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Good for the bus driver. There is no reason every other passenger or the driver should have to put up with a screaming kid. Put her off...when she gets the kid quieted down she can take the next bus. Why is it an issue?
Except no one had an issue with it except the bus driver, and this was proven when the whole bus emptied with her in protest. You keep throwing around the word safety, and let me ask you is it in the interest of a woman and child's safety to be kicked off the bus in the middle of the night?
actually, from other news reports, the mother was given the choice of getting off the bus because her child was screaming. The driver thought it perhaps the child would calm down if it got off the bus.
I wonder how many people in this thread have kids.
Last time I was on a plane, I volunteered to switch seats with someone next to a screaming baby. Frankly I had a lot more sympathy for the poor mother than the intolerant jerks.
I wonder how many people in this thread have kids.
Last time I was on a plane, I volunteered to switch seats with someone next to a screaming baby. Frankly I had a lot more sympathy for the poor mother than the intolerant jerks.
I sometime wonder that as well. In some cases parents just can not take a child elsewhere and calm them down. We are not talking about dining out with a baby, and you have the option to leave.
Basically, the baby is crying and the mother is unable to quiet the child. It seems she was doing everything possible to try to soothe the baby. The bus driver apparently could not handle the crying and told the mother over the loudspeaker that she needed to stop the baby from screaming. Obviously that is easier said than done, and the driver then pulled over and said something to the mother and the mother got off the bus with the child. The passengers also all disembarked. One reportedly told the bus driver that it was wrong to kick the mother and child off the bus and the bus driver's response was that that person could also get off the bus if he/she didn't like it. Complaints were filed and the bus driver is on paid leave (probably a union thing).
If I were the mother, I would sue. As a new mother, I know babies can get quite frustrating when they don't stop crying, but it's not like the woman had any control over this since she was trying her hardest to get the baby to stop. But a baby crying for a little while should not be that much of a disturbance to a bus driver, perhaps the driver should not even have that job to begin with if she has a low tolerance for noise. It was probably hugely embarrassing to the mother to not be able to comfort her baby in public. It makes a mother feel horrible when she can't soothe her baby so the added embarrassment of the bus driver yelling at her over the loudspeaker and subsequently coming to talk to her (whether or not she actually kicked them off the bus is up for debate) could have actually done some psychological damage. Then she was stuck at wherever she was let off the bus to try to get home in the dark with the baby, and if something had happened, that opens up the bus system for liability.
I think the bus driver should be fired for being intolerant, insensitive and for not taking appropriate action to ensure the bus kept moving (to take the other passengers into consideration). It says in the article that she called in for a supervisor but was denied. However, one should not need a supervisor for this situation to begin with, but even if she was totally flipping out and could not keep her wits about her, she should have insisted on a replacement driver meeting her at a later stop to switch. Besides, how long are people even on buses? 45 minutes tops? Sure, a crying baby is not a pleasant sound to hear but the other passengers even stated that the baby was not that loud, so how could it be that it disturbed the driver so much that she had to refuse to move the bus and/or kick the woman/baby off?
When you take into consideration that these buses are subsidized with taxpayer money, it is even more maddening that something like this could happen and then the driver would remain on the payroll. If the mother does sue, the local taxpayers are paying for that kind of behavior from the driver.
Thoughts?
I think it would be ridiculous to sue. What is the point? What did she lose? A dollar? A half an hour of time while waiting for the next bus?
If the baby was out of control screaming, (which we will not know unless there is a video tape otherwise it's a "he said, she said" deal), then it's not just about this woman, it's about the other passengers on the bus.
I used to drive airboat tours. If a child got out of control screaming, (and this happened a few times), I would turn around and make them remove that child. In one case, the kid was having an all out fit, thrashing around on the floor of the boat. This became a danger for the child. Not only was it unbelievably irritating for everyone else who paid money to go, it was to the point the child was going to injure herself.
I couldn't say much over her screams so I simply started the boat up, went back to the dock, she and her mother got off, the mother handed the child to the dad, the mother got back on and I told everyone they had a choice to continue or get off there. They all opted to retake the entire tour because of this kid.
