A Minor Problem

(I am a chaperone on a preschool field trip. We have six chaperones including me. All the other seats on the bus are filled with our two-year-olds. About 40 people can fit on each bus. It is near the end of the day, and the driver is clearly exhausted. A woman approaches the driver, who is outside on the ground with her.)

Woman: “I’d like to get on this bus.”

Driver: “Sorry. You can’t get on this one.”

Woman: “Well, why not?”

Driver: “Because it’s full!”

(It’s important to realize that the bus is open-air, so there are no tinted windows. However, the walls are fairly high, and the bus is high up. The woman, from her vantage point on the ground, cannot see all the small children.)

Woman: “No, it’s not. You only have 6 people in there.”

Driver: “No. You see—”

(The woman starts complaining loudly about how lazy and incompetent the driver is. The driver tries to explain that the bus is full of small children, but the woman keeps cutting her off. Having had enough, I pick up the two-year-old beside me, and walk up to the bus entrance.)

Me: “There are over 30 of these in here!”

(The woman promptly shuts up and, red-faced, walks away.)