The 1st time.

To one person the first time means one thing.
To another, it's something else.
For some, it's absolutely amazing.
For others, it's everything but.
For me, it's nerve rocking.
There's a lot of sweating, heavy breathing and breath control involved.
It's all about remembering what you were taught and then some.
The first day on the job can never be compared to butter against sun, at least, not for me.

Starts out that I arrived an hour and a half late.
The usually one hour long drive turned out to be two and a half hours.
First, the chi chi bus stopped at every bus stop and everything that resembled such, resulting in that 15 minutes drive turning into 30 mins.

Finally, I was down town. Only to be told that I had to take a #700 to Halfway Tree and then make a transfer to a #44 which would take me to my destination.
Okay.
No biggy.

Got to the bus terminus in Halfway Tree after becoming familiar with every bus stop on the way from there to ahmmm ...
Don't remember.
No.
More like, don't know.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I told the driver where I wanted to go.
Ding dong!!!!
I only did caz I didn't know where I was going.
By the way, let me also mention that this was about10:00 or so, an hour after I was supposed to have arrived.
So, I'm sitting in the bus, wondering if the driver remembers me.
Slapping a half smile across my face I asked, "did u hear when I asked for a stop at Nationwide?"
Only to be asked, "A whe dat deh lady?"
I'm LMAO now that I'm writing, but there was everything but a smile on my face then.
I thought of crying, but what a shame it would be, so I composed myself, made a call to get the exact address, told the driver, sat up in my seat and hoped for, if not the best, something good.

It couldn't get worse.
I sat back, relaxed and waited for the driver to tell me to get off at the next stop or something, but that was just a thought; one that was not to be materialized.
At 10:30, I was sitting, still in the bus, at a cul-de-sac.
Might I add that I was the only passenger left on board.
What the hell is happening now, I thought to myself, but before my thought could have been verbalized, the very nice and helpful lady driver asked me, "Why yuh neva remind mi?"
Hellooooooooooo?
I couldn't. I didn't know where I was going.
Putting on the most faux pleasant smile I could muster up, I replied, "Caz I didn't know when or where to stop you."
"Yuh hafi guh wait bout 5 minutes."
The bus had stopped driving- parked to be exact.
I waited and waited and waited and 5 minutes quickly turned into 15.

At 10:45, the bus was finally on it's way.
"Memba mi when mi reach a di gas station. When wi reach out deh, jus seh, driva, memba mi," she made no mistake in telling me as we drove out.
By this time, tears were sitting crossed leggedly on my eye lids and lashes.
Don't cry. You can't cry I kept telling myself and then just when I thought all hope was gone, a gas station eased out of nowhere into plain view and like a child following directives given to it by its parents, I recited her words.
"Memba mi driva," I called out to her, to which she shoved her head through the window and called out to a nice, little , well I can't say gentleman for I am ignorant of his manliness or the gentleness of it, and asked, "A which way dem numba Mannings Hill road fr?"
But before he could answer, she blurted out, "A whe Nationwide deh?"

It was down the road.
How far down the road is a totally different thing.
"Di nex stop a yours yuh hear miss?"
Whether or not I responded is nothing I remember or care to.
The next stop came and on my way off the bus I attempted to tap into her creole by asking, "Where do I go from here?"
To which she responded, "Di whole a yah suh a Mannings Hill road. Walk gwaan till yuh find whe yuh a guh."
And while my being found it humourous, my flaring emotions didn't and the look on my face coincided with the latter.

After a few almost wrong turns, hi sexy girls, tooting of car horns and pssssts, I was finally there. Time?
Less than a stone throw way from 11.
Phone swinging from left to right in my hand - needed something to channel the pent up energy into- walking as briskly as I did, I dragged myself up the stairs, buzzed the door, went inside, introduced myself then sat down.

Images of what I would have wanted to do to the nice lady driver skated across my mind, but I soon dismissed the anger.
Soon dismissed the whole ordeal.
Soon I had replaced it with more wholesome, thought worthy thoughts, but that was only after meeting the very friendly, down to earth GM and the staff.
But while I dismissed the ordeal, I came away with a well learnt lesson: never blame someone else for my tardiness.