For those of you that aren’t afflicted with children or perhaps, live someplace other than California, each child has to have a pass to ride the bus to get to school. Of course there are fees attached with this pass that I will leave for another time.

I get teh lad the semi-annual pass so it’s not that big of a financial hit when I’m trying to get him ready with clothes and supplies and whatnot. There isn’t a discount to pay for the whole year, so why not. The problem this year is that there was not any type of notification to me, the parent, about the pass expiring. Last year I recieved a ‘bill’ in the mail that allowed me to renew his pass via US Post in about a week.

Not this year.

I’ve been watching the mailbox since Christmas waiting for this bill. Nothing. I keep asking the lad if he has gotten something from school or the bus driver about this. Nothing*. Finally I suck it up and have to take 1 whole day of work off to get this taken care of. Well, and to take him to school and pick him up too, since without the pass the bus drivers leave the kids at the bus stop! Yes, you read that correctly.

Before I digress…

I called this morning to see if there was a way I could pay by phone. 4 hours ( ! ) later my call is returned. In the meantime, I figured I’d better just head over to the bus barn to pay and get the new card when I see this:

At the only open gate at the bus depot, behind which lies and office where the keeper of the pass is. All of the doors where closed and blinds shut. I found it odd that I couldn’t get in there, so I came back home.

When my call was returned and I was told I would have to go down there in person, I explaned to them I had already tried to but there was a big sign out front (see above) that said I couldn’t come in. She then told me that is meant for people that try to drive in and park with the busses. It didn’t say that on the sign, but whatever.

So I drive the 12 miles, again** back to the bus barn to pay for the new pass. In the process I’m hearing the horror stories from much angrier than me parents about their kids being left at their bus stops by the bus drivers! In defense of the drivers, I’m sure they would have their asses handed to them, as well as a pink slip, if they let any ‘freebies’ on.

I pay and explain all of this to the clerk, who, of course, could really give a shit. She took my money and I left.

Sometimes I have to wonder if it’s worth the trouble.

Can you believe that they actually trust important documents with 11-13 year old children? *24 miles round trip cost me 1 tank of gas and 1 hour of my time.