'm not particularly worried about it because I don't ever hear a report of that person, but I know there are buses that I would be like, oh shit, good luck, kid.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

I know everything that we taught them is just gonna go right out the window, right?

SPEAKER_03 6:24

Right. So all right. Well, that was a that was a big one two-minute intro, but I thought, you know what? We're wrapping up for the year.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

So we are wrapping up, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:34

So stories from the road. Um, I'll go first. So I was doing one of my extra runs and uh came back, and usually when I'm bringing these kids back, they're zonked. A lot of them are just zonked.

Funny Falls And Storm Pickup Calls

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Yeah, that's an early morning.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

Yeah, they're tired, and it's fine. I look back there, and there's some some kids chattering, but a lot of them it's head back, you know, drool coming out, and uh, and this one kid got off or got up and he had been sleeping. I had I had seen him in the back, and he was like, Oh gosh, my leg fell asleep. And so he just got up and started walking. Well, it didn't work on the steps, and he crashed all the way down the steps, and like it was a mix of like people were laughing. I was like, Are you okay? But I was like chuckling at the same time, and he's fine, and then I see him over there just shaking it out. I'm like, I've never seen anyone do that. Like, I've done fewer.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

He's a sat on it a whole way home or something, and it's not even that long of a ride.

SPEAKER_03 7:45

But if he cashed out right away and sat on that leg, but yeah, it uh it was freaking funny.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Did he walk away?

SPEAKER_03 7:54

Yeah, he he hold on. Oh yeah, he uh he he limped away and then sat by the the light pole and like shook his leg out for like as I was pulling away, he was still there, but he seemed to be okay with it. It it's happened to the best of us, but I wish I could pull that camera because that that camera shot is kids coming down coming up and down the stairs, and it would have been perfect to see it. But yeah, so and then today we uh we had a pretty decent storm right during pickup. That was good, and I was wondering, I don't think I've ever experienced where it was like booming and lightning. I mean, we've experienced rain during pickup, and this was for the older kids, so I was curious what they were gonna do, and they seemed to do okay. They kept kids in. I actually um uh my son was texting me. My my youngest is uh is uh at the high school, and uh he was worried about it. I'm like, hey, just stay inside until you see the buses. I know that's not ideal for the bus drivers, but you know, we get it. But I feel like our district did pretty good. So I'm just asking our listeners, like, what does your district do? Do they just say see uh, we don't care? I mean, I don't I don't even know if there's a policy in place at the buildings. I know we don't really have one, but we kind of just did it.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Oh, there is, yeah. We um definitely tornado watches, parents are free to come and pick up their kids, but tornado warnings, obviously, they're gonna hold, you know, they're gonna hold the kids. With and we did have thunder and lightning. I was really surprised they didn't hold the kids inside, kind of for that, because that was a pretty good thunderstorm warning we had.

SPEAKER_03 9:48

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Is there I know there's a policy for tornadoes, but what about thunderstorms? For for me, when we're at when I'm doing outside, we kind of just make the call. Like if we're playing and it starts, obviously, if it's starting to pour, we're gonna go in, but if we see some lightning here and there, we may not go in right away. We kind of just look at the radar and see how it goes. I mean, I've never been told a policy for for for most of the right.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Yeah, now that I think about it, yeah. I think I think every building would have, you know, communication to the drive. Say, like, hey, if you're going to this building, they're gonna hold the kids for, you know. I mean, we live in a state where in five minutes we get all the weathers through, you know, at one time. So it uh it changes pretty quickly. And then what that storm went through and we had blue sky. Like 20 minutes later, you know, 20 minutes later, yeah. God, it got dark though.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

It did. That's what I was saying. It's so rare. I don't think I've ever been excuse me. There's the carbonation at pickup when it's like kabooing, like so. I was just I I it kind of was nice. I feel like it was good. Everyone kind of did what they were supposed to do, and everyone got home safe.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

