the separation will be over soon

[earendel]

elwing just called to say that "your deepest wish has come true" - she's coming home; in fact, she'll be home some time tonight. You put one bus in a ditch and...

Here are the particulars: elwing and the driving instructor were out on the road yesterday afternoon. The instructor told her to turn at the next corner. elwing did as instructed, but cut a little too sharply. On the edge of the road was a drainage ditch about 3' deep; next thing she knew the bus had gone into the ditch. No one was hurt, nor was there any damage to the bus. However the instructor had to report the "incident" and after some long deliberation, the company decided that this would not look good on them if elwing should have a real accident somewhere down the line, so they apologetically told her she was being dismissed. They are paying her air fare home. She doesn't have flight times yet but believes that she'll be getting back home somewhere in the wee hours tonight or early morning.

I told her that this was most definitely NOT my "deepest wish" - I was sick to hear that she hadn't made it and sad for her. She didn't seem disappointed, but then again this happened yesterday (the incident around 7PM Eastern time and the dismissal around 10PM) so she's had a chance to get over her initial reaction.

I haven't told son and DIL yet.

[silvercamaro]

I'm sorry that Elwing didn't get to reach her goal, but I am very glad she wasn't hurt in the accident. I know you will be glad to have her back home. Alert DIL to find the knitting projects, STAT.

P.S. Your tomato-tuna dinner sounds good. I think I will have that today.

[MarleysGh0st]

I'm sorry this accident has ended elwing's plans for a summer job. Kudos to you for a diplomatic response.

They're sending her home the day after it happened, huh? That's not wasting any time.

[Sisyphean Fan]

elwing just called to say that "your deepest wish has come true" - she's coming home; in fact, she'll be home some time tonight. You put one bus in a ditch and...

Here are the particulars: elwing and the driving instructor were out on the road yesterday afternoon. The instructor told her to turn at the next corner. elwing did as instructed, but cut a little too sharply. On the edge of the road was a drainage ditch about 3' deep; next thing she knew the bus had gone into the ditch. No one was hurt, nor was there any damage to the bus. However the instructor had to report the "incident" and after some long deliberation, the company decided that this would not look good on them if elwing should have a real accident somewhere down the line, so they apologetically told her she was being dismissed. They are paying her air fare home. She doesn't have flight times yet but believes that she'll be getting back home somewhere in the wee hours tonight or early morning.

I told her that this was most definitely NOT my "deepest wish" - I was sick to hear that she hadn't made it and sad for her. She didn't seem disappointed, but then again this happened yesterday (the incident around 7PM Eastern time and the dismissal around 10PM) so she's had a chance to get over her initial reaction.

I haven't told son and DIL yet.

W00t!! I'll just can my response to the grocery shopping post. But here's a thought.....

Don't tell them. You can just chalk it up to being 'non-confrontational'. They really seem to enjoy it when your non-confrontationaliousness works for them, it should be fun when it goes the other way.

"Hey, look who's home!"

So put that in your alpha hat and block it, DIL.....

[earendel]

I'm sorry this accident has ended elwing's plans for a summer job. Kudos to you for a diplomatic response.

They're sending her home the day after it happened, huh? That's not wasting any time.

They said that there wasn't any point in keeping her on - evidently they were concerned about "exposure" and "liability" if something should really happen and it came out that elwing had had a problem in training and nothing was done. It seems a rather Draconian response but I guess they can't take any risks.

[gsabc]

Geez, isn't that why you do the driver's training in the first place? They have to be perfect even when practicing and learning? High standards, and not realistic.

I'm sorry for elwing. This sounded like a really nice job.

[MarleysGh0st]

They said that there wasn't any point in keeping her on - evidently they were concerned about "exposure" and "liability" if something should really happen and it came out that elwing had had a problem in training and nothing was done. It seems a rather Draconian response but I guess they can't take any risks.

I understand that. Tourists probably expect that they're getting professional drivers, not someone's whose first experience driving a bus was just a couple weeks ago. And if they found out there was an incident during that training...

I was reacting more to the "don't let the door hit you on the way out" timing of the flight back. (Not that elwing has any reason to linger in Juneau at this point.)

[ghostjmf]

I have driven an airport bus. Fortunately, without passengers on it; I was taking it back from a supposed repair, but it kept breaking down, so I wound up taking it off & back on a highway to take it back to the repair place. None of the maneuvers were particularly complicated, had it been a smaller vehicle, but those things are a bitch to navigate.

My condolences to elwing; but good try.

