Crazy Lady On The Bus
God, I'm so shaken. Some woman just HIT ME upside the head on the 25.
She was quite well dressed, too, she didn't look like a crazy lady. I suppose it's mine own fault for getting involved, but she kept shouting in my ear.
She was sitting in the aisle seat, and another girl tried to get into the window seat - she wouldn't move, so the girl had to climb over her to get into it, and the bus lurched, so the girl kind of fell against her. Girl apologised, but this lady would not give it a rest, she just kept shouting at her (directly in my ear, as I was in front of them), to the point where the girl just put her iPod on and ignored her.
I turned around to kind of give this crazy lady that disapproving English kind of glance that says "stop making a performance of yourself", and she starts shouting at me (because the girl has her headphones on and is not listening to her) so I said, as camly as possible, "She apologised, give it a rest." She starts SCREAMING at me, telling me "OHMIGOD, YOU ARE A RACIST, YOU WOULD NEVER BE COMPLAINING IF I WASN'T BLACK". To which I told her "that's lazy thinking, I'm complaining because you're shouting in my ear". I tried to zone out and just ignore her, but she's railing away so loudly that the bus driver is making "calm down back there" announcements.
I get off the bus at the next stop, and she's glaring at me and clucking her tongue and starts making comments, so I just told her as I passed "you wanna do something about that anger problem of yours, have a nice day" - so she got up and she HIT ME, quite hard, enough to make my ear ring, upside the head and starts screaming again.
I threatened to call the police but that just starts her up again, and the whole bus is staring now, and she's screaming about racism again, so I started to get off the bus, quite shaken. Why didn't I call the police? Because everyone is just trying to get to work, and that would inconvenience everyone. Bus drivers act like it's your fault if they have to stop, even if you've been mugged, even if you've been stabbed. (This happened, on the 43 last year.)
And as soon as someone plays the race card, that's it, it's over. What can you say back to that? "I didn't even notice your race until you pointed it out so kindly by shouting 'is it because I'm black' at me, at the top of your lungs." Actually, *you're* the racist for assuming that my motives for asking you to be quiet are something sinister because I'm white, when I'm just another office slob trying to get to work without being shouted at.
I was so shaken, shocked and in pain, my ears ringing, so I reacted on a purely instinctual level, sinking to her level. I spat at her, big gobby spit all over the bus, just before the doors closed. I'm not proud. I'd have been in my legal rights to deck her, since she threw the first punch. But as I walked away down Newton Street, then I started to shake, and to cry.
You don't know what's going through people's heads. I've been the crazy lady on the bus before, (though I've never actually hit anyone) and it's about what's going on in their head, not what you're doing. Still, doesn't make it any more pleasant.
She was quite well dressed, too, she didn't look like a crazy lady. I suppose it's mine own fault for getting involved, but she kept shouting in my ear.
She was sitting in the aisle seat, and another girl tried to get into the window seat - she wouldn't move, so the girl had to climb over her to get into it, and the bus lurched, so the girl kind of fell against her. Girl apologised, but this lady would not give it a rest, she just kept shouting at her (directly in my ear, as I was in front of them), to the point where the girl just put her iPod on and ignored her.
I turned around to kind of give this crazy lady that disapproving English kind of glance that says "stop making a performance of yourself", and she starts shouting at me (because the girl has her headphones on and is not listening to her) so I said, as camly as possible, "She apologised, give it a rest." She starts SCREAMING at me, telling me "OHMIGOD, YOU ARE A RACIST, YOU WOULD NEVER BE COMPLAINING IF I WASN'T BLACK". To which I told her "that's lazy thinking, I'm complaining because you're shouting in my ear". I tried to zone out and just ignore her, but she's railing away so loudly that the bus driver is making "calm down back there" announcements.
I get off the bus at the next stop, and she's glaring at me and clucking her tongue and starts making comments, so I just told her as I passed "you wanna do something about that anger problem of yours, have a nice day" - so she got up and she HIT ME, quite hard, enough to make my ear ring, upside the head and starts screaming again.
I threatened to call the police but that just starts her up again, and the whole bus is staring now, and she's screaming about racism again, so I started to get off the bus, quite shaken. Why didn't I call the police? Because everyone is just trying to get to work, and that would inconvenience everyone. Bus drivers act like it's your fault if they have to stop, even if you've been mugged, even if you've been stabbed. (This happened, on the 43 last year.)
And as soon as someone plays the race card, that's it, it's over. What can you say back to that? "I didn't even notice your race until you pointed it out so kindly by shouting 'is it because I'm black' at me, at the top of your lungs." Actually, *you're* the racist for assuming that my motives for asking you to be quiet are something sinister because I'm white, when I'm just another office slob trying to get to work without being shouted at.
I was so shaken, shocked and in pain, my ears ringing, so I reacted on a purely instinctual level, sinking to her level. I spat at her, big gobby spit all over the bus, just before the doors closed. I'm not proud. I'd have been in my legal rights to deck her, since she threw the first punch. But as I walked away down Newton Street, then I started to shake, and to cry.
You don't know what's going through people's heads. I've been the crazy lady on the bus before, (though I've never actually hit anyone) and it's about what's going on in their head, not what you're doing. Still, doesn't make it any more pleasant.
posted by Masonic Boom | 10:20 am
5 Comments:
Wow thats really amazing - go girl! I hope the gob got her too.
Anyway thats one up for all the anonymous people in the world who just put up with this shite.
If you've been the lady on the bus, you probably know that sort of provocation of the strangers around her is an effort to bridge a hardly-bridgable gap between that shit that's going on in the head and a world she sees as alien or indifferent.
My point is, you probably did her a favour by spitting at her, so you shouldn't think about it in terms of sinking to her level. She was looking for a violent reaction from the world and you gave her one that won't leave bruises, but communicated how inappropriately she was behaving. Good for you. You couldn't have done better if you'd had time to think about it. Honestly.
I hope you weren't wearing earrings. Fucking ouch.
...you're probably right, as usual, Spliffe, but the problem is, it's reinforced my negative world view. And now this one random event has reaffirmed my believe that the world is out to get *me* because one crazy lady hit me on the bus. :-(
If crazy bitches on buses represent the world, it's only clever to have a negative outlook on it. Maybe you're leaning to that view (which you know isn't true) because you know your actions today don't represent the world either and you've got some trouble thanking yourself for that.
It sounds like nobody on the bus reacted decently when the crazy bitch was screaming at the girl or when the crazy bitch hit you. It's reasonable to have a negative outlook about people being apathetic bastards, too.
But you weren't an apathetic bastard. You bucked the negative; you had a general outlook that you didn't follow through for yourself. I think that's great.
Yikes. I would have had the same reaction as you, Kate - or, at least, I definitely would have cried. I don't think I could hve been brave enough to do or say anything back to her. You need a hug! :-( I take the bus to work every day, but fortunately everyone on my bus tend to be 60 something grandmotherly types who just sit there and read Good Housekeeping and knit, so I haven't had an experience like that.
Hang in there!
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