A letter to the Houston Metro

I am contemplating sending the following letter to the Harris County Metropolitan Transit Authority, the organization that runs our bus and light rail service here in town.

Am I being unreasonable? Should I let this fellow slide? Comments welcome.

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I had the unfortunate experience of serving on a jury with one of your drivers. His last name was XXXyyy; I do not recall his first name.

The reason I am writing this letter it to convey to you the extremely negative image that Mr. XXXyyy portrayed to me a citizen of Harris County and an infrequent bus rider. I want to explain in detail three things he said that I found extremely offensive.

The first two relate to his job, the third his attitude towards race.

While in jury duty (Judge ZZZZ’s court – the ABC^nd District Court) there is a lot of time to talk. And talk Mr. XXXyyy did.

In the two work incidents he was bragging about how he would “get back at” riders who displeased him for one reason or another. In the first case, he talked about a man who got on the bus brusquely, jostling past two women who were trying to get off the bus. He said he asked this man to just let the ladies off the bus, and the man was somewhat rude to him in his reply. Later, as the man stood up to leave the bus at his stop, he started to light a cigar. Mr. XXXyyy informed him that smoking on the bus is not allowed (rightfully so!). The man snapped something about getting off, and then left the bus.

Mr. XXXyyy said that he then picked up a couple of passengers, and the man with the cigar was walking down the street in the same direction that the bus was heading. He noticed that there was a large puddle on the side of the road, and he made sure that he was driving at full speed as he hit the puddle, subsequently splashing the poor fellow who was walking down the sidewalk. As Mr. XXXyyy put it: “I extinguished his cigar for him!”

The second incident involved a man who got on his bus and was verbally abusive to Mr. XXXyyy. Now, please don’t take from this letter that I believe that people should either smoke cigars on the busses or abuse the drivers. My point is more the actions that Mr. XXXyyy took in reply to these circumstances.

Mr. XXXyyy and this man evidently verbally sparred with each other for some time, with the man in question using especially foul language (which, by the way, Mr. XXXyyy shared sotto vocco with the rest of the jurors). Mr. XXXyyy ultimately ejected this fellow from the bus, (again, rightfully so) and told him that he “Never forgets a face, and payback is hell”.

Two months later, according to Mr. XXXyyy, he was driving the last bus of the evening (I cannot recall which route) and observed this same man burdened with several packages waiting at a bus stop. Mr. XXXyyy said that he slowed his bus, and as he drove by, pointed to his face and shouted to the man “Remember this face? Payback is hell!” and then drove off, leaving the man at the bus stop.

Now, I understand that when some individuals feel that they have a platform from which to expound that they will exaggerate their actions. But my question to you is: Do you want a driver who brags in this way?

The final episode I found especially offensive. The case on which we were jurors involved a young black man accused of theft. As we were discussing the case, Mr. XXXyyy opined that “I work with a lot of black people, and I know how they think. They don’t think like we do (the jury was all white)” He was shouted down by two jurors, myself being one. He persisted in his comments about how “They aren’t like us. I know them” My question to you in this case is: How can a fellow drive a bus in the City of Houston all day long with an Us and Them attitude towards his fellow humans? I found this not only offensive, but almost criminal.

Thank you for letting me speak my mind.