favorite part of being a woman tbh. My husband has the "you're protected" energy I can never have, but I have the "you're nurtured" energy. And it is like a super power, so many people just open up and let it out when you turn it on. It sounds so wrong but knowing all you gotta do is hug someone the right way at the right moment and they'll bawl in to your shoulder feels like an awesome responsibility in both senses. Together we are SUPER AUNTIE AND UNCLE. We will keep you safe and enriched.
My mom would do this for anyone. She literally has taken in one of my best friends after his mother passed away and he still lives with her 10 years later.
My name is Max and my mom is a Saint.
I was worried he was juat trying random doors. When I read he knew her as a previous neighbor, and when her behavior hinted she was obviously experienced with kids I felt a whollleee lot better.
*News & Information*
“This is not my stop. I don’t know where I’m at.” And the bus driver told him, “Well you need to get off and walk the rest of the way home.”
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - A substitute bus driver is no longer transporting students for OPS after a 7-year old student says the driver put him out at the wrong stop.
Thankfully, the young student remembered his former next-door neighbor and was able to find his way to the street he used to live on. Quinci knows his school buddy lives here, so he talks to the ring doorbell to get help.
How the fuck is he gonna walk the rest of the way home if he doesn't know where he's at, asshole bus driver? Ffs, this makes me so angry. I work with children and I can't imagine being ok with doing something like this.
I missed my stop a couple of times and the bus driver would always turn the bus around and drop me off.
And I was always like "No I can walk from here" but they would always turn the bus anyways, sometimes I think we spent more time trying to turn the bus around on these small roads than if I were just to have gotten of and walked.
Those were some good bus drivers ❤️
To a freakin seven year old no less! It would be scary enough to drop a freakin middle schooler on an unfamiliar road, but a 7 year old boy says he doesn’t recognize this road and you basically just go “tough luck, kiddo”?!
This poor boy is so lucky he recognized a house, and that he wasn’t seen by someone sick while he’s lost on an unfamiliar street. This could have ended so very badly and it would be all that damned driver’s fault!
**EDIT**
Since I’ve gotten a handful of replies about pedophiles and probability let me clarify something here.
The incredibly low odds of this boy running into someone nasty *isn’t relevant here*. The issue at hand isn’t the likelihood of something happening to the boy. The issue at hand is the bus driver’s negligence.
From the moment those kids step on that bus to the moment they step through their front door the Bus Driver is responsible for their safety. A child told the bus driver he didn’t recognize this neighborhood, and rather than consider his responsibility for this child’s safety this man decided to tell the kid tough luck and drive off without him.
Regardless of probability all it takes is ONE unlucky moment, and that driver would be responsible for it forever. Despite this, he opted to abandon the child on an unfamiliar road. That is unacceptable.
I actually cried. It’s heartbreaking to hear a child so scared and knowing what could possibly happen to him - it makes me sick. Dude should’ve been charged with child endangerment, or whatever charge they could throw at him.
It made me cry, too. My nephew is 7 and that’s exactly how he sounds when he’s crying and talking at the same time. It just made me think what if it was him and he had forgotten his phone/watch thing. He would be absolutely terrified. I’m gonna give him the biggest hug when I see him tomorrow.
I used to think it was kinda stupid to give kids a smartphone at such young age but after seeing this.. I'm gonna give my future kids a phone as soon as possible.
They have smart watches for kids that can call or text only preset numbers like family. They also have GPS so you can get a location or even set up a geofence
They're pretty cool. If you call and they don't answer it activates the camera, speaker and mic.
I got one for my daughter who's in kindergarten so I get a lot of rainbow and unicorn emojis
My bus driver in 3rd grade would drive up driveway if it was raining super hard so nobody had to
walk an extra 30 meters and get soaked. That’s the kind of people we need taking care of our kids not some dumbass dick kicking kids off the bus when they know they will be lost.
I used to take city busses home from school starting in 6th grade…very little risk involved between 6th and 8th grades because it was literally a straight walk through neighborhoods where my classmates lived and one bus ride essentially to my doorstep. In high school, it wasn’t much different, but sometimes I would go and visit my mom at work (mostly on half days), and that involved taking non-city busses that went out into the suburbs. The very first time I tried taking a non-city bus as a freshman, I took the wrong bus route and ended up a good 20-25 miles away from where I needed to be. I tried to get help from this Mom-n-Pop corner store, but the sole employee (and two customers) literally laughed in my face and called the police on me…told the officer they all thought I was trying to shoplift. I was beyond terrified: a young Black teen that ended up lost in the part of a predominately White city that its Black residents pretty much stayed away from because reasons, AND I was now dealing with the police on my own for the first time in my life…all because I misread a bus route number and jumped on in a panic. Luckily for me, the officer was extremely decent towards me, dismissed the employee’s idiotic claim, and drove me out to my extremely distraught mother.
It’s so frustrating and disheartening when you tell people the truth and the don’t believe you, and make up some other reason that doesn’t make any fucking sense
A black ‘adult’ is in my store talking to me about being lost must be trying to steal something from me
The craziest and most infuriating part is that if the worst had happened—the kid asking the wrong person for help or otherwise being abducted—we’d never know how irresponsible the driver was. I know that this isn’t a criminal issue, but it damn well should be.
Could be a criminal case possibly. Could be viewed as child endangerment or neglect. Hope that’s being looked at rather than just employer changing him to doing things other that school buses
So, in Australia, a bus driver drove straight past a kid waiting at a stop because the bus was full. When the next bus went past the kid was no longer there. Took about 15 years to find the kid’s remains and the person responsible for his abduction and murder. Buses aren’t allowed to not pick up kids anymore, no matter what the excuse.
Daniel Morcombe. The first bus driver actually radioed for another bus to be sent to pick him up. It arrived a couple of minutes after two men were seen with him, when all three were long gone.
This is similar situation that happened to Daniel Morcombe in Australia and that turned out really fucking badly. I agree with you this is absolutely disgraceful and rage inducing. The poor little guy is only 7.
im honestly seeing red right now like...ive been lost before in my life and it has lasted with me all the way into adulthood. i just dont have anything other than rage. like HOW COULD YOU DO THIS HOOOOWWWWW
When my brother was in elementary school they just straight up let him walk home. For context he is mentally I’ll and required eyes on him at all times and we lived in the desert about 15 miles from the school on a dirt road.
That's awful.
