fozzybear210 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I don't think people are asking for an all singing all dancing bus driver.. Just one that's polite and halfway pleasant, and hopefully don't class everyone the same... Same could be said for the passengers. Would be nice to get a please and thank you once in a while. Works both ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denlin Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 In my opinion what goes around comes around. I say please and thank you when I pay my fare and thank you when I get off bus and most of the time this is reciprocated. Obviously there are some who don't but that's life. You get that wherever you go because not everybody is same temperament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annoni_mouse Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 My thoughts exactly.. If you hate it so much and it's THAT bad that you can't manage a nod/smile and a thank you, get another job..who would want to spend their life working in such "misery" anyway??? I used to work in a call centre for an online gaming website. I used to work night and day shifts, and would have drunk people calling, people abusing me because they lost all their money, people crying saying they had just spent their whole months wages and can't afford to feed their families etc etc But our calls were monitered and if we didn't act professionally, then we would be penalised...if my excuse for that was "Well, look at the rubbish I have to put up with" then I'm 100% sure my manager would tell me to get another job then.. Why should bus drivers be any different?? An arguement may well be "Well we can't get another job in this climate"...EXACTLY...so do your job as best as you can like we all have to, as I'm sure there many people willing to take over your position.. Any of these customers who you were dealing with spit in your face? Pull a knife on you? Scream foul obscenities in your face? Could these same people make up some BS complaint which could lose you your job? (Here's a fun game kids - walk on to a bus and smell weed? Why not report the bus driver? Must be him smoking it in his cab, musn't it?! Can't be one of the smelly passaengers, oh no..) Please don't try an equate working in a call centre (a call centre, seriously?) with dealing with the type of people who you wouldn't open your door to in any other occasion on a face-face basis. And yes, there are plenty of people waiting to take my job. Weirder still, despite being in a massive recession, most bus companies still manage to be in a position to be recruiting for new drivers. Doesn't that tell you something? I know I'm holering at the wind here. For most, bus drivers are on a par with News of the World journalists and traffic wardens and all they want to believe is that we set out to be as rude as possible for the sake of it. But talk to anyone who has been a bus driver and they will tell you exactly the same thing. Bus driving would be a fantastic job - if we didn't have to pick up passengers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myro Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 Can i just say first of all that the "smile please" statement made initially in the post title was not a statement claiming that they must smile ias i later explained, its about the good quality of customer service. secondly if the passenger is not greeted by friendly customer service just because of the bus driver's previous experiences that day, they themselves will not be very friendly. lastly i myself work in security, we have to deal with hostile people on a very regular basis including running the risk of gettin shot, stabbed etc in order to protect other members of the public, yet i still manage to greet everyone in a pleasant manner, send the miserable bus drivers to a third world country and they'l soon see what true hostility is! the friendly bus drivers however are in the right job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myro Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 You drive a bus for a week and see how you get on. Or off. try surviving in a favella for a week, we don't realise how easy we have it. look at the bigger picture and you'l soon realise how lucky we actually are to even have a job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myro Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 Couldn't have said it better myself. If this was a miserable passenger bashing thread, it would be a different story. passengers aren't required to provide "good customer service" as they are the customer, they pay to ride, you get paid to do your job. hostile customers are in every job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinz Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 They should think about a career change if they cannot manage it. Be a little fair, some do the Pitsmoor and Southey run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Overall Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Same could be said for the passengers. Would be nice to get a please and thank you once in a while. Works both ways. Yes I agree, I don't get out much as I'm disabled but when I do go on a bus..(very rarely) I seem to see more passengers saying please and thank you, and even good morning than I see drivers doing the same.. I can only say as I see... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Talker Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Most of the bus drivers on my local route, these days, are regulars, and are generally cheery and helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peewee84 Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 If you work in a call centre all you can be judged on is your interaction with the public. If you're a bus driver (note the job title is driver, not smiler) then you should be judged on your driving first and foremost. If you fail to smile at everyone, so what? Hmm, not really..my job was to solve problems, work out odds, tech support online and then there was the finance side etc..theoreticaly I didn't have to be nice/polite to do this, I could be judged on how many problems I solved and how many calls I took in the hour which is why I was really employed, not to be nice and talk about the weather. However, the fact remains that being polite was ALSO a part of my job.. Same could be said for the passengers. Would be nice to get a please and thank you once in a while. Works both ways. Passengers aren't doing a job whilst riding a bus..they're the ones paying. Should always still be polite yes, but it's not an obligation or job decription.. Any of these customers who you were dealing with spit in your face? Pull a knife on you? Scream foul obscenities in your face? Could these same people make up some BS complaint which could lose you your job? (Here's a fun game kids - walk on to a bus and smell weed? Why not report the bus driver? Must be him smoking it in his cab, musn't it?! Can't be one of the smelly passaengers, oh no..) Please don't try an equate working in a call centre (a call centre, seriously?) with dealing with the type of people who you wouldn't open your door to in any other occasion on a face-face basis. And yes, there are plenty of people waiting to take my job. Weirder still, despite being in a massive recession, most bus companies still manage to be in a position to be recruiting for new drivers. Doesn't that tell you something? I know I'm holering at the wind here. For most, bus drivers are on a par with News of the World journalists and traffic wardens and all they want to believe is that we set out to be as rude as possible for the sake of it. But talk to anyone who has been a bus driver and they will tell you exactly the same thing. Bus driving would be a fantastic job - if we didn't have to pick up passengers. Your missing the point..I'm not saying that driving a bus is the same as picking up a phone..this whole debate is surrounding/based on customer service. The point I'm making is that we all sometimes have to put up with rubbish in our jobs, even abuse sometimes (which can be physical or verbal by the way) but that's not an excuse to not do your job to the best of your ability. I may not have had knives pulled out on me no, but to be honest, I doubt ALL bus drivers have either. But I have had people threaten to get me sacked yes, and I have suffered mental abuse, people saying they know where the call centre is and will be waiting for me outside.. And coming back to my very original point, if it's that bad and you get spit on, abused, threatened...why do you stay in the job??? Also, it would be interesting to see the actual job description of a bus driver given to them when they start the job, I wonder what it mentions about customer service and if the only requirement is to get passengers safely from A to B, because that's what some people seem to think the only requirements are a bus driver are.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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