My uh private school that I bring in over to the public, they every cloud they saw was rotation.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Oh geez.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Oh my gosh, there's rotation, there's rotation in that cloud. There's more I'm like, no, no, we don't have rotation. We did have some gusty winds, but I think as that strengthened across our state, I don't know. I haven't watched the news yet, but I think it was pretty bad.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

There was yeah, nothing horrible, but there was definitely some damage buildings I saw. Uh, it's it is funny, not funny, but when I'm uh on the playground, you the kids that have storm PTSD, like you anxiety, the clouds and they're running over to you, or you can just tell like they don't like it. If one raindrop hits, they're like, Are we going in?

unknown 11:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:43

And I'm like, it's cool. Like they, I'm like, I looked at the radar, there's no warnings or watches. Like, we're good. We want to keep you outside so you can run around. If it starts pouring, we're gonna go in. But right now we're perfectly safe. I'm not gonna put you in harm's way by any means, and that usually helps them.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

So, right, yeah, it's um good segue into mine. It's all my kids became meteorologists on the way, um, on the way over to the public school today. They all just like, okay, I got the radar up, Miss Joe, if you need if you need to see it, you know. I got through it, and I'm like, Yeah, I've been looking at it since last night. I knew the sucker was coming, you know. I'm I'm a big weather fanatic myself. And um, instead of getting on the bus and and just kind of waiting for everybody to get out, we were all outside the bus and looking at the clouds because it was coming through pretty fast. Yeah, and um ever all of them had just different theories about what's oh, this is gonna hit. Oh, see that shelf cloud? Once that passes, there's rain after, you know, it was oh, it was so funny just listening to them. Yeah, they're all just little meteorologists, and I think some were just like, Hey, I could actually be that when I grow up, you know.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

Yeah, it's it's the only job you can be right 100 or be wrong 100% of the time and still collect a salary.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Yeah, yeah, it was it that was fun. Um, and then my when my littles got on, it was over. Of course, it was getting brighter out, but you can tell some of them just don't like that that threat of you know storms.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

Well, I mean, even my son, we both my younger kids have been through when we used to live in a different area out in the country, we had straight line winds and it it toppled trees at our house. Like I scooped up the kids, we were just like eating, and it came out of nowhere. There was no warning, or maybe there was like a thunderstorm warning, and it got real quiet, just like they said. And I'm like, I'm nope. And so we went down, and by you know, by the time we got down, maybe 30 seconds later came up, and it had gone through. I mean, it had flipped our neighbor's trailer over. It was pretty intense. So he has it like anytime, anytime the alarms or the whatever tornado sirens go off, he's he's like, What's up? Let's let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

So yeah, let's head to the basement.

SPEAKER_03 13:58

Let's head to the basement.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

And I I was told, like, oh, there's a tornado warning. Everybody outside, see if you can find it. That is that is what my mom showed us. So I don't I don't even know what our basement looks like because we're like, you know, we're we're spotters at that point in our town. I love I love that the way my house faces with my porch, I can just go sit on it and watch it kind of come in. Um, it's always coming, you know, usually from the west. But yeah, I love the anticipation of severe weather. I obviously don't want anything bad to happen. My mom's got old trees around her house. I definitely don't want anything bad to happen, but that buildup too, you know, where the weather being on and the radar's on in the corner and it's coming. Yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

Cool. Uh, anything else for your story from the road?

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Um, I do. I I put it on there, but I think I was late. But I just have a cute little story. I pick up, um, well, let's do the drop off. So in the afternoon, I have a second grader and a first grader, a boy and a girl, that ride the whole way.