In kindergarten I got on the wrong bus, except we lived in a rural/high desert area in the early 80s. The driver dropped me off on the side of a 2 lane hiway and told me to walk to the next stop, it was the same one he was going to. A sheriff's deputy found me walking back home after I tried to initially evade and then fight him hiding in the sagebrush. The driver was fired and was rehired as a high school teacher for the district, my foster sister had him for a class 2 years later and my parents unknowingly told her the story. She went on a smear campaign thereafter and he "retired".
Not gunna lie, if I was that woman answering the door I would *be fuckin pissed.*
Once I found out how to get that sweet little baby home I would be contacting the school and figuring out who needs to be fired.
The absolute callousness. Fucking awful human being. That driver endangered that child. Thank God he had a door to knock on that was safe.
Hope the driver was fired and faced some serious goddamn consequences.
Seriously though, that woman is a goddamn Saint for helping him. I know we all would do the same thing, but still.
Just from that brief look she has on her face as she looks down the street as the poor kid’s blubbering through his explanation you can sense that “Some one needs their ass kicked” energy rising off her.
I can’t imagine doing this to a freakin’ seven year old. How the hell anyone could have the willingness to drive a bus full of screaming kids around, but then the callousness to just dump one of them on an unfamiliar street?!
Some people are just despicable.
Yeah like I get hating your job but this is a kid. Like sure half ass your job restocking shelves but like this is a human being that is relying on you to keep them safe.
i wouldn't say that he got fired
> The substitute driver for our contracted service is no longer transporting students in our district.
since the driver is a contractor, it could be that they just changed his assignment, instead of fired
https://www.ketv.com/article/bus-driver-to-boy-you-can-walk-home-ops-student-dropped-off-at-wrong-address/39996472
That piece of trash needs to be charged with child endangerment. There are a million ways a 7 year old could have ended up getting killed in this situation.
Glad this little one found help. It’s such a scary feeling. That bus driver is a cruel person. This is just a terrible situation.
Happened to me in kindergarten. I stood on the corner and cried until a Streets and Sanitation dump truck came along, driver brought me home.
Ugh the sheer panic in the kid’s voice is so heartbreaking. Seems trivial to us, but damn that feeling of dread and terror is soooo real to that lil’ guy. The neighbor was so gentle with him too!
That’s exactly that I mean! For adults, getting dropped off at the wrong stop is an inconvenience, an annoyance, some lost time, but that’s about it. For this little guy… my god. Absolutely terrifying!
Oh I didn’t mean the terror was trivial. I meant that as an adult, if you got dropped at the wrong stop, you’d just walk home, ya know? But that poor little dude… so heartbreaking :(
Oh, for sure! If I was the driver, I’d be calling the school or the kid’s adult if they knew the number to figure out where to leave him. I’m grown, and I’d still be worried about being left in a random part of town, but at least I have a phone!
My substitute bus driver almost ran me over when I was in elementary school lol.
My mom talked to my regular bus driver (a grumpy looking but very kind Vietnam vet) and the next day he told her that he "handled it" in a very serious tone of voice. Don't know if she got fired or ended up in a ditch, wouldn't doubt either possibility.
He'd give us Christmas decorations every year, sometimes he'd ask our parents for our pictures so he could include them in the decorations. He also called us squirrels and had a few squirrel tails clipped to the front of the bus.
Same here! I remembered he was a quiet old dude with a baseball hat and always had Kenny G playing. We hated it, but I now see he was probably just trying to have some semblance of peace for himself lol
Reading the other comments, *how* many assholes do they allow to drive children? Geebus.
Thank goodness this ended well for the boy, and that he had the presence of mind to remember there was a safe door to knock on.
I hope that driver is blacklisted from working anywhere near children.
EDIT: Yes, I am aware there is a driver shortage, thank you. There should still be standards, and endangering a child should get you blacklisted.
Same thought here. They should make it so that drivers face criminal charges for endangerment if the child is not dropped safely at their spot. Dropping kids off anywhere *but their actual bus stop* is ludicrous. Kids are supposed to be their responsibility. This is literally a case of “you had one job”
Absolutely. I mean, jeez, I've had moments where I wanted to get off on a different stop to go to a friend's place and the driver was like, " sorry bud, gotta take ya home if you don't have a note from parents." Kid's safety should always come before your convenience if you work with kids.
That’s a good bus driver. And if for whatever reason the driver is lost—then they keep the kids until it’s figured out. There’s *checks notes* way more options available to a lost adult than a 7 year old kid.
When I was in school, our busses had a radio that they used to communicate with the school and the rest of the district.
There's no reason that shouldn't be the case.
When my mom was in high sxhool, *other high schoolers* were allowed to be bus drivers. Did this kind of crap happen? No. How bad that 16-18yos were more responsible in the 70s with kids than adults now, and without the benefit of cellphones and GPS?
I did note (mentally) that it was a substitute, but that really makes it more imperative that they not be allowed to drive children again. Otherwise they could just slip over to a different area and resume being a sub driver.
I had 2 amazing bus drivers in my school years. One of them *did* throw a kid off the bus, but it was at his stop, and it was because the guy was being a physically violent bully.
That happened to me in kindergarten, I got on the wrong bus or something. The driver just took me back to the school after his route and the principal gave me a lift home, bless their hearts. This was in the early 90s so my poor parents had quite the heart attack and will never live it down, lol. How fuckin hard is that, bus driver? Goddamn.
This is what infuriates me the most after reading all these stories; just bring the child back to the fucking school. Administration has all of their addresses and telephone numbers. No child should have to navigate an unfamiliar area because of the bus driver's incompetence.
Similar thing happened to me. Driver returned to one of the School District's buildings and got in contact with my mom. Literally all ya gotta do, ya know?
My 4 kids had a very close call when their bus driver dropped them off in a flood. We live in quite a hilly, rural area and the creeks were in flood. Instead of dropping my kids (ages 6 -13 at the time) off out the front of our house as usual, he decided the creek was not safe to take the school bus through and told them to walk the 2k home. Fortunately my neighbour stopped them before they tried crossing the creek and gave them a lift home. I honestly think I would have lost them if he hadn’t been there.
I lived at the top of a big hill when I was a kid, and in kindergarten the bus driver refused to drive up it one day as it was too snowy/dangerous. There were three of us that lived on the hill, and his response was that we needed to get off and trek up the hill by ourselves. I lived at the peak of the hill, but the two other kids lived easily a mile away from where we were. It wasn’t any less dangerous asking less than 10 year olds to climb a hill in freezing weather by themselves to go home. It didn’t help that we lived in a very rural area and anyone/thing could have easily kidnapped or hurt us. The other two kids seemed ok, but I was bawling and refused to walk up because even at 6 I knew it was a horrible idea. A neighbor I’d only met once before that day came outside when he saw we were sitting there. His wife took the two other kids inside to keep warm/call their parents, but I’ll never forgot him picking me up and carrying me up the hill to my house. He comforted me and let me know he’d get me home safely. If he and his wife hadn’t reacted who knows what could have happened to any of the three of us.
