In a message dated 2/13/2007 7:23:06 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
jackessiebabe@yahoo.com writes:
There must be some way for you to recoup the $2.00 still owed you.
I have a thought.......perhaps you could seize all the paper towels
in the Men's Room. Just keep pushing that lever, over and over,
until the paper towel container is empty. Eventually, you will have
$2.00 worth of paper towels for your personal use. I can attest to
the fact that a folded stack of paper towels makes a satisfactory
pillow, particularly for those days when you can't make it home, and
must sleep on a park bench.
Thanks Chairman Babe, I'd rather do $2 worth of damage to the Terrible sign.
As far as sleeping on a bench, give me some cardboard and a bush in the
desert and I'm home. Did you know on extreme weather nights the back one third of
all CAT busses are full of homeless people? On my ride up Flamingo to my
Terribles visit I was on a brand new bus. I quickly learned how the transit
company is trying to combat homeless riders. The seats were almost at a 90 degree
angle. If you lean forward just a little you fall forward. I bet the bums
counter that by bringing their own shoulder seat belts to stay erect while
snoozing.
I've ridden the bus a few times late at night when the public transit condo
dwellers were fast asleep in the back but yesterday, during the day, they
were awake and a few rip roaring drunk. Whenever a front rider would make
conversation with another then a drunk would ridicule them. Makes you wonder if the
bus supervisor who drives around checking on timing at stops should be in
the bus checking on the driver enforcing the rules of conduct. Breathalyzer
test for riders?
On my trip back down Flamingo an interesting thing happened. The bus
stopped, a guy got out the back door, the driver got up and walked part way back
into the bus yelling something, didn't understand what. He then got off the
front door and confronted the just exited passenger. They were both big guys so
we thought there was going to be a fight. The driver got back on the bus and
walked to the rear door and adjusted the inside door mirror. The passenger had
obviously held onto the mirror as if it was a ceiling strap thus getting it
out of adjustment.
During the recent very cold Vegas weather I rode the 107 to work instead of
riding my bicycle like usual. I had to have both my back pack and a large
plastic bag with extra clothing for the cold. When I got on the bus I realized I
looked like a homeless guy and noticed the homeless riders checking out my
gear. Like they were sizing me up to classify me on some sort of a grading
curve. I began checking them out. Some had two backpacks, others a bedroll and
plastic bag. As each new passenger boarded we turned to check out his gear. One
guy got on and I could tell the bums thought he was unusual. The new
passenger had casino logo clothing from several different hotels and a very nice
piece of rolling luggage. The bums were impressed. Me? not so impressed. The guy
was probably a vpFREE'er saving on EV while moving from a Sam's Town comp
room to a GVR room and saving tons on EV in the process. I thought of striking
up a conversation with him like "So what do you think of the Bob Dancer
Paladin feud?" but knew I looked like just a bum.
Last week I rode on the 107 late at night and a mentally ill guy refused to
pay a fare. He sat down with his little boom box, could have been a makeshift
miniature chain saw case. Seated in his area were three security guards, two
in uniform, me not in uniform. All the cops know there's a 50% chance that
an unarmed security guard is armed. If we choose to be armed we are careful
not to obtain a conceal carry permit because any official contact with Metro
means we are searched and busted for having a gun on an unarmed site. The gun
license is on file in the police computers. Each of us had either a gym bag or
back pack, not saying I had a gun and didn't know about the others but we
had an unafraid look in our eyes. The crazy guy challenged one of the other
guards to fight which turned into a stare down contest. With the bus still
stopped the driver called the bus supervisor and the nut's description was
broadcast to all the busses in the area plus Metro was informed. The guy finally got
off and wandered off in the night.
Then there was the time a couple years ago at the Downtown terminal when I
was waiting for a Strip bus to pull up. I noticed a guy having a loud argument
with a parked empty bus.
The sign on the side of the bus says "Take The CAT Bus And Make New Friends"
I say, while on the bus don't make eye contact.
JT
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