Patrick's Rants

I have had an excessive number of unsatisfied phone calls lately from people thinking they are talking to an idiot. How I managed to get these calls is beyond me, they aren’t even my “department”.

First, a little groundwork and background. Each of the schools in town has its own attendance boundaries, if you live within a school’s boundaries, that is the school you attend; that is the school that we will transport students to and from. Also the State of Arizona has designated one mile as walking distance for elementary students and one and a half miles for secondary (7^th through 12^th grades). By walking distance, I mean that the State does not consider anyone within walking distance to be an “eligible student” for transportation. We don’t get paid to drive these kids to school and we don’t drive them to school. Flagstaff also has four “magnet schools”. The magnet schools get students from everywhere. Of the three elementary schools with magnet programs, at least two are full magnets, meaning that everyone in the school is in the programs and every student qualifies for transportation from anywhere (and we are obligated to transport to these schools). The middle school program is for specific students and does not encompass the entire student body. Only the students in the magnet programs are entitled to citywide transportation.

Now that I’ve said that, let me delve into the conversations that I have had to endure over the last few weeks. The first is a call that I received asking about a particular route and why the driver was not stopping at some corner, but was instead stopping on a different corner.

(From memory)The website shows this bus stopping on Dodge for Flagstaff Middle and Flagstaff High

At which point I knew that I was probably talking to a high school student and I replied,

That neighborhood goes to Sinagua High School, we do not transport to Flag High from that address.

Can you just check your web site?

I don’t have to check, that’s Sinagua district.

Of course, he was not satisfied and told me that he wanted to talk to a supervisor. As it was after 5 PM I told him there wasn’t a supervisor but that I could take his name and number and have someone call him in the morning. His intention was to report me for “poor customer service” for already knowing that he (as he sounded like a student) wanted to get transportation to a school outside of his boundary – and refusing to look. And of course for being “rude”.

Next up, a phone call from a mom who wants her child to ride the bus to Thomas Elementary School. I asked where she lived and she gave me an address two minutes by foot to another school – out of boundaries and ineligible for transportation. I advised her that she was a block and a half from Killip, that she was in Killip’s district and that her child would not be transported to Thomas from within Killip’s boundaries. She told me that her child would never go to Killip and insisted that we transport her child (ineligible for reimbursement from the State). I again told her there was no bus. She became frustrated with me and hung up. I heard the she has talked to two or three other people over this with the same answer.

Lastly, I received a call from a woman wanting to help her “friend” get transportation for her child to Killip. Killip is only walk distance, there are no students from outside of a mile that attend Killip. In this case the child is right at a mile distance. Again, the dance of “give me your supervisor,” “I’m sorry, at this time of day, they trust me to work by myself,” ensues. I don’t know if she called back or not.

Back when I worked as a lifeguard we had a rule that anyone who rented a boat from us, or used any kind of watercraft that they themselves brought to the lake, were required to wear a life jacket. Not that they just have it in the boat, but actually wear it. As a lifeguard I was exempt due to an incident the first day the park was opened. Two ladies that I told to wear their life jackets promptly complained to my supervisor about “the guy who thinks he’s a private dick”. Yeah, it was the era of Miami Vice and I was wearing a pair of cheap Rayban knock-offs. But private dick?

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve worked in different businesses, where the customer is usually right. Like when I worked for the string of businesses owned by my grandparents, then my dad, and finally for myself. And when I worked selling shoes, and Ruby Tuesday. But when the law dictates the rules and the service level your kid has to walk.