Quote:
Originally Posted by JD10367
It's always good to get a reality check. If you think your life is tough, I suggest you come to NYC and visit the Port Authority bus terminal at one in the morning. Jesus H ona raft... I'm never complaining about my life again. I swear I heard the Cantina band and saw Obi-Wan cut someone's arm off...
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UPDATE: I'm back from Atlantic City alive. I'm sure you're all relieved.
The bus from NYC to AC was pretty weird. It only had about 8 people on it, yet two of them insisted on almost getting into a fight. Then, of course, the instigator of the fight (we'll just call this character Loud Talks-To-Himself Sociopathic Drug Addict) has to move up to the seat behind me and spend the rest of the ride talking loudly to himself how he's gonna f**k the kid up when they get off the bus, and basically mumbling to himself using various curse words. Unfortunately, I got off the the Bus Terminal, and they went on to the casino stop, so I don't know how the ass-kicking went.
To get back, I decided to get on the bus at 1:00am at the Hilton casino, instead of at the bus station at 1:30am. Figured I'd get a better seat, and there would be less weirdos, and I could throw some money at the slots to kill time. 1:00am, no bus. 1:15am, no bus. 1:30am (the time it's supposed to be at the bus terminal), no bus. Now I'm panicking, standing in the drizzle and looking around for the bus or for a cab to take to the terminal in the hopes that a.) he forgot to stop at the casino and b.) he's running late and is at the station. I'm standing on the sidewalk, in the drizzle, not a soul in sight except for a guy on his bicycle who asks if I have a cellphone he could borrow (to which, of course, I said no, and then of course HE started muttering... he must've been related to the other guy). Finally, the bus pulls in; the reason they're late, is because it's a trainee driver. This guy COULD NOT DRIVE FOR SHIT. I've never driven a bus before, and I know I could've done a much better job. Every turn was a slow, pole-scraping adventure. The guy training him literally told us, "If you feel unsafe, sit in the fifth row of farther back, 'cause if he hits something only the first four rows are in real trouble."
This bus is supposed to pull back into the NYC Port Authority at 3:50am, and my connecting bus leaves at 4:45am. This slow-driving trainee pulled into the terminal at 4:32am. I spent the last 15 minutes of the ride thinking about having to spend four hours at the Port Authority waiting for the next New England-bound bus; if I'd missed my bus, I probably would've just thrown my wallet on the floor and stabbed myself a few times, to save everyone else the trouble. Luckily I found the connecting bus's gate with 5 minutes to spare.
I take the Greyhound once every 10 years. Last time was around 1999. God-willing, next time will be never, but hopefully not until 2019 at least...