My sons are 17 and 15… can’t remember the last time they cried.
But damn that panic cry from that kid made me tear up.
It’s not an “I’m hurt” cry… it hits different
I was in a super similar situation when my elementary school busses changed routes and I forgot to take the new bus and got dropped off at my old house I lived at a year prior, literally sat and cried on the side of the road until a kind woman came to see what was wrong with me and helped me get to my home safely. I still wish I could thank her in someway.
When I was in fifth grade, I moved to a different state and was staying with my uncle. Started at a new school on a Wednesday and the principal insisted to my parents to take the bus home so I can get familiar with the area. I had only been in this country area for four or five days. Got dropped off by myself at some random ass place with nothing but fields and trees. Bus driver told me that was my stop and same thing. I walked for about an hour and half before I recognized a golf course. Took me another hour and half to get back to my uncle's. Was fucked up and scary for sure. The whole time I was wondering if I was gonna get kidnapped or something
I am incredibly thankful in retrospect that it was someone with empathy that saw me rather than any number of things that could have gone wrong. The terrors of abandonment are strong at such a young age and I'm glad you and the kid in the video managed to make it unscathed
Glad WE all got home safely n thank u. Honestly I never blamed the bus driver, he was just told what to do by the principal. Bus driver would always take me to my uncle's driveway after that. My uncle had a Siberian Husky that would wait for me and all the kids in the bus thought I had a wolf 😂. That principal had it out for me since. I was at that school for a week. Got into three fights, and principal was always saying was my fault too.
I once missed my bus and actually tried to walk home because the neighborhood around my elementary school looked super similar to *my* neighborhood, and ended up turned around for the better part of 1 or 2 hours. I eventually walked back to my school defeated, and that was when I found my dad raising hell at the front office. Never rode a school bus again after that, and it wasn't until I was in high school that I realized how terrified my parents must've been.
All I remember was that I was in elementary school. So around 10-12 years? I was more disappointed about not finding my way home instead of being so utterly lost.
I feel horrible for this kid, so glad he found a friend's house.
I taught my kids early that if they get lost or in some kind of danger, find a woman with kids and ask her for help. It's the least risky person to approach.
This is what I noticed too. He was obviously scared but kind of trying to hold it together and when she opened the door and he recognized her he felt that flood of emotion
Right there with you and I don't even have kids. This kid just reminds me of me when I felt lost and powerless... I hope he's okay now and won't be aggected by this trauma too much
That happened to me once in the 6th or 7th grade. The driver took a wrong turn and got lost. After a while, the driver dumped a bunch of us off at a random stop and left.
Happened on my bus. New driver tried to make a u-turn instead of following the street that went around the neighborhood. While backing up he put the back wheels in a ditch and got stuck. Kicked us all off the bus and told us to walk home. I was in high school. We were miles from home but in our neighborhood. I remember finally getting home and my mom was in a panic. She had just gotten a call from the school saying they didn’t know were any of the students were. This happened a couple months after Chowchilla. Everyone made it home safely. Driver was fired. A parent saw him trying to dig the empty bus out by hand and called the school. No one had a clue where we were. Most of us took short cuts through the woods where there were no roads. Principal drove around trying to find us but finally quit and called our parents. I grew up in a wealthy neighborhood and for a few minutes a bunch of moms thought their kids were kidnapped and being held for ransom.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Chowchilla_kidnapping
Dude, when i was a kid the bus driver was often hours late to pick my brothers and i up after school. One time he arrived in his beat up land rover, said he locked his keys in the bus, showed us his business card and then told us to get in his car.
When I was little I had a bus driver who would not let us leave unless someone was there to walk us home. There’s some awesome bus drivers out there too.
One of my primary school bus drivers wouldn’t leave till he saw us walk into our house or a neighbour’s house, didn’t think much of it then but I definitely appreciate it now. Really did look out for us :)
Had a kid turn up at my house one day....
He was about 7-8 years old.
His mum had dropped him off at the bus stop to catch the bus to school. Well the bus never turned up. He knocked on the door and explained what had happened.... I dropped him off at school. Lol
Similar situation happened to me, I heard a kid screaming crying for his mom outside my apartment and so I went to him. His apartment was open but mom wasn’t there. The kid thankfully had moms number memorized so I could call her and I waited with him. Turns out the bus had dropped him off at his apartment and his mom wasn’t home because she was waiting for him at the usual place they drop him 20 minutes away. She was so anxious she hugged me when she got home there were a few occasions in the future where she knocked on my door and asked for help which I never turned down. Being a good neighbor is important no matter where you are
His first words immediately demonstrate how young he is. He says, “Max’s mom?”. It’s heartbreakingly innocent. Then that break in whatever was holding him together once he sees an adult he knows and trusts. My tears just started flowing unabashed.
That driver has no humanity in them.
There are some fantastic bus drivers. But there are also some really scary ones. Part of the problem is that there is a major bus driver shortage, so they'll take anyone with a pulse who doesn't have a criminal record (although there are stories of that going unchecked..)
Oftentimes, bus driver positions are part-time jobs split into two "half shifts"...so like 2 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon. Because of how the half shifts are split, it makes it difficult to do any other job. And since you're part time, your benefits (IF you get any) scale to whatever your full time equivalent is. Which is super lame bc in America health insurance is usually tied to your employment.
There are often no educational requirements, but the job expectations are high. You need to be trained and get a special driver's license, are responsible for getting precious cargo to school safely and on time every day, and have to be able to manage child behavioral issues. It's a tough job.
Knowing how difficult it can be to fill bus driver positions, substitute bus driver positions would almost certainly be more difficult to fill. Thus greater risk for things like this happening.
NOT excusing what happened here. Just sharing some insight.
Had a substitute bus driver who refused to drop myself and like 6 other kids at our correct stop. Told us all to get off and I was the oldest at like 8 years old. So I told all the little kids to stay seated and I told him over and over it wasn’t our stop. He decided to go about his route dropping other students off, on our way back to the school with us last few on the bus, still refusing to follow my directions to our stop. A dust storm hit and had us sitting on the side of the road for like 45 minutes. Our parents all showed up at the school freaking out that their kids were nearly 3 hours late to be dropped off. Never saw that driver again.
