When you assume...

We all know what happens when you make assumptions right?

This morning as I was on the bus, the express bus, actually, it was the super express bus, I had the fun of witnessing what happens when you make assumptions.

First of all, let me explain the super express bus. I love the super express bus. It goes from downtown all the way to the university where I work and doesn't make any stops for the majority of the trip. A few stops downtown and then a few stops at the university. It's so much faster than taking any other buses. Plus, the lack of stops means it's a much smoother ride for all of us.

Every once in awhile, some poor individual fails to realize that this bus does not make any stops for the greatest proportion of its route. This usually ends up in some dismay, occasionally in begging, often in disappointment, and frequently in a trip back towards downtown on a non-super express bus, but usually not in an extra mid-route stop.

This morning some business type fellow assumed that the bus must make some sporadic stops, even though the bus was clearly labeled a super express bus. Instead of asking the driver about potential stops when he boarded the bus, he assumed he would be able to get off the bus whenever he wanted.

When his assumptions proved incorrect (as they often do) he became belligerant and proceded to grumble and complain about: the stupid bus route, the stupid city, the stupid driver, and various other things that I couldn't understand because they just sounded like general muttering. He even complained saying that he assumed the bus would stop and made it sound like someone else out there was responsible somehow for his assumptions.

All I could think about as he complained was, "when you assume, you make an ass of u and me." And he certainly was coming across as a bit of an ass. Apparently that little spelling trick isn't as widely known as I thought it was.

In any case, some advice for anyone taking a bus that they have not taken before, are unfamiliar with, or are unsure about... don't assume that it's going where you want it to go, ask the driver if they are stopping at the point where you'd like to remove yourself from the bus. It will make your life easier, your bus driver will be less irritable, the people who would otherwise have to listen to you complain will be less annoyed, and the chances that someone will mock you after you get off the bus will also significanly decrease.