Two Quiet Kids And Big Feelings

SPEAKER_01 15:05

They're my very last drop in the afternoon. And they live by each other. So I drop at her driveway, and then the boy student will run down like three driveways to his. And they become, you know, good friends since they're both entered school and stuff. And I've um known their families for a while, and they are both kind of like old souls, they're very good, very kind of quiet. I mean, they're talking you know, they talk a lot, but and they sit together or they end up usually in the same seat uh for on the way home. And I listen to them like play on their afternoons. They'll be like, okay, now when Miss Joe drops us off, I'm gonna go in and unpack and then I'll run down to your house, okay? And it's just like the language of unpack, like, I'm gonna go throw my shit on the couch and then I'll be run down. Like, I'm gonna go unpack. It's so formal and almost just like they've done this before in past lives or something. And they are just they're adorable. Oh my god, they're adorable, and they're very considerate, you know. Please good morning, please and thank you. And they're like first and second grade. And you wonder, like, I don't know, like how long are they gonna know each other, you know? But hopefully neither one of them moves away, you know, at this age, because they're just and and then I see them like it's my last stop. So after I drop them off, I pull over and do my child check, and sure enough, there she goes down the road to get to his house, or he's running back to her, you know, and they just play, like they get on scooters and play. It's I don't know, it's adorable, and I'm secretly planning their wedding. Oh my goodness, it's just no, I'm not, but I love it.

SPEAKER_03 16:48

You know, it's funny with kids in relationships. Now they may be okay because they're neighbors, but working at the school, that stuff ebbs and flow. Like, yeah, it might be one. Like, I've there's a a girl that's moving on to fifth grade and is like my favorite, and it's it's tough. Like, I really like her, and I probably not gonna see her again, you know, at this point. Who knows? Maybe down the road, you never know what happens in the district where I end up driving for or what at school or whatever. But so I'm bummed about it. But I've seen her for second, third, and fourth. I've been there that long, and I've watched the friends that she's made, and it's it's it's not it doesn't ebb and flow every day, but like it would be three or four months, they would do this crew and three or four months or a whole year, and then they just which I guess that's natural. I just didn't expect that because like when they were best friends in second grade, I'm like, oh, they're riding dice, and then all of a sudden third grade, they're not playing together.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

Like at all. All right, business schoolbusbanter at gmail.com, and then of course our Facebook group link is in the description. Phone number is 757-529-1574. Hit it, hit us up. Don't forget about us in the summer. Uh, you know, we're always open for some stories and those kind of things, just kind of build for the 26-27 uh

How To Reach Us This Summer

SPEAKER_03 18:16

season for that. So check it out. I'll just do um tips and tricks. Uh go ahead, Joe. Mine is so I always say like it's not good. Not not that's what I say in my head. It's like it doesn't have a lot of chatter behind it, but then we'll end up talking for like 30 minutes. So go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

I think I mentioned it before in

Showing Up For Kids Off The Bus

SPEAKER_01 18:36

previous podcasts how I like to anyway. Um, I ask I get involved in my kids and I ask, like, okay, who's got a sport tonight or or who's in the play tonight? Um, and then if I'm not busy, I will go to that sport or I'll drive for that sport or field trip or whatever. And then um, you know, when your kids see you, um, I live right by the softball fields. And so recently I walked over there and saw, I don't know, three kids that I just dropped off, and we had fun with that. And I'm like, hey, I just brought you home. What are you doing here? You know, yeah, and um and then one was playing softball and looked up and saw me and waved, you know, I'm just like, oh, you don't get hit by the ball. And it's just it's really cool that community, that can you know, because it's I feel that's my community, born and raised here. That's that's what I can do. I love that. And today we got to go to the high school, grab the seniors that went to a particular elementary school. So we have what four, five, six, seven elementaries, something like that. I think. Yeah, so seven buses today. The seniors came out in their cap and gowns, or at least their gowns, they got on the bus that was going to the elementary school that they went to. So I picked the one that I was lunchroom lady at and playground and whatnot, popcorn mom and all that. And it was all through COVID and stuff. So I was hoping when these kids saw me that I was driving the bus, we were going back to the elementary school. Um, and they did, they're all just like, oh my gosh, you know, you are a lunch lady. And I took them there. Someone had pictures with me, and I'm like, Oh my gosh, I'm just your lunch lady, you know. But it just was like part of the community, they remembered me, you know, and and it felt felt really good. And one kid got off and he goes, You're not gonna remember me. And I said, pancakes, and you wanted extra syrup all the time. I don't know if you've ever worked in a lunchroom, but pancake day, syrup day is sticky, you're just head to toe, you're covered in it. Yeah, you're just one sticky person. And this student in particular just was like, Can I have more syrup? More syrup, more syrup. There's more syrup than pancake. And I remembered that. And he was like, could not believe that I remembered that. It was fun today. It was fun. And those see their seniors, like they're gonna go on, and who knows when I'll see them again, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:52