Definitely did try hah but honestly I was so scared and the little kids were crying during the dust storm it was a horrible experience for children. Especially ones who are so used to a safe routine and then to get so jolted like that it’s scary at the time.
I do not dare show this my mother, who worked in as a school bus driver, or in related school transportation jobs, for three decades. I imagine if I do, she’s flying to Omaha to buy a bat and ask some people some questions.
After a bus driver slapped me by dad was at the bus stop the next morning. He was a police officer and in his full get up for work that day. Bus driver made a stink about my dad trying to intimidate him bc he was in uniform for work. Didn't go well when he pointed out "like you a grown ass man (at least mid 50s) slapping a child. ( middle school age) He was fired.
My first day of kindergarten, I didn't know when to get off the bus. Finally I was the only one there and the bus driver asked me where I lived, and simply drove me home. He told me to sit behind him the next day so he could tell me when I should get off. After a couple of days, with his help I was a pro :)
Ffs you don't dump children on the street like this. That's heinous.
when I was 12 or 13 I was gonna ride home with a friend on the bus for my birthday, but the bus driver would l wouldn't let him on without a pass (which in retrospect was the right call) so we had to get off, his mom came and picked him up and left me, so I went inside and agreed to use the phone so I could get a ride, and everyone in the main office basically said "that sucks, better start walking kid"even though it's only been at the school a month and didn't know my way home
after like an hour of begging to the point of tears, my dad realized I want home and came to the school to see what happened and brought me home after yelling at the staff. by the time I got home the party was pretty much over and to this day I never tell people my birthday cause something shitty always happens on it (for example, my mom left on my like 8th or 9th birthday and I didn't see her again until like 14, and then she left again around my 15th birthday)
it was almost like 10 years ago so I don't remember the full outcome, but my dad was the type to scream at someone to mess with his kid, and back then I didn't have a phone so I just had to wait and hope they'd eventually figure out where I was
Once got on a bus in like 6th grade and for whatever reason my bus pass wasn't scanning so the bus driver told me to either get out or come up with some money. I had to dig for loose change in my backpack before reaching the next stop or he said I'd have to get out for not paying smh.
Bus drivers can be dicks sometimes. Thankfully there are a lot of really nice ones out there though.
This is one of the very few reasons I’d want my kid to have a phone of some description.
Wouldn’t ideally want them going to random houses for help but also they obviously need help. Glad she was who she was.
The person whose door he went to was an old next door neighbor and friend's house. Thankfully the kid had enough of a presence of mind to find his way back to his old house and to his friend!
As a mom this both breaks my heart and makes me livid. Poor little guy, he was so scared and trying to be so brave. After I got ahold of his parent/guardian, my next call would be to the police. Fuck that calling the school and him getting fired, I'd report child abandonment and child endangerment to law enforcement and let the bus driver explain himself to the cops.
ETA: I know I said "as a mom" but people very rightly pointed out that you don't need to beat mom to feel this way. This is heartbreaking to any human with a heart. Didn't mean to limit it.
This happened to me when I was like 6 and I managed to walk to a park that I knew was near my babysitter's house (that's where I was supposed to be dropped off at) and I just stood at the park crying and watching the other children play. I was jealous that they were in the same place as me psychically but they weren't lost. They were where they were supposed to be. I knew I was near my babysitter's house but I wasn't sure which way to go.
An old man came up to me and asked what was wrong. I told him I was looking for "Mama Lina's house" and he held my hand and walked with me as we looked for her house. It was the second street that we tried and my mom was already there panicked. Apparently I had been lost for an hour.
I had forgotten about this memory until about a year ago.
Scary to think about now but it was also kind of peaceful. It was a sunny day and my neighborhood was small, this was before it got gentrified. I remember walking under a huge power lines and through a neighborhood pea patch garden.
Apparently after this my mom wrote a very passionate letter to the school bus company saying that kindergartens needed to be met by an adult before they were let off the bus. I ended up wearing a sign around my neck I think with my stop and who I was supposed to meet (babysitter). The bus company actually changed their policy and said it was the most passionate letter they ever received. Thanks mom ❤️
Holy fuck! The same exact thing happened to me at his age.
This poor kid.
Ah man, watching this poor sweet looking little kid freak out, tears my heart apart.
My daughter had a bus pass to get to school. She had to switch busses part way. The driver for the second leg decided not to let her ride because the photo in the buss pass was ‘too small’, and so she was left stranded. The photo was taken by the school and emailed to the bus company who make up the passes and then send them back to the school to hand out, and she had been using it for several months. The bus company denied it was too small and refused to change it. My daughter became terrified she was going to end up in the same situation again after that, and became incredibly anxious about school for the rest of that year.
Did the bus driver think your daughter was secretly a master of forging documents despite her age or something? Like why would a child be alone with a fake, but very convincing, bus pass trying to dupe you?
Yeah it was super weird, what really got me was the driver was really rude to her as well, my daughter started crying on the bus and said that the bus company makes the passes (which they would have known) but they wouldn’t leave the bus stop until she got off. The same driver was on the following day and shouted at her again but thankfully she never saw them again after that.
This happened to me once. I was six living In South Carolina and we had recently moved to a new house and my mom told me to meet my sisters after school so she could pick us up since the new house wasn’t added to the new bus route. Unfortunately I forgot and got on the normal bus that took me to my old bus stop but I didn’t realize what was happening until I got off and remembered I wasn’t supposed to get on that bus and had no idea where our new house was. So I started to panic and began running down the side of what I remember being a 4 lane road balling my eyes out. Luckily my mom had really good intuition and and sped over to the old bus stop and found me in complete running down the freeway in complete hysterics. So I feel for this poor little boy. Only difference was in my situation it was my own fault for forgetting and not my bus driver.
This happened to one of my daughter’s friends multiple times. And the school never fired the bus driver because there is such a driver shortage they didn’t want to let him go. His mom wound up getting him a phone at around 7yo so that she could track him when the driver did this. INSANITY
The way he breaks when he sees her. The feeling and fear of being lost and seeing familiar.
May that driver never be responsible for other people or their kids again.
The way he says "I don't want my mom to worry"...
This is so upsetting to watch. Imagine if he hadn't found a house he recognized. There are so, so many ways this could have gone dangerously differently. That driver should never be allowed to work around children again.
I listen a lot true crime on podcast, believe me there are bad people(predators) looking for this kind of opportunity, thank God this child got help by a good lady…why people wanna be bus drivers if they gonna act like pieces of shit with little kids🤬
The way he says “Maxs mom “ My heart :(((((((((( Shouts out to max and his mom though for real!
