Teenagers = Blargh!!

This morning, I had an interesting experience on the bus. It was one of the last Whyte Ridge buses of the morning, and was unusually packed. I guess the high school kids figured out this bus was somehow superior to the bus most other high school students were taking, but that is not the issue. What IS the issue is that I was almost crushed by the front door.

The high school kids decided to congregate right at the FRONT of the bus, and there was not enough room for all of them to sit. I waited for a moment--after untangling myself from the almost fatal door situation--in hopes the kids would realize they were blocking the way. Nope, didn't happen. I waited about a minute (which I feel was a completely adequate amount of time), and then tapped one of the boys on the shoulder. He turned around, looked at me, and said "yeah?"

I politely asked him if he and his friends could move down or move over, which I fully believe I was in my right to do. He just stared at me. Apparently I was speaking French. So, ever so POLITELY, I shoved by him and worked my way through the rest of the pack of kids to the back of the bus. I received a glare from the boy, and everyone else in the group continually stared at me until the bus reached the high school.

I was thinking, at that moment, what i'm sure many people think when faced with a rude teenager situation: "those darn kids." I KNOW I was never like that at their age.

Throughout the day, I began to ponder my eventful bus ride. WAS I ever a teenager like that? I remember being the group of loud ones on the C-Train in Calgary, coming home from work. And I guess I have been guilty of blocking the way on buses a few times when I was younger. Ok, ok, and I may have been rude to someone on a bus... possibly. But that doesn't mean I was a stereotypical teenager, does it?

On the bus ride home, I had another lovely close encounter with the high school kids. Same thing. They don't get it. But at least I had a seat. Having nothing else to do at that particular moment, I began playing back my teenage years. I remember when we forced my friend, Bryan, into a manhole under the road. We locked him in it, and ran away giggling. The plan was to wait a few minutes, then go back and get him out. How were we supposed to know a car would park on top of the manhole, trapping him for an hour? In hindsight, that was pretty juvenile.

The moral of the story is that i've decided to cut the high school kids a bit of slack. The above examples are only a few of the many annoying and immature things I did as a teenager. I managed to grow up eventually, so i'll let kids be kids and not judge. Tomorrow on the bus I wont let it get to me, as long as I am not almost crushed by the door again. But that doesn't mean I wont roll my eyes...