To take part in discussions on talkSFU, please apply for membership (SFU email id required).

Stop saying thank you to the bus driver

edited October 2010 in General
I don't understand why everyone has to say thank you to the bus driver here. I have never witnessed that kind of behaviour in Toronto, Spain, Miami, London or Scotland. People think they're being polite but it's ridiculous...how would you feel if part of your job was getting thanked literally thousands of times a day, all day, every day? It has to get completely monotonous and irritating. That bus driver has to make the same trip over and over again and so every 15 minutes it's just thank you, thanks, thank you, thank you, thanks...
It's cool to thank people for something they're doing less often, like drawing your blood at the doctor's clinic or bringing your food at the restaurant, but the bus driver has literally more than 20 people thanking him or her at a time, which is like going into the back of the restaurant and thanking them every single time they wash a dish.
Not to mention the fact that all this politeness is mostly insincere, so we're becoming more and more like a McDonalds generation of 'have a nice day' bullsh!tters instead of actually meaning anything. Does anyone else have this pet peeve?

Comments

  • Are you kidding me? Its simply showing appreciation for someone who does something for you.
  • lol i've thought this many times too, but for some reason when i'm about to leave the bus i just feel the need to say thanks... it's just a nice thing to do bruh, and i'm sure a lot of the drivers appreciate it compared to how many jerks ride the bus and don't show any appreciation
  • edited October 2010
    Hey, just be glad we're not supposed to tip them.

    I see where you're coming from though, and while I usually don't thank them on busy buses, I *do* thank the bus driver in certain situations. Eg. leaving a bus with a few people on it, in a residential neighbourhood, through the front door. If you walk right past them out the door without acknowledging their presence, it's kind of an unfriendly, awkward gesture. Saying thanks is just basic decency.

    Besides, you thank other service employees, right?

    Grocery clerk: Here are your groceries. Have a nice day!
    Sane Human Being: Thanks, you too!
    ... vs
    Creepy Serial Killer??: (stares at clerk, walks away silently)
  • @Ether hahaha well put

    ... walks away silently :|
  • well.. if you think about some of the attitude and violence (verbal/physical) some drivers have to go through.. i just think it makes their day a bit better and less stressful.. it's always nice to have someone be appreciative of what you do not because it is your job or part of your job duties.. a lot of people just take for granted that you must do well on your job when if you really think about it.. they could just do the bare minimal and be okay with that..

    i've had bus drivers stop right in front of my gate and watch me get in and lock the gate before driving off in the evening or stop in front of the bus shelters so you didn't have to get wet.. they're nice people.. so thank them.. =)
  • edited October 2010
    Also, if taking the bus is your only option to get around trust me you become a lot more appreciative and grateful of the transit system here. I lost my licence for 6 months last year, and if it wasn't for the skytrain/bus I would have been stuck at home with no life and no job. That's when you realize the true value of bus drivers, and you can't help but say thanks!

    Interesting observation though, I was actually wondering about this msyelf... it helps to hear other opinions and talk about it lol
  • Thanatos is right in the sense that some people might be really saying Thank just because they see others doing that, so it has a bit to do with peer pressure/comformity. Sometimes I do that too; but in other cases I would really mean it if that bus driver has done extra work by simply being helpful and sympathetic to his/her customers. Some of them are really nice, but I've seen some are really shitty (like seeing students chasing the bus right from the front window and close the door right on their face when they arrive at the door - at the 49th Langara stop).

    So I guess just be thankful to those who are nice.. =)
  • In shops, I've taken to saying "you're welcome" when the assistant thanks me (as they usually do here in England, apart from in the Asian-run shops - that's from experience, not racism, and we use Asian to mean very specific Asians here, usually brown-skinned), so I shall do the same with the bus driver. They should be thanking me for my custom, and I'll say "you're welcome". If they don't, then I shall say nothing. Simple. Thanking someone for taking your money is ludicrous. I do say thanks in an eating establishment though so they're less likely to spit in my food.
  • Thank you
  • I'd much rather take insincere politeness than sincere dickishness.
  • Honestly I think if people want to thank them, then thank them, but if they don't want to, then just don't. I don't think I've ever had a bus driver not say 'you're welcome' or did an acknowledging gesture whenever anyone said thank you. It clearly makes their day and yeah, their trips are monotonous and the same but having some human interaction is nice too. That why you'll see most of them perk up when someone starts a conversation with them on their ride home. Its always welcomed. May I remind you that these are the same bus drivers that wave to each other as they pass other buses! You don't see that everywhere either! People here say thanks to many people who are just 'doing their job' - bank clerks, cashiers etc, its just a nice way of being polite, bullshitted or not, the end result is always welcomed. I know you're just sharing an opinion/pet peeve, but it seems like there are worse things out there to be complaining about than this - just my opinion. ;)
  • quit whining u little pussy. u sound like an angry virgin.  actually u probably are an angry virgin.
  • Me thinks OP is just a miserable grump who thinks everyone should be like him
  • My thank you's are sincere because I thank them if: They are on time, let me on when I have insufficient change, let me on when my pass is a few days expired, they are polite themselves.

    I don't say thank you if: They are late or too early, force me to pay up all, impolite/mean. Also, if they don't let me on just for like two stops when there are already other people waiting and make me pay for it, I rip up the ticket and throw it on the back seat because they have to clean it. 

    I'm an asshole. 
  • Personnaly not a fan of people saying "thanks" as they leave the bus, but not a big deal - it's some Vancouver thing.  I do find myself often saying  "thanks" automatically when I get on the bus, but NOT, like BeAnBeAn, if the driver is rude...
  • Yeah when the driver makes you pay, its so rude. I hate when I go to the store and they make me pay for my groceries too, fucking assholes.
  • Fuck you @112233 back then when I was a kid and only had like 75 cents and needed to get home and it's like 11pm and they won't even have the decency to let me on that's just bullshit. Dodging fairs don't even account for the smallest fraction of what the transit union rapes out of TransLink BC and gov't tax payer subsidies. 

    The policy is actually not to confront passengers and let them come on even if they don't have fare to avoid confrontation but when drivers do, they are basically breaking policy. So fuck you and learn your shit asshole.
  • Yeah, and homeless people should be able to get free food from grocery stores...unless the cashiers don't have the decency to help em out.
  • So just because the policy is to not confront you it makes it okay? So what if no one pays? What makes you the special exception?

Leave a Comment