Dilemma: report a very sweary bus driver, or not?

[SpookyFrank]

Did you Google ageist cliches?

I just don't get why 'there were old people on the bus' makes the situation more serious. If it's a question of safety, well all members of the public have an equal right to travel safely. If it's a question of offence, well surely it's an ageist cliche that old folk are more likely to be offended by colourful language. I thought it was us millennials who were all supposed to be snowflakes.

 

[JimW]

Industrial language for a post-industrial age.

 

[T & P]

I can think of few jobs I would detest more than bus driver. Apart from the perennially bad London traffic, you have deal with- and worse still, put up with- completely unnaceptable behavour from passengers every single day of your working life, from faredodgers to vandals to abusive/ threatening people to drunks and fuck knows what more. That doesn't justify the behaviour of this driver, of course...

I'd not report him if I were you, at least not unless you find yourself on a bus with the same driver in the future and he behaves in the same manner. What he did is out of order but you never know if it might cost him his job in today's era of privately owned bus companies, and in my book his offences would never be deserving of losing his job.

 

[muscovyduck]

Report him!! Having a shit job is not an excuse to be a misogynist??

 

[Winot]

he was really sweary (obscene and misogynist)

This makes a difference, doesn't it? Sounds potentially threatening, unlike random swearing at the state of the world/other drivers.

 

[two sheds]

I can think of few jobs I would detest more than bus driver. Apart from the perennially bad London traffic, you have deal with- and worse still, put up with- completely unnaceptable behavour from passengers every single day of your working life, from faredodgers to vandals to abusive/ threatening people to drunks and fuck knows what more. That doesn't justify the behaviour of this driver, of course...

I couldn't handle any job dealing with the Great British Public tbh.

 

[scifisam]

I wouldn't report him. If he is having some sort of breakdown and doing this regularly it'll get noticed at work anyway, and if he's not behaving badly enough for it to be noticed at work, then there's no point getting him in trouble.

I'm not sure I agree that kids hear worse than that on a regular basis though! Yeah, kids swear, but it's unusual for them to go into a tirade of angry abuse with strong swear words. (I'm assuming this isn't teenagers we're talking about). I mean, hardly any kids post on urban.

 

[Rushy]

... made me a bit worried about his state of mind and how safe he was to be in charge of the vehicle - it looked & sounded like someone really losing it.

You said yourself that he appeared to be losing it to an extent which made you question whether he was safe to be in charge of the bus. That's a pretty clear statement. Assuming that you are a reasonably rational person and not hyper sensitive, I can't see a strong argument against reporting him.

Whether his behaviour is due to being unable to manage pressures at work or personal grief going in his private life, those pressures will only be heavily compounded if/when he causes a serious accident. Behind the wheel of a crowded 8 ton vehicle on a public road is not the place to deal with stress or other mental health issues.

Whether anyone might have been offended by his swearing, or exactly who it was directed at, seems like a distant secondary issue to me.