Bus Behaviour

_ I was going to give today’s entry the title ‘Bus Etiquette’ but then I decided on ‘Bus Behaviour’ due to the added alliterative appeal. Anyway, I don’t like to have my blog as a place for me to complain about things, though I’m slightly worried that that is how this entry will come across (sorry if that is the case).
    Today’s post starts with an anecdote. After a long day of working hard at the university, it was time to go home. I was waiting in line for the bus, and ahead of me was another regular guy. However, there was a subtle difference between he and I, and that subtle difference was that he had a rather sizeable circle of friends (three to be specific) who happened to be walking along beside the bus line. This is what happened, I’ve decided to name the guy waiting in line ‘Norman’:

Dante: Oh hey, Norman.
Ermentrude: Oh yeah! Hey Normy.
Gus: Yo, sup bro?
Norman: Alright homies? Shanking much lately?
Dante: Yeah, we shanking!
Ermentrude: This is for real bro!!
Norman: Oh no, my man Guss here done knocked it out of the park!
All of them: Woo!

(or something like that)

With that, their conversation had come to an end, so I assumed that Dante, Ermantrude and Gus would then all head to the back of the line, but they all then took the three spaces in line behind Norman…

Me: (thinking) Hmm, maybe I should have a word with those three people and ask them politely to move to the back of the line because they’re stealing spaces which aren’t rightfully theirs… Actually, nah, that’s be rude. It’s best if I just leave it, after all, this doesn’t directly affect me in any way!

Five minutes later or so, the bus arrived and the long line of people slowly walked on into the bus. Norman got in, Dante got in, Ermentrude got in, then Gus got in. I was behind them in the line, so now it was my turn to get on I stepped up into the bus and approached the driver, ticket in hand. I was excited to get in so that I could then go home and read books (or whatever else it is that I do in my free time). Then this heartbreaking exchange happened:

Me: Here’s my ticket (smiling happily)
Driver: Sorry mate, the bus is too full, you can’t get on.
Me: Oh, okay… (gets out of bus, smile suffers internal collapse)

Now, is it just me, or is there something wrong with this situation? Shouldn’t the correct rules for queuing at the bus stop be that your friends are perfectly free to chat with you in the line if they are not intending to ride the bus as well, but if they are, you have to move to the back of the line to talk to them. Otherwise, the people with no friends who are near the back of the line are given the further misfortune of having to be further back due to the overly popular people.
    Furthermore, I’ve noticed another immorality related to the buses at my university. Often (due to the time of year) it is cold and raining, which is lucky for the people at the front of the line because they get to hide from it in a bus shelter. But then that means the people at the back of the line firstly get soaked while those at the front stay dry and, secondly, that after already being wet, they have to stand up on the bus because the dry people already have the seats. It seems slightly unfair to me.
    But like I say, this isn’t supposed to be a complainy blog! Riding on the bus is fun usually, with the gentle vibrations, comfy seats and so on! These are just a couple of things that bother me slightly…

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