MY BUS EXPERIENCE(Opinions)
Students from Absu constantly commute by bus from okigwe to Absu (uturu) or vice versa for different reasons either because they live in either of the two locations or have banking transactions to carry out, or for social purposes and many other reasons. It cost #80 to go from Uturu to okigwe.
The town service buses that convey students from Absu Uturu to okigwe (town) take turns to leave the school park. The loading of the buses at the park are done on a "first come first serve" basis and this isn't a problem because the 18-seater buses gets full quickly especially on school days, so the drivers have no need to complain. The drivers have a habit of collecting the bus fare from students at the park before they leave for okigwe.
On this day I had to go to Okigwe (town) to
withdraw money for some books I needed to buy. So, i went through the usual process of going to the school's park, getting a comfortable seat in the bus whose turn it was to move.
With my earpiece in my ear and my #80(Naira) for transport fare in my hands, I patiently waited for the bus to get full and as usual it didn't take time. The driver shut the door walked to the driver's seat, started the car and we were on our way to okigwe. On my phone Jamie Grace's "God girl" was on repeat, I had just downloaded it, I kept nodding my head to the jam until we got to town and passengers started alighting, I peeked through the window to know if my stop was near and it was, I unplug my earpiece and shouted "Diamond bank dey o" put my earpiece back on almost immediately, tapped the person sitting next to me so I could alight, the bus stopped and I walked briskly into the bank still jamming to my song. I got to the banking hall,was about to bring out my pen to fill my withdrawal slip and Alas! My #80(transport fare) was still in my hands. I hadn't paid the driver.
My mind began to do a series of flashback,I remembered the driver didn't do the usual collection of transport fare at the park, that meant that passengers paid as they alighted from the bus and I could remember seeing the first two passengers alight from the bus and walk up to the driver but I didn't pay attention. I was so used to paying at the park that I forgot I hadn't paid the driver. The worst part was, I was listening to my song so loud that even if the driver had tried to call me back I wouldn't have heard him plus I walked into the bank in a hurry. "Ah!!! this is bad" I kept saying to myself as i queued up in the bank. Different thoughts ran hurriedly through my head and one that stood out was what the driver and passengers were saying about me. Here are some of my conclusions, trust me they weren't nice
Passenger 1:see this girl o.. she could have just said she didn't have money instead of walking off like that
Passenger 2: that is how they behave, these girls, they will spend all their money on clothes(I was looking pretty good on that day). Ordinary bus fare she can't pay. And pride will not let them beg.
Passenger 3: mtcheeeeew is this not a pure case of stealing. She thinks is only when you go to bank and steal that you're a thief abi?
Passenger 4: See how she carry earpiece put for ear. She probably wasn't listening to anything o. Pretender!!!!!
Driver: na God go judge am. Nonsense!
These are nothing compared to the things I imagined I assure you and I prayed that somebody in the bus was nice enough to think in the positive direction.
Anyways the lesson I learnt from "My bus experience is this- People will always have opinions about you, your actions and behaviour and it might not necessarily be based on the truth. Compare the opinions I imagined, to the actual truth which is that I forgot to pay the driver, I had my money, in fact I kept wishing I would meet him again.
So, my point is AT TIMES you shouldn't beat yourself up about peoples opinion of you or your actions because it might be based on them seeing it from the wrong perspective or them not seeing clearly.
#Chin_Up
Great story!
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