It was normal commute to work on Thursday morning - the crowded stuffy bus, the driver taking off like he was at the F1 after each stop and overtaking other slower buses, the gridlocked traffic, and the LOOOONG traffic light 200 meters before my stop. But as we pulled up to the notorious light, the driver did something I never would have expected... in the middle of major thoroughfare , he opened the door, hopped out of the bus with it's engine still running, stood in front and proceeded to light up a cigarette!
My jaw dropped to the ground. I turned to the Korean lady sitting next to me and she was also looking out at the bus driver, though rather disinterestedly. I couldn't communicate my shock into Korean, so I simply pointed outside with a expression of shock on my face. She simply shrugged as if to say "It happens all the time." How can behavior so irresponsible be regarded as average and ordinary???
I walked into worked and retold my tale of the morning's episode to my Korean co-teacher Jaemin. She barely batted an eyelash, shrugging it off much like the Korean lady on the bus. "How can you take this kind of thing so casually?!" I exclaimed. "It's really dangerous for a driver to get of the bus in the middle of the road, not to mention he's in the middle of working and he's suddenly taking a break for a smoke!" Jaemin looked up at me nonchalantly. "Bus drivers' have a kind of special privilege. Their job is very stressful, so nobody really bothers to consider this kind of thing worth noticing. Plus, they know how long the light is, so they'll get back on the bus in time." I couldn't believe everyone seemed to consider this kind of dangerous irresponsibility to be excusable. Is everyone above the law if they find the right excuse? Maybe this was an isolated incident....
I was to be proven wrong. On my way home and at the same light except on the opposite side of the street, what does the bus driver do but open the door and hop off the bus for a smoke!! This can't just be a coincidence... Below is photographic evidence. The first pic is from the morning and the other 3 are from the afternoon, showing the obviously empty driver seat.
Blog readers, what do you think? Is this practice common in other countries? Have you ever heard of this happening in America or Japan?
