[20:42:29] (me): I think I've met [local bus system]'s most trigger-happy driver.
[20:43:05] (me): I can honestly say I've never met someone less deserving of the job they've held.
[20:43:50] (me): That trip I just took was an absolute waste of time, money, gas, patience, and possibly my privilege to ride buses.
[20:47:15] (me): I went up to the [city 15 miles away] library to grab Pokémon Adventures 1... not there. Not in stock, no evidence it was ever in stock. (They had DP though, oddly enough)
[20:47:58] (me): So I placed a hold on it at the [city 10 miles from the first library; 6 miles from home] library and started to bus over there.
[20:48:28] (me): A bus driver that apparently remembers me from an incident on a different bus a YEAR ago (though I didn't recognize him until later) was driving the second bus.
[20:50:36] (me): It was about five minutes until we needed to leave when we got on, so I was doing him the favor of making his bus tidier (collecting fare cards and transfers from the empty seats so I could toss them in the trash). I asked him to open the door so I could use a trash can at the bus stop, since there wasn't one on the bus, and he was telling me I needed to sit down. But there wasn't much issue there. He opened the door, I tossed out the stuff, got back on, and took a seat.
[20:52:06] (me): As we were turning around, I saw a northbound Gratiot bus with a southbound sign. I mentioned it to the bus driver, hoping to get to continue and ask him to call dispatch and have the mistake corrected.
[20:52:53] (me): And he turned around, looked straight at me, and told me that if I said anything else to him he'd call the cops on me.
[20:53:46] (me): Not "Please be quiet" or "Please don't distract me from my job". No. "Shut up or I'm calling the cops."
[20:58:04] (me): When he had threatened me, I asked why. Among what he said was that
- I'm distracting him from his job by doing that
- He remembered me from an incident on Gratiot
- "Something is wrong with you"
[20:59:19] (me): The above all happened in [the next city north of home].
[20:59:38] (me): My trip was across three cities, btw: [the aforementioned city A], [the city to A's north, B], and [the city with the second library, C, which is west of the A-B border].
[21:00:42] (me): He'd already passed the point where I was done being polite with him, but if he'd done nothing else, I'd have gotten off the bus in silence, removed my bike, gone to the library, and complained in the morning.
[21:01:39] (me): Btw, the library closed at 8. We left the stop at about 7:25 (scheduled time 7:27), and this whole thing started in the turnaround before the next stop (7:27 or 7:28).
[21:07:30] (me): At no time, by the way, was any other passenger on board. It was only me and the bus driver.
[21:08:43] (me): And although some SMART buses have video/audio cameras, this one did not.
[21:09:32] (me): So it was literally the two of us and anyone who happened to see from the road.
[21:12:36] (me): Anyway.
[21:15:20] (me): We crossed the border into [city B] (as we came up [road going through A and B]) without incident. We crossed the border into [city C] (crossing [road at the A-B-C border] on [road defining the A-B border]) without incident. I was silent the entire time, without anyone else to talk to.
[21:17:00] (me): I sent a message on Skype to one of my friends and copied it to a text to mom.
[21:17:25] Me (phone acct): [2014/04/22 19:28] Holy shit, I just got the cops threatened on me for TALKING TO THE DRIVER.
[21:17:44] Me (phone acct): [2014/04/22 19:29] Most drivers are fine with talking to passengers, and I'd be quiet if asked politely. But no, he has to fucking threaten to call the cops.
[21:18:49] (me): ^ those were the messages I sent to the friend - condensed into one message for mom
[21:20:10] (me): Anyway, we neared the stop (now in [city C]), and I got up to get off. He asked me to take a seat. "No," I told him, "I'm about to get off, and why do you have to call the cops on me?" (not exact quotes)
[21:21:07] (me): He repeated himself. I repeated myself. He stopped the bus right then and there (a ways away from my stop still).
[21:23:15] (me): I got off with "I hope you get fired."
Hs reply? "I hope you die!" (exact words)
[21:24:11] (me): I got back on the bus because I thought he was about to drive off with my bike still on the rack (and he almost closed me IN the door).
[21:25:33] (me): And he got out of his seat as if to hit me and said "get off the bus" (with the door closed).
[21:26:14] (me): I didn't quite exactly refuse, but I didn't comply either, and we continued verbally arguing me. I asked "Are you threatening me?" and he said he was.
[21:27:27] (me): I called the police. He said he'd take me to the station (as a threat). I said I was fine with that, and he called... I believe either dispatch or [city A] police.
[21:28:40] (me): Probably dispatch, because he sounded like he was requesting permission to go to the police.
[21:29:33] (me): I eventually got off the bus when he was stopped at entirely the wrong corner to go to the police station, grabbed my bike, and made my own way to the police station after the 911 call was ended.
[21:30:03] (me): And that's that.
[21:30:51] (me): When I was in the police station talking to the officer, I remembered the other time I saw this bus driver.
[21:32:16] (me): Back when I was still 18, and before I got my ID, I carried around both a [reduced fare unlimited rides pass] and [cash-value pass that's worth more in bus fare than what you pay for it].
[21:32:50] (me): This was because [bus company] had told me previously that if I can't prove my age, one option for paying my fare was the [reduced fare pass] and (if asked for it) [difference between the reduced fare and regular fare] cash.
[Edit: I had in fact done this with several bus drivers in fact with no problem]
[21:33:36] (me): I had called multiple times, and asked bus drivers, and not once prior to that did I receive any other response.
[21:35:24] (me): And then the bus driver started getting mad at me when I brought this up after he asked for the full [full fare], so I got off two stops after where I had gotten on (which was my stop anyway, otherwise I would have paid the full fare) and called in to complain.
[21:36:46] (me): Before I mentioned anything about a complaint, I made sure that what I was doing was valid. I managed to confuse the call center person but she reluctantly agreed I was right. At that point I mentioned a complaint. Suddenly, no, I can't do things the way I was trying to do them.
[21:37:12] (me): I decided not to argue further and asked her to forward to that bus driver an apology from me.
[21:37:50] (me): And had I recognized him before we had this big issue, I'd have apologized. Heck, had he not made it this big an issue, I'd have been ready to apologize to him next time I boarded his bus.
[21:38:26] (me): But no, it just had to become this big an issue.
[21:38:41] (me): So yeah, I really hope he gets fired, and you can bet against everything that I'm going to be calling in the morning.
[21:39:03] (me): The kicker? It was 8 by the time I finished talking to the officer.

EDIT: Next day addendum
[02:14:59] (me): So I think I realize why that bus driver's "I hope you die" statement scared me so much.
[02:15:53] (me): There he was, wishing death upon me while sitting at the wheel and pedals of a multi-ton metal machine while I had no choice but to step in front of it to remove my bike from its rack.