I think that's the best part of longevity in a in a in a school system like that, where you've watched the kids. It's like, you know, you watch you have your own kids, right? But you see them every day. And so this is like, yeah, when you work in the lunchroom, you saw them every day, but then you moved on, and then you get to come back and see them again. Like it's it's a super cool thing.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

It was. They um the boys went and played basketball with some of the kids, they all walked the halls. All the you know, kindergartners got to see, like, hey, these are seniors that they were in kindergarten once, you know, and they walked outside and they played the senior anthem. What is that?

SPEAKER_03 21:31

Oh, the graduation song.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

The graduation walk, yeah. There we go. And they played that like they looped it over and over. But it was um, yeah, it was cool to see that. Really cool. I love it. I felt part of it.

SPEAKER_03 21:43

I love the syrup kid, that's amazing. Like syrup kid, yeah. He uh he remembered that and you remember that, so that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Yeah, oh, I circled his table all the time. I was like, Oh, you're not I'm not taking you home, so go ahead, sugar it up.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

Oh god. That I worked in the lunchroom for Like one, not even a full school year, and then I got the opportunity to go outside. I'm like, I'm out. Uh, one of the reasons it wasn't because of the mess, it was just it was so it was so loud for one because you know you got all these kids in the gym, and it was tough to manage the kids. It's it's tough. Like on the on the playground, they're more spread out. It's just easier to manage problem kids, but like it's just tough in the lunchroom.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

In the lunchroom, they want to act like the playground, right? You know, and you and you can't, and they've been sitting all morning, and now you have to make them sit through lunch and it echoes and it's sticky, and the tables and yeah, and then they go outside. It's yeah, it was tough. Um, I used a headset so I didn't have to yell or anything, and I just made games, you know. We had we had state versus state games, and you know, like that would just make it fun during that, but and birthday, we always recognize birthdays too, and it just took a couple minutes off their lunch, you know.

SPEAKER_03 23:02

I think the building I work for now is changing next year how it works. They're gonna every kid is gonna be play outside first and then eat, play outside first and then eat because I think that's a great idea because it gets them, they burn their energy, they're hungry, they want to eat. A lot of kids don't want to eat right away, and they might be have less behavior issues. You might think, well, they're coming in from it. I'm like, yeah, but they'll they need to go out and you know do their thing. So once they're done with that, they can maybe we'll chill out a little bit in the lunchroom and eat their foods.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Yeah, I could see that for me.

SPEAKER_03 23:39

So we talked about um the tickets you and I talked about. I don't know what episode, don't remember. When I hit stop recording, I don't remember anything unless I until I edit it. And then after that, I definitely don't. But um, we talked about you doing tickets, I started doing tickets, and it's

Simple Rewards That Actually Work

SPEAKER_03 23:56

kind of turned into and and I and I spoke of this. It's like I don't know what they get. Um, it's kind of a lottery system. I did have a couple kids last week say, Mr. Jerry, I won this from the ticket you gave me. And I thought, oh, that was cool because I I hadn't heard that. It was just this little fucking duck. I'm just like, really? No, it's like Jesus. They seemed excited about it, but I'm like, okay, whatever. So next year, this is what I'm gonna do. You're gonna have to hold me to this.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Accountable, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:28

