FoR The bOOkS!!!!!!

M.M #35653 - On a bus... Every time you pull the cord to indicate stop request it sounds like a tortured chicken. I can't help but giggle out loud each time. Question: why am I the only one laughing? RT : I feel like having a rock out moment on the bus... Wonder if it would get me arrested.

RT : I feel like having a rock out moment on the bus... Wonder if it would get me arrested.


Marisa Moment #9876346436467 -
FOR THE BOOKS -

Scene: an overcrowded CTA bus... on to an eventual high speed chase... on to a police blockade.

And now the events:
As usual; I'm on the bus... sitting in the very back nearest the window on one of those super long accordion buses (which is where I always sit on the way home from work because it's out of the way for me to zone out with my music and it allows me to get off the bus closest to where I need to cross the street).

Anywho... I'm chillin as usual and staring out the window when I hear the older gentleman sitting in front of me tell this whacked out looking woman, "leave people alone... just stop that... you can't be bothering people now."


So in my mind I'm just thinking "just another crazy ride on the CTA... but oh well; just rock-out with the tunes and you'll be home before you know it." All the while something just seems off. You know when you feel like someone is watching you or perhaps you're in danger... yup; that's how I was feeling. Annnnnndddddd, apparently for good reason.


That crazy woman I was mentioning?! Yup... she was yelling at me! I have no idea what she was yelling because by the time I looked up; all I saw was huge BUG EYES and a dirty gym shoe in her hand aimed directly at my head.


Then... out of complete shock, I say... "Is she talking to me?!!!". [Side note: apparently the worst thing to say to a crazy person is... "Are you talking to me."] At this point she decides to get up and try to come at me.


Yup!... Awesome!!!!!


By this time I already had 9-1-1 on the phone and was giving my location on the bus. [Yea, I don't play.... my mantra is: "I don't fight... I press charges"]


Did I mention that I no longer see the point in phoning the police? Fast-forward a bit... crazy woman apparently isn't as crazy as I thought because she clearly sees me calling the cops and decides [amongst her many personalities] that it might be smart to get off on the next stop. To which I say... "Good idea crazy lady".


So by the time I arrive at my stop; all is clear except my memories of the trauma. Until.....


I notice the bus is being blocked/ halted by two cop cars in the front and one in the back. Realizing that they are most likely looking for me [I've already gotten off the bus]... I decide to walk to the front of the bus to inform everyone that the crisis was averted. [After all... that's what you're supposed to do.... right?]


My reward for the whole "if you see something, say something" event?...


The bus driver yells at me and says that "you should've told me!"


To which I say, "sooooooo you wanted me to walk past the crazy woman so I could whisper the events in your ear?!.... I was in the back of the bus... might as well had been in a different district."


The police... who are the not-so-officer-friendlies... commence to let me know how much of a hassle they had trying to track down the bus and also tell me that I should have told the driver.


Awesome.... now I've gone from "empowered through my cell phone"... to "fuking idiot that wasted the CPD's time and efforts".


This is where I break down. *tears and snot*




What you might be asking yourself....
1. What happened to the crazy lady?
She got off the bus heading North on foot at LSD and Belmont... looking to harass the next person.
P.S. She had on blue jeans, white dirty gym shoes [Nike from what I could tell], a long sleeve white shirt or thermal underneath a red t-shirt that had a yen-yang sign on it [so much for harmony] and a brown hat that was knit/ fitted and had a brim. But did they ask me any of this?!..... Nope!

2. Did you let them [police] know everything that was happening?
Yup.... dispatch called me back while we were on the express route on LSD... I was filling them in like I was a sports commentator. All the way to saying... she's getting off the bus at Belmont.

3. Do you think you have any fault in this.... I mean come’ on!?!
True... I probably could've went to the driver after the crazy woman got off the bus; but at this point I realized the only person on my side on that entire vehicle was sitting in front of me and I didn't want to leave his side.
Did I forget to mention that the bus was packed to SRO capacity and no one spoke up for me except ONE older gentleman?!!!!

4. What did you learn?
F the police! -- Okay, I'm not quite that extreme... but it did take away some of my confidence in the power of 9-1-1.
Annnnndddddd... from here out just call me Rosa Parks.... because I refuse to sit in the back of the bus! Effective immediately.... I'm BFF with the driver.

 Just another day in the life of Marisa. :o/