Both of my parents were born in Yugoslavia (in what is now modern-day Serbia) and migrated to the USA. My dad can speak English fine, but my mom has trouble speaking it, so my dad and I use Serbian most of the time.

I take the bus to school, and of course, there are a lot of people who also take the bus. I get in, pay, and then take my seat. About two stops later, the bus stops at a train station, and a parent gets on with a kid in one hand. They get on the bus, pay, and take the two seats across from me. It is fine for the first few minutes as nothing is going on.

I decide to call my dad to tell him that I am almost at school. As I said, my dad and I use Serbian most of the time, so we converse in our language. Once the conversation is finished, the kid across from me tries to get my attention.

Kid: “What were you saying?”

Me: “I was just talking to my dad.”

Kid: “You talk funny.”

Me: “Oh, that’s because we were speaking in our language.”

The kid’s mother joins the conversation.

Mother: “Well, your language is not what we all speak around here. We speak English, and you will, too.”

Me: “Ma’am, my family isn’t from here. We are from—”

Mother: *Cutting me off* “I do not care where you are from. English is what we speak, so speak it!”

Me: “I understand that you speak English, but my family has a hard time speaking it, so I’d rather use our language so they can understand me. Besides, what we were talking about is of no use to you.”

Mother: *Sighs* “Why can’t you d*** Russians get the hint that your language is not what we want to hear you speak? If you cannot speak English, then just go back to Russia! We would do better without you commies all over our land!”

Me: “First of all ma’am, my family is Serbian. Second, we are not communists. And third, it’s not a crime to speak another language.”

Mother: “THIS IS AMERICA, AND WE SPEAK ENGLISH, SO DO IT OR GO BACK TO YOUR D*** COUNTRY!”

At that point, I put my earbuds in and just let her go on.

When we got to my stop soon after, I got up, and before I walked out of the bus I looked at the lady and said, “You big b****” in Serbian. The face she gave me was priceless.

It’s three days before Christmas and I’m picking up last-minute gifts and food at a huge shopping centre with my three kids aged fourteen, eight, and two.

This shopping centre is so big that they run free shuttle buses between different entrances and carparks. I don’t drive due to medical reasons, but since we live within walking distance we often use the service. Today, we have just gotten off the bus when a bad storm hits. It is so bad that it is hailing sideways and pouring rain, with really strong winds and thunder and lightning.

Me: *To the kids* “Oh, that’s not good. We might go and get a drink and see if it passes before walking home.”

Shuttle Driver: “Where do you live?”

Me: “Just up on [Road]. Hopefully it passes soon, or my husband can pick us up later.”

Shuttle Driver: “I’ll be back here in half an hour and then I’m going on break. If you like, I can drop you guys home.”

Me: “Oh, wow! Thank you; that’s so nice. Why don’t we grab a drink and see if it passes? If not, we might take you up on that.”

Shuttle Driver: “You and your kids are always really friendly and polite. You’ve got really good kids. It’s only up the road, and you can’t walk in this weather.”

After thanking him again, we went and got drinks at a coffee shop where I picked up a gift card. It was still storming when we left, so we met the bus. He loaded all of our thing for us and dropped us right as at our front door, insisting that I run ahead and get the kids inside while he brought everything onto our porch. By the time he was done, he was soaking wet. I thanked him profusely and gave him the gift card. He was extremely grateful and told me that anytime he was working, if I needed a lift home, he’d be more than happy to help.

This story might have been more “entertaining” had I engaged, but I seriously did not want to deal with the cray-cray. I also realized that nothing good would come of me saying a word. This is just a tale of when NOT to react.

I was sitting on the bus to get to work this morning and sat in a row just in front of a woman and her baby. The baby was being a little noisy, but I didn’t care.

As I was reading Not Always Right, the baby, who’d been quiet for a little bit, let out a loud cry, which startled me, so my body instinctively jumped. I may have looked at the lady through the corner of my eye, but I honestly don’t think she saw that. I then went back to reading.

I heard her start talking passive-aggressively about me.

Woman: “How could a person jump just because a baby cried? Haven’t they had babies or grandbabies? They must have been scared to have jumped like that…”

She just wouldn’t shut up, so I moved a few seats away. Then, she called me a racist.

Eventually, I moved to the front of the bus, and I could still hear her going on and on about me. Remember, I never, ever said a word back to her. I can only imagine the earful I would have received had I said anything.  

The point of the story is that sometimes it’s much much better to just let someone ramble on and walk away. I will also say that I now understand why, when I was younger, I did engage with the narcissists I was surrounded by. It took a LOT of self-control to not engage.

There used to be a guy who regularly rode the same bus as I did who got it in his head that a particular seat near the front of the bus was HIS and no one else should be allowed to sit there when he was riding.

One day, this jerk boarded the bus and approached a woman in HIS seat.

Jerk: “That’s my seat! Move somewhere else!”

The woman refused, and he started shouting at her.

Jerk: “MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!”

I guess the driver had had his fill of this jerk. He got up and walked over to the guy, who was towering over the poor woman.

Driver: “Get off the bus now, or both transit security and the cops will be called.”

It seems this wasn’t the first time this had happened, but it was most definitely the last time because he had broken one of the transit system’s rules about threatening or intimidating operators, riders, or transit employees. This is considered a criminal offence and carries a penalty of up to $250 and/or exclusion from the transit system. The ban includes not only buses but transit property like transit stations and bus stops throughout the county.

I think he was given the ban option because I never saw him again.

I’m a wheelchair user on the bus. In order to keep my wheelchair secured, the driver flips up one of the priority rows and essentially ties me down using heavy-duty straps attached to hooks. I’m on the bus, very obviously using my wheelchair. A woman boards and stands next to me.

Passenger: “I need this seat.”

I don’t immediately respond, since I don’t think she’s talking to me.

Passenger: “Excuse me! I need this seat! Move it!”

I look over, and realize… she IS talking to me. She apparently doesn’t like the confused look I gave her.

Passenger: “Are you deaf?! I need this seat!”

Me: “Ma’am? This… is quite literally my chair.”

Passenger: “Oh, you f****** entitled brat. This is for people like me!“

The driver notices the woman practically yelling at me.

Driver: “Ma’am, if you can’t sit in a seat, you need to hold onto the bars above you!”

Passenger: “This child is refusing to move!”

Me: “Ma’am, I quite literally cannot walk. I don’t know what you expect from me.”

She finally gave up on having me removed from my wheelchair and took a seat. In the other priority row. Two feet from where I was. I’m still confused.