Uh yeah. So next year, I think I'm gonna get the two-ticket system. I'm just gonna buy my own role, and I'm gonna give you one, and you have to hold on to it. That's the key. So this is gonna be a key for them. I'm gonna give it to you on Friday. And when you come in Friday at noon or Friday afternoon, there will be a number on the board. You pull your ticket out and you win. And it's gonna be like a little baggie with like a couple of suckers. This like it's not just one thing, and then we'll have to do it on the honor system, but then they can't participate next week. Say my yes until every everyone's done, and then we'll do it all over again.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Yep, yeah, that's I do.

SPEAKER_03 25:12

So it's a little excitement for their day on Friday. They they anticipate, oh, what's it gonna be? And maybe I'll try to change it up each week or each month or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

List your winners up there. Yeah, keep your winners listed up there. I only do that's a good idea. Yeah, I only do, you know, I I only have enough, I do like 10 kids a year that that win something. And so, yeah, because it's once a month, usually. So, not you know, I don't even get through the whole bus on that. But I asked them, I said, Do we want to do this? Do you think it's fair? Here's the rules. Once you win, you can't, and then we start over next year, you know.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

But and they were okay with that.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Yeah, they're okay with it, yeah. And um, then put your winners up on up on the that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_03 25:55

Then I won't forget. I can just put the ticket and write their name on it. So then if they say, I know I haven't I haven't won before, I just look up and go, Yes, you have.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Yeah, there's your winners, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:06

Yeah, it's not gonna be anything crazy, but just a little upgrade from like because I give the kids candy the last Friday of the month, so it'll be a little upgrade from that one piece.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

It'll be a little baggy, maybe with a sticker, I don't know, some yeah, and that's what I put next to um when you said your ticket plan. I put remember to get stickers, go to my go to Michael's, go to Hobbit something. They got packs of stickers by subjects. So get your dogs, your cat, your animals, your sports, you know. They love those stickers, they go on their water bottles. Oh, yeah, they love those.

SPEAKER_03 26:38

I have adult people in my life that give me a hard time because I have a Taylor Swift sticker on my water bottle, which I do like her. I mean, I don't actively listen to her, but like if she comes on the radio or a or a playlist, I'm jamming. Um but I have it, I have the sticker on the water bottle because one of my kids gave it to me. They're like, Why do you the adults in my life are like, Why do you have a Taylor Swift sticker? I'm like, because one of my bus kids gave it to me. So I slapped it on there. What do I give a shit about it? Right. It made their day and it's fun. So fuck off.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

Somebody gave me stickers. I put them on my hands because that's where you know they they like to put something on, you know, or put them on something, and plus she already peeled it off the paper. So I had them on hands, those freaking things stayed on my hands. I washed my hands and I had them on when I was driving her home.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

Really?

SPEAKER_01 27:25

They used to they lasted the whole time.

SPEAKER_03 27:28

Holy cow. All right, uh, what grinds our gears? Uh, for me, this was tough. I actually had tough finding uh uh uh grind my gear that wasn't going to alienate my district. I even hey, I love my district, but there are some things that I'm struggling with right now, so but I didn't bring

Subs Reports And Drivers Cutting In

SPEAKER_03 27:50

that up. Uh so I I deleted it. I was like, nah, I don't want to do that. But um, I have had a few days off, and um, so obviously you have a substitute, and uh, so I'm getting reports from the kids, and and I I don't know how to believe it, and maybe I should, but one of them was or they both said they were very mean and they drove really fast. And I'm like, okay, and so the fast one is interesting because I don't drive fast. No, I mean I get into the gas because half the time I'm pulling out in front of a car because I'm like, shit, I gotta, you know, I just gotta go now. Yeah. And you're like, if I wait, you know, I want to be on schedule, I want to be on time, and not to be unsafe, but you know, I'm into that gas. But like, I don't know if it was it's because of my car, and I don't know if you know what one pedal driving is, but basically I don't use the brake in my car, I use the gas to kind of just slow my car down. So I've you I've bit really gotten the habit of like feathering things, and so I don't scream up to the lights and slam on the brakes and stuff, and so yeah, I just wondered do you get that about I'm fuck, you took one day off this year, other than maybe I think one day, right? Yeah, you didn't get sick at all this year, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Mm-mm.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