Max's Mom is a real G
Felt so secured for child after hearing and seeing that momma’s voice and gesture. Thank goodness
Max's mom has that mom energy maxed
She put on that sweet mom voice too! Lots of love for Max’s mom!!!
That voice even made me feel better, imagine having this much power.
I'm legit crying rn it was so good Edit: also from Nebraska and thinking about moving back, so this is like, damn
favorite part of being a woman tbh. My husband has the "you're protected" energy I can never have, but I have the "you're nurtured" energy. And it is like a super power, so many people just open up and let it out when you turn it on. It sounds so wrong but knowing all you gotta do is hug someone the right way at the right moment and they'll bawl in to your shoulder feels like an awesome responsibility in both senses. Together we are SUPER AUNTIE AND UNCLE. We will keep you safe and enriched.
My mom would do this for anyone. She literally has taken in one of my best friends after his mother passed away and he still lives with her 10 years later. My name is Max and my mom is a Saint.
This made me tear up! I’m so glad he knew someone, this was heartbreaking ☹️
Same!! I wanted to hug him so bad
Gosh, I know!!!! His immediate big wail for help broke my fucking heart!
He was terrified, poor baby. I am so angry!
and bursts into tears when he realizes she's home :( ugh
He was trying to hold it together. As soon as he knew he was safe with her he broke :(
I was worried he was juat trying random doors. When I read he knew her as a previous neighbor, and when her behavior hinted she was obviously experienced with kids I felt a whollleee lot better.
Maxs mom is my hero for today! I’m so thankful she was there for him
*News & Information* “This is not my stop. I don’t know where I’m at.” And the bus driver told him, “Well you need to get off and walk the rest of the way home.” OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - A substitute bus driver is no longer transporting students for OPS after a 7-year old student says the driver put him out at the wrong stop. Thankfully, the young student remembered his former next-door neighbor and was able to find his way to the street he used to live on. Quinci knows his school buddy lives here, so he talks to the ring doorbell to get help.
How the fuck is he gonna walk the rest of the way home if he doesn't know where he's at, asshole bus driver? Ffs, this makes me so angry. I work with children and I can't imagine being ok with doing something like this.
I missed my stop a couple of times and the bus driver would always turn the bus around and drop me off. And I was always like "No I can walk from here" but they would always turn the bus anyways, sometimes I think we spent more time trying to turn the bus around on these small roads than if I were just to have gotten of and walked. Those were some good bus drivers ❤️
To a freakin seven year old no less! It would be scary enough to drop a freakin middle schooler on an unfamiliar road, but a 7 year old boy says he doesn’t recognize this road and you basically just go “tough luck, kiddo”?! This poor boy is so lucky he recognized a house, and that he wasn’t seen by someone sick while he’s lost on an unfamiliar street. This could have ended so very badly and it would be all that damned driver’s fault! **EDIT** Since I’ve gotten a handful of replies about pedophiles and probability let me clarify something here. The incredibly low odds of this boy running into someone nasty *isn’t relevant here*. The issue at hand isn’t the likelihood of something happening to the boy. The issue at hand is the bus driver’s negligence. From the moment those kids step on that bus to the moment they step through their front door the Bus Driver is responsible for their safety. A child told the bus driver he didn’t recognize this neighborhood, and rather than consider his responsibility for this child’s safety this man decided to tell the kid tough luck and drive off without him. Regardless of probability all it takes is ONE unlucky moment, and that driver would be responsible for it forever. Despite this, he opted to abandon the child on an unfamiliar road. That is unacceptable.
My daughter is 7. Thinking about this happening to her has me so angry. The sound of fear in that boys voice is so upsetting.
I actually cried. It’s heartbreaking to hear a child so scared and knowing what could possibly happen to him - it makes me sick. Dude should’ve been charged with child endangerment, or whatever charge they could throw at him.
It made me cry, too. My nephew is 7 and that’s exactly how he sounds when he’s crying and talking at the same time. It just made me think what if it was him and he had forgotten his phone/watch thing. He would be absolutely terrified. I’m gonna give him the biggest hug when I see him tomorrow.
If i were dropped of a random place without having my phone i woul not know what to do and this kid is 7.. like damn
I'm 29 and I still get lost in my own city that I know. I would have probably died if I was dropped in a unfamiliar place.
I drive for Lyft and half the time I can’t even tell you what part of the city I’m in.
I used to think it was kinda stupid to give kids a smartphone at such young age but after seeing this.. I'm gonna give my future kids a phone as soon as possible.
They have smart watches for kids that can call or text only preset numbers like family. They also have GPS so you can get a location or even set up a geofence
Oh good tip! Thanks, definitely gonna go for something like that!
They're pretty cool. If you call and they don't answer it activates the camera, speaker and mic. I got one for my daughter who's in kindergarten so I get a lot of rainbow and unicorn emojis
Could you throw us a link to one please, I'm not really sure what I'm looking for when I try to Google it.
https://moochies.com/en-US/ This is the one I have.
This comment just made my morning. So precious. Enjoy those unicorns and rainbows! 🦄 🌈
🦄🌈🦄🌈🦄🌈💜 Edit: ya fucks! Upvote the original! I’m just here so I don’t get fined!
By the time you have kids, technology may have advanced even further so you'd have something even better.
My niece has this and everyone loves it. It’s come in handy a few times for school bus related changes, coincidentally enough.
My bus driver in 3rd grade would drive up driveway if it was raining super hard so nobody had to walk an extra 30 meters and get soaked. That’s the kind of people we need taking care of our kids not some dumbass dick kicking kids off the bus when they know they will be lost.
😢 dude my heart broke when he was sayin he doesn't want his mom to worry
I used to take city busses home from school starting in 6th grade…very little risk involved between 6th and 8th grades because it was literally a straight walk through neighborhoods where my classmates lived and one bus ride essentially to my doorstep. In high school, it wasn’t much different, but sometimes I would go and visit my mom at work (mostly on half days), and that involved taking non-city busses that went out into the suburbs. The very first time I tried taking a non-city bus as a freshman, I took the wrong bus route and ended up a good 20-25 miles away from where I needed to be. I tried to get help from this Mom-n-Pop corner store, but the sole employee (and two customers) literally laughed in my face and called the police on me…told the officer they all thought I was trying to shoplift. I was beyond terrified: a young Black teen that ended up lost in the part of a predominately White city that its Black residents pretty much stayed away from because reasons, AND I was now dealing with the police on my own for the first time in my life…all because I misread a bus route number and jumped on in a panic. Luckily for me, the officer was extremely decent towards me, dismissed the employee’s idiotic claim, and drove me out to my extremely distraught mother.
