So I've been neglecting the blog recently, but something happened last night to spur me into posting, mostly because it's a really galling example of the extent to which people manage to convince themselves that they're so damn important.
Sara and I had gotten on a bus in search of dessert, part way along the trip this really distraught woman jumps on the bus telling the bus driver that she had left her bag on a previous bus. We were sitting about three quarters of the way down the back of the bus and I pick this all up in the space of about 10 seconds. I wasn't initially paying that much attention, she was quite loud, it was reasonably difficult to miss. So the bus driver, apparently being the decent sort, was attempting, I believe, to get in contact with someone back at base, trying to find this woman some help. She didn't appear to have a phone, keys or anything on her, it was all gone with the bag. I imagine most people would only go up to a bus driver asking for help like that if they really didn't have anything at all.
Anyway, cut to about 5-6 minutes later when the bus is still in the same place, woman still distraught and the bus driver is still trying to help. A bunch of strangers sitting right near us start bitching about the fact that the bus isn't moving. I, too, was a bit annoyed at the hold up, but what followed next more than shoved me to the side of the distraught woman and the bus driver. The whining got louder and louder and they started making suggestions anyone with mild observation skills would realise were useless. "She should file a report with the police" Uhuh, yep, definitely, because she totally has a way to contact the police when it appears she has no phone. Never mind that lost bags on buses have nothing to do with the police, it's a Sydney Buses matter. Well done, you're a fuckwit. "She should ring the police and get a lift home". Ignoring the lack of phone this time, let's consider the fact that she doesn't appear to have keys. What's she going to do when she gets there? Sleep on the doorstep along with the 10 year old boy who was with her? Seriously? You win the douchebag award, it comes with a free nozzle.
Then this charming group of strangers, united by the intense agony of sitting in a clean, comfortable air-conditioned bus start yelling up the front trying to find out what was wrong. What was wrong here was their inability to not behave like petulant children and fucking wait. They start whinging about how they should just get off the bus and get on another one, I (and probably quite a few other people) silently hope they do, to get some peace and quiet back. They half get up like they're making a stand or some shit, talk about oppression. One of them whinges about the bus not going anywhere and them having places to be, "then get off and walk" I shoot back. "I paid money," was the feeble reply. Because I'm sure you've made nothing but sound investments in your life and this bus trip was going to break the bank.
Anyway, a whole 12 minutes later, after much posturing and whining, the bus finally gets going. But not before the jerks finally work out that the woman left her bag on another bus and start implying that it must be filled with drugs. Stay classy, jerks. The jerks applaud, because you know they have such important places to be that helping this woman who really needed it was out of the question. I'm not a particularly empathetic person, I was irritated by the delay until I saw the reaction of these entitled pricks. The delay would have been much more pleasant if they'd just shut the fuck up instead of pretending like they were genuinely hard done by.
Sara and I finally made it to our destination, so we got off the bus, and I called a "thanks" to the bus driver, as much to thank him for his helping the woman as it was to piss off any jerks that were apparently doing it tough.
We were walking to the ATM when we passed two of the jerks, one of which had complained about "having places to be" considering what they were going to have for dinner. They had literally gotten off the bus, walked off in one direction, since changed their minds and turned around and still had no specific destination in mind. This is "having places to be". Because it wouldn't have been remotely possible for them to spend that agonising 12 minutes discussing what they might like to have for dinner, no they had to spend it whining.
I swear, this sort of stupidity and pack mentality is what starts wars. They refused to empathise, they had no genuine interest in knowing what was actually happening and they made things up about her which apparently made it okay to behave as though she was less than any of us and therefore not worthy of help. Occasionally I try to think better of the human race, and then you see shit like this, people all too willing to stomp all over others because of a sense of entitlement. If nothing else, I certainly learnt something valuable, and all in the space of 12 minutes.
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