In the end, that was about the best bunch of tips I ever received because everyone was thankful. Even the mother tipped me big because she was embarrassed about her kid and she knew I did the right thing.
In this case it's a bus ride. Even if it's only a few bucks, those other people paid to be on that bus as well as that mom. Do you say one person gets off and calms the baby down or do you make everyone suffer because of the screaming kid?
I think the bus driver did the right thing.
Even if his boss decides he did not do the right thing, what grounds are there to sue? Why the hell is everyone in this country so quick to say, "I would sue!!!!" Sue for WHAT!!!!! There is nothing she lost but a half an hour.
Or should I sue in the future because a bus driver doesn't kick them off and I suffer "emotional pain and distress"? Give me a break with suing over every little thing.
Edit: What you claim as facts are not facts. One person said that everyone got off in protest, there is no proof that the reason everyone got off was in protest. You also said, "middle of the night"...it's fricken 8pm. It's still light out in Oregon at 8pm at this time of year. It also did not say "every single passenger" it said "several". How many is several?
I sometime wonder that as well. In some cases parents just can not take a child elsewhere and calm them down. We are not talking about dining out with a baby, and you have the option to leave.
I guess I just have a higher tolerance for screaming kids.
Sometimes there's nothing a parent can realistically do.
I sometime wonder that as well. In some cases parents just can not take a child elsewhere and calm them down. We are not talking about dining out with a baby, and you have the option to leave.
You can't? I must tell my wife that because that is what we do. Sometimes a little fresh air or change of scenery helps. Yes, its a little inconvenient when you are trying to have a meal and the baby acts up, but thats what parenting is all about....patience.
I think it would be ridiculous to sue. What is the point? What did she lose? A dollar? A half an hour of time while waiting for the next bus?
If the baby was out of control screaming, (which we will not know unless there is a video tape otherwise it's a "he said, she said" deal), then it's not just about this woman, it's about the other passengers on the bus.
I used to drive airboat tours. If a child got out of control screaming, (and this happened a few times), I would turn around and make them remove that child. In one case, the kid was having an all out fit, thrashing around on the floor of the boat. This became a danger for the child. Not only was it unbelievably irritating for everyone else who paid money to go, it was to the point the child was going to injure herself.
I couldn't say much over her screams so I simply started the boat up, went back to the dock, she and her mother got off, the mother handed the child to the dad, the mother got back on and I told everyone they had a choice to continue or get off there. They all opted to retake the entire tour because of this kid.
In the end, that was about the best bunch of tips I ever received because everyone was thankful. Even the mother tipped me big because she was embarrassed about her kid and she knew I did the right thing.
In this case it's a bus ride. Even if it's only a few bucks, those other people paid to be on that bus as well as that mom. Do you say one person gets off and calms the baby down or do you make everyone suffer because of the screaming kid?
I think the bus driver did the right thing.
Even if his boss decides he did not do the right thing, what grounds are there to sue? Why the hell is everyone in this country so quick to say, "I would sue!!!!" Sue for WHAT!!!!! There is nothing she lost but a half an hour.
Or should I sue in the future because a bus driver doesn't kick them off and I suffer "emotional pain and distress"? Give me a break with suing over every little thing.
So even though NO other person on the bus had an issue with it, the driver should be able to kick the woman off? Obviously the child was not making that much of a fuss because NO one else had an issue with it. If this driver can't take some distraction while driving then perhaps this person needs a new career. And FYI she has grounds to sue for anything, and chances are will get it because this bus company will rather pay than deal with the already negative publicity they are receiving.
You can't? I must tell my wife that because that is what we do. Sometimes a little fresh air or change of scenery helps. Yes, its a little inconvenient when you are trying to have a meal and the baby acts up, but thats what parenting is all about....patience.
Public service cannot discriminate.
A crying baby is not an illegal thing.
Someone's civil liberties were refused by a public employee.
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Complaints were filed and the bus driver is on paid leave (probably a union thing). 
