At the Bus Stop

 

There has been quite a lot of talk this summer about school bus service. Time changes in the school day have produced challenges in the school bus department. Even now there is a good deal of concern about how it’s all going to work. 

This situation is largely out of our control but there is something we can do that can potentially improve the situation. I thought of it when I saw this post on Twitter the other day.

"Bus drivers interviewed as part of the research said passengers saying 'good morning' or 'thank you' had a positive impact on their happiness and job satisfaction, adding that it made them feel 'respected', 'seen' and 'appreciated.

Friendly greeting to the bus driver has positive impact on their happiness. Aine Fox, Independent UK

How often do you say hello to people like bus drivers? Many folks just breeze on by those who hold certain kinds of jobs without acknowledging them as human beings. They aren’t overtly rude. They just ignore them. It’s as though they believe that we have a societal agreement that a person in some particular jobs is a non-person. Invisible.

Now, there are plenty of ways that management can treat school bus drivers as people of value. Fair wages, benefits, respect in negotiations, for instance. But what if something as simple as saying hello and exchanging pleasantries could make each day easier to get through?

“Yes, but I don’t ride the school bus,” I can hear you saying. “It’s my kids.”

Do they know how to have that kind of social interaction? Are you raising them to believe that bus drivers are people, too? Do they witness you speaking to doormen and shop clerks and taxi drivers with kindness and respect? If not, where will they learn?

Most passengers believe saying hello has a positive impact on their bus driver, but less than a quarter bother to do so, according to research.

Children don’t always understand how much their behavior impacts others because developmentally they’re just not “there” yet. Teenagers may “get it” but be so absorbed in their own personal drama and worried what peers will think of them. Thank goodness they have you. 

You may not be able to make the school system do things you think they ought to do. That can be a hard pill to swallow. But you can teach your kids a valuable lesson about human kindness. 

No Act Of Kindness, However Small, Is Ever Wasted.  - - Aesop