Any way to report harassment on the road from a CTA employee? (Chicago: to rent, taxi driver)

[i blame history]

My guess is the answer will be a big fat "nobody will care," but I thought I'd ask anyway.

My husband and I were just driving east down Devon and I believe it was at the Hoyne stop that a bus pulled out in front of us and gave us just enough time to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting the bus or the car in the oncoming lane. You know, like all the busses do; nothing out of the ordinary there honestly. But the catch is that we met up with the bus at, I believe, Damen. There was a red light. I hear my husband say "Dude's talking to me?" and rolled down the window... sure enough, in broken english, the driver said something about slowing down and proceeded to call by husband a f*ggot. The light was still red, of course my husband was in the screaming at the guy things along the lines of "what the hell is your problem?!" and receiving threats of "I will fxck you up." The guy on the bus was telling my husband to get out of the car and get on the bus to fight him. By now the light was green, and the bus driver was just concerned with yelling obscenities and paying no attention to customers getting on/already on the bus.

Eventually a cop pulled up to see what was happening and my husband was just like "are you hearing this?" Cop nodded and said something about "foul language isn't illegal, but..." and kept talking out he window at the driver while we pulled away. Because, you know, green light.

Would the CTA care, in the slightest, that this happened? I only wish I could get paid $20+ an hour to have just enough education to sit all day and scream obscenities at people after I cut them off, even if they aren't honking the horn at me or acknowledging me in any way. I'm really trying to continue loving Chicago, honestly, but all this is getting really old.

[ParkerP]

Yeah I doubt cta will care at all especially since you weren't a paying customer getting on the bus. Plus, you don't have the guy's name and I'm sure cta will be too lazy to look through the schedule to see who was driving at the time. If anything, the riders on the bus should have reported him for putting them in a potentially dangerous situation. I would not have rolled down my window to give that fool even a second of my attention though. Just flip the bird and move on. Works for me all the time. However, if this incident causes you to start hating Chicago, I hope you never move to New York, LOL. This certainly won't be the last time something like this happens as long as you are a driver. Next time it could be another regular driver, cab driver, bicyclists, etc.

[long101]

Report it to the CTA. Whats the worse that can happen, you waste 30 minutes of your time? As long as you know the bus route and remember the time of day I'm sure they can figure out who it was.

[Irishtom29]

So you were hollered at, so what, you don't have a right to not be hollered at. Just buck up and forget about it; so many want to report people today; nobody thinks that maybe they just have to take a little guff in life. And God forbid they run into someone who doesn't kiss their ass. Jesus Christ, when my Uncle Jim was a streetcar conductor he used to throw jackasses off the streetcar ass over teakettle; today some snit would "report" him.

[coldwine]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

So you were hollered at, so what, you don't have a right to not be hollered at. Just buck up and forget about it; so many want to report people today; nobody thinks that maybe they just have to take a little guff in life. And God forbid they run into someone who doesn't kiss their ass. Jesus Christ, when my Uncle Jim was a streetcar conductor he used to throw jackasses off the streetcar ass over teakettle; today some snit would "report" him.

You have serious class issues. No one should be accosted by anyone, but my wages and those of everyone else go towards that bus driver. In a very real sense, they owe me both courtesy and service.

You're very keen to point out that people on the lower social rungs deserve equality, especially in terms of pay. That runs two ways, Tom. They owe me service, and there is an implicit and functional code of conduct for public servants. When you're on the public dime, you wear the uniform and you give me a smile

My response to the OP is not to bother. Welcome to the city. People are rude and confrontational, and bus/taxi drivers are the worst of them all.

[Lookout Kid]

I would have probably taken some cell phone footage of the guy and tried to get the bus number or license number on camera too. The I would have sent it to channels 2, 5, 7, 12, etc... In this day and age there are cameras everywhere, and people really need to be more careful if they are public employees.

I wouldn't trust the CTA management to do a damn thing. They seem to live in some consequence-free bubble where management just protects them.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by coldwine

You have serious class issues.

No doubt; it goes without saying that a left winger has such issues.

I see your points and can't really disagree; I'm just so damned tired of so many people being so goddam finicky and meddlesome. And I've always had a dislike of informers and tattle tales; even as a child I was taught to despise tattlers.

[i blame history]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I would have probably taken some cell phone footage of the guy and tried to get the bus number or license number on camera too. The I would have sent it to channels 2, 5, 7, 12, etc... In this day and age there are cameras everywhere, and people really need to be more careful if they are public employees.

I wouldn't trust the CTA management to do a damn thing. They seem to live in some consequence-free bubble where management just protects them.

I am definitely kicking myself for not recording it. I had my phone in my hand at the time, but I had it ready to dial 911 because it looked like the guy was trying to climb out the window.

But anyway, if it were any random kid on the street, he would have been laughed at and we'd be on our merry way. Even if it were a taxi driver. I saw one last night get out of his car and walk after a couple who decided to take the cab behind us instead of his. I expect that from those people; they pay to rent their cars, and then they do as they please, including sit in them and smoke. Maybe I am just naive but I expect a little more out of CTA employees, such as the decency to not open their windows and try to cause drama while ignoring whoever might be getting on the bus without paying (not saying it happened, but he was hanging out the window instead of doing is job) and refusing to move the bus when the light turned green and he had the clearance to do so.

I think someone mentioned already, he could have been starting crap with people who weren't as pacifistic as we are, and it could have put his passengers in serious danger. I like to just try to avoid causing drama with people because you NEVER know what kind of person you're dealing with and what they could have on them. If I were driving a bus full of people, I'd probably try to refrain from trying to start fights... and if I were on that bus, I would have been pretty concerned.

[long101]

^ I would pay to see a driver climb out a window, you know how small those things are.

[coldwine]

Originally Posted by i blame history

Maybe I am just naive but I expect a little more out of CTA employees, such as the decency to not open their windows and try to cause drama while ignoring whoever might be getting on the bus without paying

Although I'm sympathetic to your situation, I don't think anyone here could take those words seriously. You expect more out of CTA employees? These are the people who expect a goddamn pound of gold for breathing. You have to got to learn to set the bar so much lower.

I think someone mentioned already, he could have been starting crap with people who weren't as pacifistic as we are, and it could have put his passengers in serious danger. I like to just try to avoid causing drama with people because you NEVER know what kind of person you're dealing with and what they could have on them. If I were driving a bus full of people, I'd probably try to refrain from trying to start fights... and if I were on that bus, I would have been pretty concerned.

I can't believe I'm defending the CTA, or any quasi-governmental branch of Chicago, but... I have a feeling that you don't actually live in Chicago, but instead reside far away in a leafy suburb. I've been pushed to the border of fury from my experiences on buses and trains, as have many people. If I had to drive one...

It's no explanation for the driver's behavior, which is inexcusable. Nevertheless, I can understand where his irrational behavior would have arisen from.