I Missed the Bus

"....I missed the bus, and that is somethin I will never ever do again" - Kris Kross, I missed the bus

Yep the Honest Man took it there. I quoted Kris Kross. And what's sadder is that I didn't even quote one of their popular songs. But you know the Honest Man, there's always a method to the madness. Strange as it sounds, that song popped into my head when I was thinking about today's post. Today's post is a continuation of my good times with my godparents. Earlier this week, I reminisced on my first exposure to chicken and waffles a la Houston. Today, it's a Welcome to Houston Charlie Brown type story...

Let's rewind a few weeks before the Roscoe's incident. It's still 1996. It's still Houston. And it's still hot as hell in the summer time there. When my godparents agreed to let me stay with them, I made an assumption that I would be able to use their cars freely. I opted to leave my car in South Carolina off that assumption (and the fact my lazy ass did not want to drive that distance). When I got there, they immediately told me that while I can drive their cars, I have to fill it up every time I take it out. That included if they gave the car to me with like 2 gallons left in the tank. Sounds like bullshit right? Well their house, their rules so I wasn't trippin' too hard. Plus read the Roscoe's post. I had no reasons to buck on the car rule.

Another thing they told me too was while I had use of the car, that was for after work and weekends. For getting to and from work, my mode of transportation was going to be Metro. As in the bus. My godfather rode that thing all the time to downtown Houston for work and believed that was the way for me too. Now that caught me off guard. I at least thought I was getting rides to and from work. So as a delaying tactic, I asked him if he could take me to work and pick me up in the car, so I could see the route and get comfortable first. He was like sure, no problem. Little did I know he was plotting something in his mind.

First day of the internship goes great. I get taken to work in my godfather's car. I get my own office (side note, you don't know how gassed my ego was to see my name outside of an office). I meet the folks on the team. I get taken out to an expensive lunch by my assigned mentor. I meet the other interns in the building. Shit's going great right? I'm in in corporate negro heaven as the day winds down.

I'm leaving for the day, get to the lobby, and my godfather's sitting on the couch. I'm like wow, first class service, he didn't wait in the car, he came inside to greet me. He's like "you ready" and I'm going sure. We get outside and I go "where's the car?" He responds "Car? I didn't drive, I took the bus here to pick you up. You said you needed to get comfortable riding the bus, so I said ok I'll ride the bus home with him." Do you know this man had me walk 3-4 blocks to the bus stop and we took the bus home?? Straight craziness right there....

Today's Lesson

Be careful what you asked for. I wanted comfort and my godfather accommodated. From that day moving forward, I rode the bus to and from work every day. Rain or shine, I was a bus riding, people talking, shirt and tie wearing, music listening on the bus, switching buses son of a gun. Now I couldn't really complain b/c they did give me free room and board plus meals. But you try riding Houston METRO in the summertime and then tell me I wasn't hardcore.