Me either. Oh no, I lied. I did call in one day, I'd had a horrible fever, but anyways, so I got that report because I have a couple of uh older kids, well, they're in my older bus that like to talk to me, and so I'm just like, well, you know, it's it I this is what this is my go-to line. It's really tough to be a substitute bus driver. Yeah, because I know it is, it sucks.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

I'm I'm going off of what I think you said the other day inside was like, I don't ask anymore.

SPEAKER_03 29:40

Oh no, no, I don't ask the subdriver how the kids were. Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

I don't I don't know, I don't ask who drove for me, I don't ask the kids how the start like it's just a brand new day and off we go because I mean it's there's too much, I think, anxiety of what am I supposed to do for you can't do anything, the day's done. It's not move on if a kid acted up, well, move on, and he's not acting up right now for me because I'm back, you know. I've seen cute signs for like when the bus driver is gone, like you know, Miss Joe was not kidnapped by aliens. She's because you know the kids all go to different places in their head, like, is she ever coming back?

SPEAKER_03 30:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

But it's um, I think I'm gonna like have one of those signs ready for when I have a sub. But yeah, it just happened to be a good year for me where I didn't need any time off, and who knows what next year brings when you know, different viruses and vaccines or whatever. Um, but I did I did fine this year, and when I took that one day off, I didn't hear anything. I didn't ask, and I feel good about it.

SPEAKER_03 30:47

Did you tell them that you were gonna be off? Nope. Okay, see, I never tell them either. I just uh I think I think my girls that sit behind me, they know I'm gonna be off this Friday. Um, because we kind of it just kind of came out in conversation, but like for the most part, I just don't tell. I just yeah, yeah, nope. I had had a day off.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

I don't want my older kids trying to sneak friends home, so that's why I don't tell them.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

Oh, yeah, Friday. Fridays are tough for that.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Yeah. We have a lot of, you know, uh think we're Uber drivers, and they just, you know, hey, come on over. And then my little kids, it's too much for them to just know that I'm not gonna be there and who's gonna be driving for them. And the one time that I was gone last year, that um subdriver they got into a little accident.

SPEAKER_03 31:35

So that's right. That was your boss, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Yeah, they don't like be me being gone. So I try not to be, and I mean you gotta do what you gotta do, but I you know, like they make it worth my while to come in every day. So yeah, it's it it was um it was hard to be gone, but I I was fine. I don't know who drove, and I'm okay with that. We just start a new day.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

It's a good idea. I was thinking about like not telling the littles because it some of them can cause anxiety. It's like why, why, why cause any more than you have to? It's already tough to be a kid sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:10

Um, so why why cause any any more issues? But yeah, and then the other thing I put on is here I talk about pulling in front of cars, cars who pull out in front of a big bus. I had a day last week, it happened twice in the row, twice in a row on the same effing street within like a minute, but like apart. And I'm like, I don't know if you see the bus and you're like, oh, it's slow. I'm like, no, I'm a chug of chuggin'. Like, yeah, unless you see me go from a red light, which is gonna take me a little bit to get going, hence, you know, trying to get into the gas. Yeah, but if I'm cruising, I'm cruising, I'm doing the speed limit just like you are. And if you pull out in front of me and don't get on the gas, I'm gonna be right up your ass. Yep, you are right up your ass.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Yeah, same. And they their their mentality of thinking is I have to get in front of the bus because we're gonna be making multiple stops and we're gonna slow them down.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

I don't know if you've rode behind a school bus, but we give you the opportunity to go around us quite a few times.

