Comments on I, Anonymous: It's Elementary—And the Hits Keep Coming...

I also hate idiots who hire other idiots to work for their trucking and bussing businesses.

Okay, I'm officially calling bullshit on this series.

"...like the kind young man who hit my school bus last month."

No way this was written by an elementary school kid. To a nine year old, everyone over the age of, say, fifteen is old. Never a "young man".

I don't know who's writing these, but they are looking less and less like elementary aged kids. I think I smell a rat.

Again, let me remind you that the school from which these originated houses K-8. (Six years of elementary school, two years of middle school.)

Also, some of these seem to incorporate phrases designed to impress/appease a teacher, and some of them have clearly been re-written with a teacher's guidance. (i.e. "Final draft" written in the upper left corner.)

But believe what you must.

a local alternative elementary and middle school

Two points:
1) Depending on what this particular school means by "middle school", these kids could be as old as 14 or 15.

2) Given that it's an alternative school, they could also be a bit smarter than your average bear.

When did we establish that the kids were nine years old? I'm trying to find it in the previous posts... but I'm probably being blind.

David keeps saying it's a class of kids from an alternative elementary/middle school, maybe this class is mixed ages. I don't know.

What I do know is that when I was a sarcastic, egotistical little punk fifth grader, I called idiots "young men" all the time. Especially idiots who were older than I, but not "adult" yet... because you had to be at least 20-something to be an adult.

*grumbles* Okay, okay. Maybe they're legit.

Point. You are correct. Nobody specified that they were 9 year olds.

Point. They may be different ages. The first few letters were clearly written by younger kids. I assumed they were all in the same class, and assumed they were all the same age (thus demonstrating again what happens when I assume something). The last few letters definitely looked to be written by someone older. It never occurred to me that the kids would span a broad age range.

That and I could totally see a school bus driver driving off, leaving an 80 year old woman standing at the curb.

So I'll hold my judgement for now... but I'm watching you Schmader. *said with an evil eye*

this person writes better than some stranger writers.

First of all Mr. Schmader, it's 6 years of elementary school students (K-5), and 3 years of middle school students (6-8).

Second, multiage classrooms are common in alternative schools (as well as some of the more enlightened `traditional' schools), and a cursory reading of the Salmon Bay website leads me to believe that middle school students there can take what in my high school would have been called 'electives'. Ergo, something like a 'creative writing' class could possibly have 6, 7 and 8th graders in it.

Third, writing help is sometimes done by the teachers, but usually done by classroom support staff. Sometimes parents, sometimes people hired by the school. Writing multiple drafts is required in every age in my child's alternative elementary school (even the kindergartener's make multiple 'drafts' of art projects), and Salmon Bay is touted as having a similar philosophy to our school, so I'm guessing the 'multiple drafts' requirement is as important at Salmon Bay.

Given what I've seen posted on the bulletin boards at my kid's elementary school, the quality of the writing here seems perfectly in line with what I would expect middle schoolers at Salmon Bay to write.

I am laughing my ass off! I am that Metro driver. Just goes to show you that a child is actually writing:

#1 I was ten minutes late. The old lady didn't want that bus- she wanted A bus. However there were people whom had been in their bus zones on time waiting for THAT bus- they don't want me to wait for her; I have an obligation to them.
#2 She didn't just want on, she wanted me to lower the coach and put the ramp out. I had already pulled out into the second lane, her safety would be negotiated, regardless of the red light.
#3 WTF? Old people can't read schedules? Or young people either? It's not a taxi service. It's PUBLIC transportation- You wait on the bus- the bus doesn't wait on you- otherwise what good is a schedule? Remember that next time your bus is twenty minutes late in the cold and you KNOW that you will be late because of it. Oh wait you just get a tardy slip. It's not like you get fired or anything.
#4 Oh yeah- was this the dumb shit that ran in front of my bus at a 90 degree angle in my blind spot? That's right kiddies- it's not that easy to stop 20 tons of weight; it's called inertia. But since you have several years before taking physics in high school; you don't understand this: BUT IT"S MY JOB AND SANITY ON THE LINE.

Sadly your mentality isn't merely childish, but very common place. Try thinking that maybe you aren't the only person on the planet- and neither is that little old lady.

@9. I've been riding public transit for just about my entire life, and nothing annoys me more about it than snotty asshole bus nazis like you.

Firstly, why in the hell were you ten minutes late in the first place? Oh, wait. I don't care. Don't be late.

Secondly- public transporation may not be a bus service, but my public tax dollars that pay your wages- ALONG with my fare. Schedules are GREAT! So don't be late.

Thirdly- anyone riding public transporation (especially in this city) is usually smart enough to budget extra time in case the bus is late (which is a perpetual occurance, thanks to morons like you) so honestly, it probably wouldn't have done you a whole hell of a lot of damage to stop and try and make accomidations for an elderly passenger. Busses should be dependable according to schedule, but unfortunately, that is never going to happen. Regular riders of transit know this- anyone who can't plan around that drives to work.

And EVEN if you couldn't have allowed her on the bus, your attitude here clearly shows you think your job gives you some kind of majesterial transporation authority. It doesn't. The kid who wrote this is obviously going to go to college in a few years, and in a few years, I'd be willing to bet you'll still be driving a bus.

Here's my recommendation- shut the fuck up and stop making metro transit look bad.

ahem. Correction. *public transporation may not be a TAXI service.