The Bus Driver

On days when I have TAFE, quite often the bus driver is the first person I interact with on that day.

Today, before I left the house, I counted enough change for the bus. I was running low on change, however, and only really had just enough, but I did count, and made sure I had enough for the ticket. In fact, I had 5c extra for the ticket, so I was good.

When the bus came, I asked for a daily ticket and gave my change to the bus driver. A lot of it was in 10 and 20 cent coins so he counted as I gave it to him. As he was still counting, he gave me back a 10c coin, because it was in New Zealand currency. I had not noticed this when I counted it earlier that morning, but when he handed it back, I knew I wouldn't have enough. Still, I thought, I'd only be 5c short, and hoped that maybe he'd be kind.

But when he counted it, he said, "I still need 15 cents."
I said, "I'm sorry, that's all I have," so he took back the ticket from my hand he gave me earlier. I asked for a 2 hour ticket, instead, and gave him the money for that. He gave me a 2 hour ticket, and then, with disdain in his voice, he said,
"You didn't actually expect me to give you a free 15 cents, did you?" as if I was intentionally trying to short him the whole time.

Most people accept the occasional New Zealand coin in Australia, anyway. It's not like I've ever been to New Zealand, so the only reason I would've had a New Zealand coin in the first place was because I received it as change from someone else in Australia. Still, I suppose it was his right to not accept it, but taking that into account, there was still five cents unaccounted for. (10 cents, really, since I had an extra five cents when I left the house.) I have no idea what happened to the missing ten cents, although the bus driver did drop a couple of coins while he was counting them, maybe he missed one when he picked them up again? Or maybe I just miscounted three times when I checked earlier that morning that I had enough change. I suppose it's not his fault that I didn't notice that one of the coins was New Zealand and that I was still another five cents short, but it's not like I tried to argue with him about it, either, even though a lot of people would've. I accepted it and just got a 2-hour ticket instead, even though it meant I had to take $20 out of the bank to get back home again. I don't mind that he didn't let me get away with getting a daily, but he didn't have to be so rude about it. Not for 15 cents. 5 cents if it wasn't for the New Zealand coin.

Anyway, it really put a damper on my morning.

It's not even that big of a deal, I suppose. Just a small thing, really. The rest of the day went much better, so don't mind me. I'm just having a whinge.