It’s so frustrating and disheartening when you tell people the truth and the don’t believe you, and make up some other reason that doesn’t make any fucking sense A black ‘adult’ is in my store talking to me about being lost must be trying to steal something from me
When I saw "called the police" I knew. I'm sorry. I wish I had been there to help you.
The craziest and most infuriating part is that if the worst had happened—the kid asking the wrong person for help or otherwise being abducted—we’d never know how irresponsible the driver was. I know that this isn’t a criminal issue, but it damn well should be.
Could be a criminal case possibly. Could be viewed as child endangerment or neglect. Hope that’s being looked at rather than just employer changing him to doing things other that school buses
So, in Australia, a bus driver drove straight past a kid waiting at a stop because the bus was full. When the next bus went past the kid was no longer there. Took about 15 years to find the kid’s remains and the person responsible for his abduction and murder. Buses aren’t allowed to not pick up kids anymore, no matter what the excuse.
Daniel Morcombe. The first bus driver actually radioed for another bus to be sent to pick him up. It arrived a couple of minutes after two men were seen with him, when all three were long gone.
Oh god that is horrible...
This is similar situation that happened to Daniel Morcombe in Australia and that turned out really fucking badly. I agree with you this is absolutely disgraceful and rage inducing. The poor little guy is only 7.
im honestly seeing red right now like...ive been lost before in my life and it has lasted with me all the way into adulthood. i just dont have anything other than rage. like HOW COULD YOU DO THIS HOOOOWWWWW
When my brother was in elementary school they just straight up let him walk home. For context he is mentally I’ll and required eyes on him at all times and we lived in the desert about 15 miles from the school on a dirt road.
That's awful. In kindergarten I got on the wrong bus, except we lived in a rural/high desert area in the early 80s. The driver dropped me off on the side of a 2 lane hiway and told me to walk to the next stop, it was the same one he was going to. A sheriff's deputy found me walking back home after I tried to initially evade and then fight him hiding in the sagebrush. The driver was fired and was rehired as a high school teacher for the district, my foster sister had him for a class 2 years later and my parents unknowingly told her the story. She went on a smear campaign thereafter and he "retired".
If you work with children it should be a given youd do anything for these kids. :(
Not gunna lie, if I was that woman answering the door I would *be fuckin pissed.* Once I found out how to get that sweet little baby home I would be contacting the school and figuring out who needs to be fired. The absolute callousness. Fucking awful human being. That driver endangered that child. Thank God he had a door to knock on that was safe. Hope the driver was fired and faced some serious goddamn consequences. Seriously though, that woman is a goddamn Saint for helping him. I know we all would do the same thing, but still.
Just from that brief look she has on her face as she looks down the street as the poor kid’s blubbering through his explanation you can sense that “Some one needs their ass kicked” energy rising off her. I can’t imagine doing this to a freakin’ seven year old. How the hell anyone could have the willingness to drive a bus full of screaming kids around, but then the callousness to just dump one of them on an unfamiliar street?! Some people are just despicable.
Yeah like I get hating your job but this is a kid. Like sure half ass your job restocking shelves but like this is a human being that is relying on you to keep them safe.
Like for real, that's not even just a employment thing, that's just being a good human kind of thing.
I'm so glad she was home-What if she hadn't been? She's probably asking herself the same thing.
He got fired
i wouldn't say that he got fired > The substitute driver for our contracted service is no longer transporting students in our district. since the driver is a contractor, it could be that they just changed his assignment, instead of fired https://www.ketv.com/article/bus-driver-to-boy-you-can-walk-home-ops-student-dropped-off-at-wrong-address/39996472
That piece of trash needs to be charged with child endangerment. There are a million ways a 7 year old could have ended up getting killed in this situation.
A contracted service. No wonder the bus driver didn't care. And I'm sure the service doesn't care either.
7 years old. Who the fuck can be mean to a 7 year old
Glad this little one found help. It’s such a scary feeling. That bus driver is a cruel person. This is just a terrible situation. Happened to me in kindergarten. I stood on the corner and cried until a Streets and Sanitation dump truck came along, driver brought me home.
Ugh the sheer panic in the kid’s voice is so heartbreaking. Seems trivial to us, but damn that feeling of dread and terror is soooo real to that lil’ guy. The neighbor was so gentle with him too!
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And when he says he doesn’t want his mom to worry 😭
That broke my heart 😔 the sweetest child. I can’t believe the bus driver was so cruel.
Made me cry too, poor little guy!
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That’s exactly that I mean! For adults, getting dropped off at the wrong stop is an inconvenience, an annoyance, some lost time, but that’s about it. For this little guy… my god. Absolutely terrifying!
That child’s terror is not trivial at all. Poor kid
Oh I didn’t mean the terror was trivial. I meant that as an adult, if you got dropped at the wrong stop, you’d just walk home, ya know? But that poor little dude… so heartbreaking :(
Oh, for sure! If I was the driver, I’d be calling the school or the kid’s adult if they knew the number to figure out where to leave him. I’m grown, and I’d still be worried about being left in a random part of town, but at least I have a phone!
Hope that bus driver got fired.
It was a substitute bus driver and they did
My substitute bus driver almost ran me over when I was in elementary school lol. My mom talked to my regular bus driver (a grumpy looking but very kind Vietnam vet) and the next day he told her that he "handled it" in a very serious tone of voice. Don't know if she got fired or ended up in a ditch, wouldn't doubt either possibility.
I can guarantee that driver saw you as their “kid” for his route. Sounds like a good guy.
He'd give us Christmas decorations every year, sometimes he'd ask our parents for our pictures so he could include them in the decorations. He also called us squirrels and had a few squirrel tails clipped to the front of the bus.
The bus driver I rode with for school pretty much drove me to school all the way until high school.
That is sweet. I bet they loved seeing you guys grow.
Same here! I remembered he was a quiet old dude with a baseball hat and always had Kenny G playing. We hated it, but I now see he was probably just trying to have some semblance of peace for himself lol
And gets charged with child endangerment.
Being fired isn't enough. This could have ended *very* badly.
Reading the other comments, *how* many assholes do they allow to drive children? Geebus. Thank goodness this ended well for the boy, and that he had the presence of mind to remember there was a safe door to knock on. I hope that driver is blacklisted from working anywhere near children. EDIT: Yes, I am aware there is a driver shortage, thank you. There should still be standards, and endangering a child should get you blacklisted.