SPEAKER_03 33:18

We try the best we can, yeah. But yeah, it was just and I want I've yet to drum roll, I've yet to give a drive another driver the middle finger. No, our drivers I've given the middle finger to, but like when I'm being pissed, I usually just have I put my hands up like this, and hopefully they look in the mirror like, bro, what are you doing? But yeah, that is just so frustrating, and thank God I pay attention because if there's you know, fuck.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

I know I say that too. I'm like, I am big and yellow. Did you not see me?

SPEAKER_03 33:50

No, I I think you're right. I think they're trying to get ahead of you, but like the roads that I were on were not like I mean, I get they were it was kind of a business district-esque. I mean, there was some homes around, but like the chances of me, whatever, it doesn't matter, they're stupid. So what about you?

SPEAKER_01 34:07

Yeah, well, I have that, you know, as a subdriver, or when I don't ask, don't ask, don't tell, they don't want to hear about it unless something was as horrible. But right, I have an issue and I want to know with our listeners too if they have just

Privacy And Professionalism In Dispatch

SPEAKER_01 34:25

drivers that just hang out in the office part all the time. So not the lounge, but the office part, like where dispatches and the phone calls are coming through. So I sometimes need to get in there and have a one-on-one conversation with you know, either our boss or one of the ladies in there that can help us through something. I don't need eight drivers in there listening to my story, right? And I don't need them to know who the kids are because chances are some of them are gonna know some of the kids or their parents. And this is every day. Every day. Now, this is a touchy subject for me because I like you know the camaraderie, how do you say it? Yep, thank you. I like that. I like how safe it is in there. Like you can go in there, you can say anything, they're they're willing to help, they're willing to listen, but sometimes it needs to be private. And nothing's changed all school year. Like we oh sorry, I thought I heard of the tornadoes that went going on. Um we've had bad weather today, but shit, dude. Don't scare me. I know. Um so am I just being a bitch about it? Because this has been going on all year.

SPEAKER_03 35:46

No, I don't think you're being a bitch about it. Now, just from my for my clarification, have you did you mention that to somebody and say it's a problem?

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 35:57

To the person that's doing it or to your someone. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

I mean, I was very nice about it. Yeah. But it's not a safe place when there's, you know, four drivers sitting on chairs like they're just camping out. Like they sh no show when you walk in there with a face like I need to talk to somebody, they look like they get popcorn out and they're like, Oh, what are we gonna hear today? What's the drama? They don't leave. They don't I yeah, I'm sorry. No, no, that's fine. They don't take a a hint and leave.

SPEAKER_03 36:32

Right. I think a lot of people don't understand, like, and again, I don't know what the policy is. I always talk about policy, right? And we don't know half of them because we don't um I don't I'm gonna stop it there. But what the policy is about talking about other students because I think a lot of drivers don't care and they just like it's just like tea to them, not like drama, but like, oh, I want to know what happened on your boss, yeah, and how I can insert my two cents into yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

I don't need that, right? Um, I probably have you know 10 years over a lot of these drivers. I need professionalism at this point, you know. Yeah. So yeah, it it bothered me this year quite a bit.

SPEAKER_03 37:17

Yeah, I I would see you and I are different, and I'm not like everybody, and I'm not like you, and blah, blah, blah. We're all different. But if I if I had to do that, I would just bust in there and be like, hey, I need a private conversation with so-and-so. If you can leave, that'd be great.

SPEAKER_01 37:31

Yep, I do.

SPEAKER_03 37:32

And they do leave.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

No, they stay there. We have to leave and go into an office and shut the door.

SPEAKER_03 37:40

I mean, I guess I mean that's better than nothing.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

Yeah, but get a clue.