You could also tell her I know a very upset young localish person who made it through most of the very rigorous training course for driving a school bus, but was ousted from the program on an appraiser's recommendation at the very end.

If you're going to be driving a vehicle with others in it, better safe than sorry.

[gsabc]

If you're going to be driving a vehicle with others in it, better safe than sorry.

A Boston insider comment to ghostjmf: Too bad the MBTA management and unions didn't think that way until recently.

[peacock2121]

I love how you supported her. I love how she went for it. That is what is important.

Can't wait to hear how she reacts to her crafts being 'put away'.

[earendel]

I love how you supported her. I love how she went for it. That is what is important.

Can't wait to hear how she reacts to her crafts being 'put away'.

Well, elwing just called to say that her flight from Chicago leaves at 9 Central time, so she'll be home around 11PM. I'll let you know tomorrow how she reacts.

[christie1111]

This is a bummer. I thought it was good for you to be figuring out some of these things yourself.

Hugs to Elwing. I am sure she is dissappointed.

[ghostjmf]

gsabc says:

A Boston insider comment to ghostjmf: Too bad the MBTA management and unions didn't think that way until recently.

I could say "yeah, & that driver didn't even have to know how to steer, since they were driving a train on a track; they just had to know when to brake!". Except that they do have to know how steer when they have to switch tracks at some complicated places.

And, the big "and" here, the driver in question had a bad driving record under a different name. Which apparently wasn't rigorously checked out, but I bet they're not the only driver, for the MBTA & other services, who has a bad record under a previous identity.

The local media are making a juicy story out of the name change because a gender change of some degree (as in "I dunno if they had an operation, & I'm sure the media would tell us if they knew") went along with it.

But whatever gender the evil local text-messaging-instead-of-braking idiot identifies with has no impact, very bad pun here, but no-one was killed but the trains themselves, on what kind of driver they are.

[mellytu74]

I love how you supported her. I love how she went for it. That is what is important.

Can't wait to hear how she reacts to her crafts being 'put away'.

Ditto.

Hugs for elwing.

[Jeemie]

GSABC, ghost, for all your "crypticness", it was relatively easy to find the story to which you were referring.

Just sayin'...

PS Although I don't know for sure yet, ghost, this may be the first case where your funny habit using the plural pronoun "they" as a substitute for a singular pronoun may be somewhat appropriate (although maybe "it" would have been more appropriate!)

[gsabc]

GSABC, ghost, for all your "crypticness", it was relatively easy to find the story to which you were referring.

Just sayin'...

Didn't think it would be. I didn't want to hijack the thread, is all.

My original point stands. Expecting new drivers to be perfect during training makes the training superfluous. Either allow them one mistake and dump anyone with two, give them more training (my vote), or don't bother with it at all. I suppose it fills in a checkbox when it comes to their liability insurance.

[ghostjmf]

I think what the tour company elwing wanted to work for really wants is experienced bus drivers who for some reason can't get a job in the lower 48, but they're not going to pay for experienced bus drivers, hence the training program.

When I was working for a local rental car franchise that I still refuse to name in public over 25 years later because they really were run by the local mafia, as attested to by a fellow employee who used to be a numbers runner & hid whenever they saw their former numbers-game boss heading into the back room for a meeting, one of their airport bus drivers was a veteran driver for the MBTA who was out on disability from the MBTA because of a heart condition. They had no self-protective instinct to with-hold this information from friendly fellow-employees with whom they spoke. They were, as you might expect of a former T driver with an excellent record, a great driver.

However, the MBTA had them out on disability for a very good medical reason. It wasn't a reason the un-named "Mafia Rental Car" company cared about.

I have to wonder how many tour bus drivers have a similar story.

Did elwing's employers ask for medical records?

[SportsFan68]

Darn! This is very sad.

I was looking forward to her reports of life in the "wild."

[SportsFan68]

GSABC, ghost, for all your "crypticness", it was relatively easy to find the story to which you were referring.

Just sayin'...

Didn't think it would be. I didn't want to hijack the thread, is all.

My original point stands. Expecting new drivers to be perfect during training makes the training superfluous. Either allow them one mistake and dump anyone with two, give them more training (my vote), or don't bother with it at all. I suppose it fills in a checkbox when it comes to their liability insurance.

I can think of lots of errors that would have been overlooked. Unfortunately, one of them wouldn't be putting the bus into a ditch. The municipality I used to work for had to fire a driver for putting a bus into a ditch with passengers in it. The supervisor handled it brilliantly -- he went out to the site personally, arranged for travel back to their destinations, and took all the passengers out to dinner at a nice mid-range restaurant. Our insurance adjustor raved about how we didn't get a single lawsuit out of the deal. If we had kept the driver on, I'm sure his report would have been very different.