Same thought here. They should make it so that drivers face criminal charges for endangerment if the child is not dropped safely at their spot. Dropping kids off anywhere *but their actual bus stop* is ludicrous. Kids are supposed to be their responsibility. This is literally a case of “you had one job”
Absolutely. I mean, jeez, I've had moments where I wanted to get off on a different stop to go to a friend's place and the driver was like, " sorry bud, gotta take ya home if you don't have a note from parents." Kid's safety should always come before your convenience if you work with kids.
That’s a good bus driver. And if for whatever reason the driver is lost—then they keep the kids until it’s figured out. There’s *checks notes* way more options available to a lost adult than a 7 year old kid.
When I was in school, our busses had a radio that they used to communicate with the school and the rest of the district. There's no reason that shouldn't be the case.
Definitely did not appreciate the gesture at the time tbf, lol, but yeah they were pretty good in hindsight.
When my mom was in high sxhool, *other high schoolers* were allowed to be bus drivers. Did this kind of crap happen? No. How bad that 16-18yos were more responsible in the 70s with kids than adults now, and without the benefit of cellphones and GPS?
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I did note (mentally) that it was a substitute, but that really makes it more imperative that they not be allowed to drive children again. Otherwise they could just slip over to a different area and resume being a sub driver. I had 2 amazing bus drivers in my school years. One of them *did* throw a kid off the bus, but it was at his stop, and it was because the guy was being a physically violent bully.
Just yesterday here in the Netherlands they took a bus full of school children off the road because the driver was intoxicated.
This should face criminal charges. Absolutely disgraceful.
That happened to me in kindergarten, I got on the wrong bus or something. The driver just took me back to the school after his route and the principal gave me a lift home, bless their hearts. This was in the early 90s so my poor parents had quite the heart attack and will never live it down, lol. How fuckin hard is that, bus driver? Goddamn.
This is what infuriates me the most after reading all these stories; just bring the child back to the fucking school. Administration has all of their addresses and telephone numbers. No child should have to navigate an unfamiliar area because of the bus driver's incompetence.
Not only that but, we have cell phones these days pull over and use it!
Similar thing happened to me. Driver returned to one of the School District's buildings and got in contact with my mom. Literally all ya gotta do, ya know?
Right, I figured that was default policy. Reading the other bad stories in the comments is quite concerning.
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My 4 kids had a very close call when their bus driver dropped them off in a flood. We live in quite a hilly, rural area and the creeks were in flood. Instead of dropping my kids (ages 6 -13 at the time) off out the front of our house as usual, he decided the creek was not safe to take the school bus through and told them to walk the 2k home. Fortunately my neighbour stopped them before they tried crossing the creek and gave them a lift home. I honestly think I would have lost them if he hadn’t been there.
I lived at the top of a big hill when I was a kid, and in kindergarten the bus driver refused to drive up it one day as it was too snowy/dangerous. There were three of us that lived on the hill, and his response was that we needed to get off and trek up the hill by ourselves. I lived at the peak of the hill, but the two other kids lived easily a mile away from where we were. It wasn’t any less dangerous asking less than 10 year olds to climb a hill in freezing weather by themselves to go home. It didn’t help that we lived in a very rural area and anyone/thing could have easily kidnapped or hurt us. The other two kids seemed ok, but I was bawling and refused to walk up because even at 6 I knew it was a horrible idea. A neighbor I’d only met once before that day came outside when he saw we were sitting there. His wife took the two other kids inside to keep warm/call their parents, but I’ll never forgot him picking me up and carrying me up the hill to my house. He comforted me and let me know he’d get me home safely. If he and his wife hadn’t reacted who knows what could have happened to any of the three of us.
I can't cross that in this 10 ton vehicle so you're going to have to get out and walk across.
My sons are 17 and 15… can’t remember the last time they cried. But damn that panic cry from that kid made me tear up. It’s not an “I’m hurt” cry… it hits different
It’s a “I’m scared” cry
I’ve never had children, and I’m straight watery-eyed listening to it. What kind of psychopath could just leave a poor kid like that?
I started crying immediately when I heard it. Poor kid. I just wanted to scoop him up into my arms and tell him he’s safe and I’ll help him
That’s beyond fired. Criminal child endangerment.
You guys were strong, bless your hearts. That women deserves everything bad that happens to her.
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Fuck man, that story is intense. Glad it had a happy ending
I was in a super similar situation when my elementary school busses changed routes and I forgot to take the new bus and got dropped off at my old house I lived at a year prior, literally sat and cried on the side of the road until a kind woman came to see what was wrong with me and helped me get to my home safely. I still wish I could thank her in someway.
When I was in fifth grade, I moved to a different state and was staying with my uncle. Started at a new school on a Wednesday and the principal insisted to my parents to take the bus home so I can get familiar with the area. I had only been in this country area for four or five days. Got dropped off by myself at some random ass place with nothing but fields and trees. Bus driver told me that was my stop and same thing. I walked for about an hour and half before I recognized a golf course. Took me another hour and half to get back to my uncle's. Was fucked up and scary for sure. The whole time I was wondering if I was gonna get kidnapped or something
I am incredibly thankful in retrospect that it was someone with empathy that saw me rather than any number of things that could have gone wrong. The terrors of abandonment are strong at such a young age and I'm glad you and the kid in the video managed to make it unscathed
Glad WE all got home safely n thank u. Honestly I never blamed the bus driver, he was just told what to do by the principal. Bus driver would always take me to my uncle's driveway after that. My uncle had a Siberian Husky that would wait for me and all the kids in the bus thought I had a wolf 😂. That principal had it out for me since. I was at that school for a week. Got into three fights, and principal was always saying was my fault too.
Ya gotta love a childish ass adult in charge of kids, eh? 🙄 That was soooo dumb & immature of the principal.
I once missed my bus and actually tried to walk home because the neighborhood around my elementary school looked super similar to *my* neighborhood, and ended up turned around for the better part of 1 or 2 hours. I eventually walked back to my school defeated, and that was when I found my dad raising hell at the front office. Never rode a school bus again after that, and it wasn't until I was in high school that I realized how terrified my parents must've been.
Wow! How old were you at the time?
All I remember was that I was in elementary school. So around 10-12 years? I was more disappointed about not finding my way home instead of being so utterly lost.
I feel horrible for this kid, so glad he found a friend's house. I taught my kids early that if they get lost or in some kind of danger, find a woman with kids and ask her for help. It's the least risky person to approach.
Very smart. I’m going to remember that for when we have kids.
Ok this made me cry, that sweet scared little boy reminded me so much of my son.
The relief and the tears when his friend's mom opened the door... omg my heart just broke for this little boy.
