top ten; people you don't want to sit next to on a bus

Original Post Date: March 18, 2009

happy wednesday! it occured to me, i spend a lot of time on busses. i was on my way to school and started draming up this list,

10. chatters. i like talking as much as the next person, just not to strangers. I hate the people who sit down beside you want want your life story. those people who seem to have no idea how to read body language, in fact i bet they've never heard of it. this category also includes those annoying people who WAIL away on their cell phones, with no idea they're broadcasting their conversation to the entire bus.

9. school groups. thank goodness this has only happened to me once, but it was awful. i was just sitting there minding my own business when this SWARM of children got on the bus. it was awful! they were screaming and yelling, climbing all over the seats, pointing and staring and giggling. they filled the entire bus so the driver didn't bother letting people on anymore. but when it was finally time to get off, i had to claw my way through them just to get to the door.

8.bratty kids. this is kind of a continuation of the previous. i'm not sure what i think about kids on the whole? sometimes they're super cute, sometimes they annoy me. but invariably, the kids i meet on the bus are always awful. but i don't take crap for them either. haha. this is awful, but there was one time when this chubby little asian kid kicked me right in the shin and laughed in my face. his mom just looked at me, testing to see if i was annoyed. i wasn't, but an apology would have been nice! so when the mom wasn't looking, i kicked him back. not hard of course! but he wasn't laughing anymore =P

7. bag ladies. they're annoying to sit with? but i can't bag on them too much, i've been there. carrying multiple bags on public transit is not easy, but i'd rather give up my seat than be crushed in by a thousand packages. just what are they carrying anyway? there's always some random box that jabs you in the leg, you know waht i'm talking about. and then there was the time the woman next to me had two ferrets in her duffel...yeah

6. whisperers. (i apologize for these titles being SO lame! i'm on a lot of medication right now) so i got the idea for this list today when i was sitting beside a woman who was reciting prayers. i can admit it, i get creeped out really easily. but i mean in the movies when someone's on a bus full of people, head down, whispering, it's never good. those are the kinds of people you want to avoid.

5. false positives. ever smile at a cute guy, have him come over only to realize he's not as hot as you thought? cause now you're stuck with him for the rest of the ride. or maybe he IS cute but he proceeds to take out his laptop and paly World of Warcroft? (this happened to me last week?) it's like "yay!" then "ew!" i once heard a story about a girl who was sitting next to a guy on a laptop (more on them later) and he opened and email, wrote about how he thought she looked cute and wanted to get to know her, then passed the laptop to her and asked her to write her email address in the "To:" box, a little bit creepy but so cute! I still think it's a one in a million thing. it's never convenient to meet/pick up people on the bus. all the cute boys you may see just give you false hope.

4. exhibitionists. nothing spells romance like the mississauga transity system! although this could be the bitter singleton in me speaking, i think PDA on a bus is its nastiest variety! now on to the top three people you don't want to be stuck sitting beside!

3. munchers. i'm surprised the MTS actually lets people eat on busses! i mean, i may have done it once or twice but i still find it gross to sit beside someone who's eating. somehow they always make the whole bus smells. the worst is getting crumbs on YOUR shirt from a meal you didn't eat! and i feel like munchers always leave something behind, a little something to remember them by, a wrapper here, a piece of lettuce here, a spill there.

2. stinkers. i don't need to tell you that BO is one of the worst smells out there. it's the worst when it's the middle of summer, and someone climbs into the seat with you with fumes strong enough to make wallpaper curl. and when they leave? it's THEIR sweat that's making the damp spot on your t-shirt. (this has happened to me, it's awesome) but it's not just BO, i find people on busses smell really random. i always seem to end up sitting with those guys who mistake their bar of soap for a whack of prosciutto. seriously, why do some guys smell like him? i've never met a girl with this problem. not that they're perfect either, i've sat beside my fair share of ladies who smelled less than daisy fresh. and number one....

1. sickies. sick people are the absolute WORST. i'm like a part-time germaphobe. i don't touch door handles, or the escalator railing when i'm in public. but i hate when people are sick and you feel like you can see the germs coming off them. the sneeze and cough and you can feel a thousand germs coming at you. and of course, they never stay in a corner by themselves, they cosy up beside you, spreading their germs to the masses. this is my grossest story. there was this frail old lady who was coughing up a storm as she got on the bus and sat down beside me. naturally i pressed myself up against the wall as close as i could get. she started chewing on this candy cane. and the next time she coughed? a piece of candy cane flew out and stuck to my cheek. grossest. day. ever. (though the real moral of this story is not to put hand sanitizer on your face, it's very painful)

so that's it. the top ten people i avoid on public transit. what about you? who do you look for when you're choosing a seat if all the single ones are taken? have any interesting bus stories? (post them in the comments section!)

boo, that was a lot lamer than i expected it to be, was still fun to write though! mm. i found something for the "best of" section this week and i'm SO excited for you to see it. and guess what? my mom let me drop french! i've never understood what people meant by having "a weight lifted." i'm starting a new class on tuesday and i'll let you know how it goes. i'm still waiting to see if i got into either of the communications studies programmes though, so keep your fingers crossed. i blew my hair out, it was good times, BUT i had no camera to document it! absolutely awful. has it been four weeks yet? i'll have to do it again some time. i got some new makeup today too. excited to try it on tomorrow. hope all is well with you!

-lovelovelove.