Putting the bus in a ditch, in this litigious age, is an error in judgment that can't be overlooked. They don't have to be perfect during the training; they do have to demonstrate that they can keep the bus on the road.

Off topic a bit -- one of the local firefighters quit to become a pilot for Puddlejumper Airlines. He landed on a highway because of pilot error, and his bosses bought his explanation, wrote him up, and kept him on. Second time he did it, about a month later, he was fired before the airplane was back in the hangar.

[MarleysGh0st]

Off topic a bit -- one of the local firefighters quit to become a pilot for Puddlejumper Airlines. He landed on a highway because of pilot error, and his bosses bought his explanation, wrote him up, and kept him on. Second time he did it, about a month later, he was fired before the airplane was back in the hangar.

Umm, some other pilot error which resulted in an emergency landing on a highway or pilot error of mistaking a highway for a runway?

Twice???

[Jeemie]

GSABC, ghost, for all your "crypticness", it was relatively easy to find the story to which you were referring.

Just sayin'...

Didn't think it would be. I didn't want to hijack the thread, is all.

My original point stands. Expecting new drivers to be perfect during training makes the training superfluous. Either allow them one mistake and dump anyone with two, give them more training (my vote), or don't bother with it at all. I suppose it fills in a checkbox when it comes to their liability insurance.

Sprots said what I was going to say.

I feel for Elwing, but putting a bus in a ditch is a grevious error- even in training.

[earendel]

I think what the tour company elwing wanted to work for really wants is experienced bus drivers who for some reason can't get a job in the lower 48, but they're not going to pay for experienced bus drivers, hence the training program.

When I was working for a local rental car franchise that I still refuse to name in public over 25 years later because they really were run by the local mafia, as attested to by a fellow employee who used to be a numbers runner & hid whenever they saw their former numbers-game boss heading into the back room for a meeting, one of their airport bus drivers was a veteran driver for the MBTA who was out on disability from the MBTA because of a heart condition. They had no self-protective instinct to with-hold this information from friendly fellow-employees with whom they spoke. They were, as you might expect of a former T driver with an excellent record, a great driver.

However, the MBTA had them out on disability for a very good medical reason. It wasn't a reason the un-named "Mafia Rental Car" company cared about.

I have to wonder how many tour bus drivers have a similar story.

Did elwing's employers ask for medical records?

Yes and she had to do a drug screening also.

[earendel]

GSABC, ghost, for all your "crypticness", it was relatively easy to find the story to which you were referring.

Just sayin'...

Didn't think it would be. I didn't want to hijack the thread, is all.

My original point stands. Expecting new drivers to be perfect during training makes the training superfluous. Either allow them one mistake and dump anyone with two, give them more training (my vote), or don't bother with it at all. I suppose it fills in a checkbox when it comes to their liability insurance.

Sprots said what I was going to say.

I feel for Elwing, but putting a bus in a ditch is a grevious error- even in training.

It is an error and I can understand the company's position, but after all, what else is training for but the opportunity to make mistakes and learn how not to make them again?

[ghostjmf]

I had asked:

Did elwing's employers ask for medical records?

ear responds:

Yes and she had to do a drug screening also.

Then no-one can fault this company for not doing checks. I just hope they also did that "check the soc-sec #, not just the name" check that seems to have eluded Boston's MBTA in that not-so-cryptic (it made every major news service there is, it seems) reference to the driver admittedly at fault in the big subway train collision here last Friday night.


You would think a company who is doing all the right checks, & who flew elwing to Alaska but then dismissed her for an accident-while-training would just up the extra ante & hire people who were already bus drivers. You'd think. I mean, the expense to them of this can not have been negligible.

[Jeemie]

Didn't think it would be. I didn't want to hijack the thread, is all.

My original point stands. Expecting new drivers to be perfect during training makes the training superfluous. Either allow them one mistake and dump anyone with two, give them more training (my vote), or don't bother with it at all. I suppose it fills in a checkbox when it comes to their liability insurance.

Sprots said what I was going to say.

I feel for Elwing, but putting a bus in a ditch is a grevious error- even in training.

It is an error and I can understand the company's position, but after all, what else is training for but the opportunity to make mistakes and learn how not to make them again?

And I think the company believes there's errors and then there's errors.

And there's probably a little truth to what ghost said (GASP! Someone kill me before I say that again!) The company probably REALLY would like some experienced drivers but isn't willing to pay for them.