SPEAKER_03 37:47

Yeah. Well, that's gonna be changing soon, so yeah, probably. Hopefully. But uh, yeah, get a clue. It's just but yeah, I think they they either want the tea or they just don't understand the privacy thing of like, yeah, you know, I don't want to. I mean, do I want to want the tea? Yeah, do if do I want the tea? Of course. If something happens, I want to know because I'm the biggest gossip there is. And not gossip, I just like to know. I like to be in the know about what's going on. But also, you yeah, it's a professionalism, like, hey, yeah, obviously. So, with this scenario, what would you like to see happen?

SPEAKER_01 38:26

Just know I'd like to walk in and go clear the room.

SPEAKER_03 38:30

Okay, but I mean, like, where do you say like you can't socialize in this office? Like, where, like, is somebody does somebody have to say that? Like, I guess I don't you kind of want like because then it becomes like this is our office, don't come in here and talk to us unless it's business, right? So there's got to be where is the balance there of like because obviously the person that is talking to the dispatcher isn't getting it. The dispatcher is maybe doesn't want to say anything. Too nice, yeah. They're very nice. Yep. So it's like, where do we figure out a happy medium?

SPEAKER_01 39:02

Um, I think it's when a different person walks in there per se. I don't go in there, so if I were to walk in and give a look to one of our ladies, they're like, Okay, everybody's gotta go. We need to talk about stuff. I wish it would be that blatantly obvious.

SPEAKER_03 39:17

Right. That's and that's that's completely reasonable. I was just curious what you wanted.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:22

Uh, because I don't want I wouldn't want to be like, no, don't if like if that was me, I would be like, because then then you then you it become you become unapproachable.

SPEAKER_01 39:31

Yeah, exactly. I want to I want it to be nice, and so nine times out of the ten, I try and just solve it by myself or talk to you or something, you know, because I walk in there and go, fuck, I can't even say anything, you know, and I don't want to wait. I'm not gonna wait. We got things to do at the end of the day, I'm not gonna wait for their conversation to be done.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

Yeah. Have you ever thought about sending uh like a like a voice message? I I send that person voice messages quite a bit if I have issues.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

Oh nah, I went to the boss, it's fine, we're almost done. I can handle something.

SPEAKER_03 40:03

No, no, no, yeah, I know. Yeah, things are things are moving and shaking a little bit. So, but okay, well, hopefully next year it'll be different because that that's super frustrating. I'm I'm with you on that.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 40:16

Anything else for this last episode? Of course, we got to record news yet. We got some uh got some news. Got some news, so that'll be a good episode too. But um, yeah, I just want to thank the listeners for um listening and and tuning in. We had a pretty good we had a pretty good week for downloads

Season Wrap And Summer Break Plans

SPEAKER_03 40:34

too, so that's good. I just just we will be back. I know you're not gonna see anything on your feed for a couple months, but obviously we can't talk about bus driving when I mean no.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

What if I get something really good over the summer though?

SPEAKER_03 40:46

Can we like just scoot in and go just you know well here here's what we can do we can maybe do like a a a mid-July episode of things that maybe you've collected or whatever, and just to kind of refresh the feed a little bit. I I don't have a problem with that. I'm excited for the break. Uh the show I have is pretty every week, and the only time we break is during the holidays. So I'm excited to have like season one is done, and we get to you know take a break, refresh, and get going and what like this is hard.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

All I have to do is talk. You do all the hard parts.

SPEAKER_03 41:23

Yeah, we'll we'll talk after the show. That'll be up to you.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Don't leave me.

SPEAKER_03 41:27

That'll be an offline conversation.

SPEAKER_00 41:29

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 41:30

That they say, isn't that like a business talk? Like, you know what I mean? Like we're gonna circle back. We're gonna pick a phone. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

Put a put a pin in it.

SPEAKER_03 41:37

Put a pin in that. Like like that's like the original like business talk. Put a pin in it. So all right. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

Thanks for a great summer. And as always, are you ready, Jair?

SPEAKER_03 41:49

I'm ready. Same kids, different stories, and for the love of holy god for the rest of the summer, please say just say ten four.