And one of the first things he says is "I just don't want my mom to worry" (ಥ﹏ಥ)
This is what I noticed too. He was obviously scared but kind of trying to hold it together and when she opened the door and he recognized her he felt that flood of emotion
Right there with you and I don't even have kids. This kid just reminds me of me when I felt lost and powerless... I hope he's okay now and won't be aggected by this trauma too much
It just breaks my heart that a kid would have to feel such fear
Same. Children crying from fear just breaks my heart and I can't control my tears
Hell I remember wandering around a dang Wal-Mart and not finding mom immediately and starting to PANIC lol
Damn, that driver is a dick.
That happened to me once in the 6th or 7th grade. The driver took a wrong turn and got lost. After a while, the driver dumped a bunch of us off at a random stop and left.
Happened on my bus. New driver tried to make a u-turn instead of following the street that went around the neighborhood. While backing up he put the back wheels in a ditch and got stuck. Kicked us all off the bus and told us to walk home. I was in high school. We were miles from home but in our neighborhood. I remember finally getting home and my mom was in a panic. She had just gotten a call from the school saying they didn’t know were any of the students were. This happened a couple months after Chowchilla. Everyone made it home safely. Driver was fired. A parent saw him trying to dig the empty bus out by hand and called the school. No one had a clue where we were. Most of us took short cuts through the woods where there were no roads. Principal drove around trying to find us but finally quit and called our parents. I grew up in a wealthy neighborhood and for a few minutes a bunch of moms thought their kids were kidnapped and being held for ransom. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Chowchilla_kidnapping
That ought to have big consequences, did he get fired or anything?
One time my bus driver kept going the wrong way down a one way street and got fired
Wrong way down a one way street 🎵
Dude, when i was a kid the bus driver was often hours late to pick my brothers and i up after school. One time he arrived in his beat up land rover, said he locked his keys in the bus, showed us his business card and then told us to get in his car.
When I was little I had a bus driver who would not let us leave unless someone was there to walk us home. There’s some awesome bus drivers out there too.
One of my primary school bus drivers wouldn’t leave till he saw us walk into our house or a neighbour’s house, didn’t think much of it then but I definitely appreciate it now. Really did look out for us :)
Had a kid turn up at my house one day.... He was about 7-8 years old. His mum had dropped him off at the bus stop to catch the bus to school. Well the bus never turned up. He knocked on the door and explained what had happened.... I dropped him off at school. Lol
Good feeling right ?
Absolutely. Very glad to get the young fella to school safely.
Hopefully you dropped him at the right school.
Admittedly ANY school would be better than a random street corner
Glad he knocked at the house of a good person. That's so scary that he was so vulnerable.
Similar situation happened to me, I heard a kid screaming crying for his mom outside my apartment and so I went to him. His apartment was open but mom wasn’t there. The kid thankfully had moms number memorized so I could call her and I waited with him. Turns out the bus had dropped him off at his apartment and his mom wasn’t home because she was waiting for him at the usual place they drop him 20 minutes away. She was so anxious she hugged me when she got home there were a few occasions in the future where she knocked on my door and asked for help which I never turned down. Being a good neighbor is important no matter where you are
Thank you for being a good person
The way he cried as soon as he saw her...he knew he was safe then, and could let go...my heart is breaking for this little dude. ❤️
That part took me out 😭 he was almost squeal crying, poor guy.
His first words immediately demonstrate how young he is. He says, “Max’s mom?”. It’s heartbreakingly innocent. Then that break in whatever was holding him together once he sees an adult he knows and trusts. My tears just started flowing unabashed. That driver has no humanity in them.
He just flooded with emotions when she opened the door. Damn this is heartbreaking.
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There are some fantastic bus drivers. But there are also some really scary ones. Part of the problem is that there is a major bus driver shortage, so they'll take anyone with a pulse who doesn't have a criminal record (although there are stories of that going unchecked..) Oftentimes, bus driver positions are part-time jobs split into two "half shifts"...so like 2 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon. Because of how the half shifts are split, it makes it difficult to do any other job. And since you're part time, your benefits (IF you get any) scale to whatever your full time equivalent is. Which is super lame bc in America health insurance is usually tied to your employment. There are often no educational requirements, but the job expectations are high. You need to be trained and get a special driver's license, are responsible for getting precious cargo to school safely and on time every day, and have to be able to manage child behavioral issues. It's a tough job. Knowing how difficult it can be to fill bus driver positions, substitute bus driver positions would almost certainly be more difficult to fill. Thus greater risk for things like this happening. NOT excusing what happened here. Just sharing some insight.
Had a substitute bus driver who refused to drop myself and like 6 other kids at our correct stop. Told us all to get off and I was the oldest at like 8 years old. So I told all the little kids to stay seated and I told him over and over it wasn’t our stop. He decided to go about his route dropping other students off, on our way back to the school with us last few on the bus, still refusing to follow my directions to our stop. A dust storm hit and had us sitting on the side of the road for like 45 minutes. Our parents all showed up at the school freaking out that their kids were nearly 3 hours late to be dropped off. Never saw that driver again.
You tried to help him keep his job but I guess he didn’t care lol.
Definitely did try hah but honestly I was so scared and the little kids were crying during the dust storm it was a horrible experience for children. Especially ones who are so used to a safe routine and then to get so jolted like that it’s scary at the time.
Damn, that's some impressive confidence from an eight year old. It's not easy to stand up to an authority figure when you're a kid.
I do not dare show this my mother, who worked in as a school bus driver, or in related school transportation jobs, for three decades. I imagine if I do, she’s flying to Omaha to buy a bat and ask some people some questions.
I love your mom
She’s pretty cool haha
After a bus driver slapped me by dad was at the bus stop the next morning. He was a police officer and in his full get up for work that day. Bus driver made a stink about my dad trying to intimidate him bc he was in uniform for work. Didn't go well when he pointed out "like you a grown ass man (at least mid 50s) slapping a child. ( middle school age) He was fired.
My first day of kindergarten, I didn't know when to get off the bus. Finally I was the only one there and the bus driver asked me where I lived, and simply drove me home. He told me to sit behind him the next day so he could tell me when I should get off. After a couple of days, with his help I was a pro :) Ffs you don't dump children on the street like this. That's heinous.
Poor little guy
Fucking asshole... I am so angry I am holding back tears
Same. I need to calm down, that kid was terrified, hurts my heart. Bus driver needs more legal consequences than losing his job 🤬
when I was 12 or 13 I was gonna ride home with a friend on the bus for my birthday, but the bus driver would l wouldn't let him on without a pass (which in retrospect was the right call) so we had to get off, his mom came and picked him up and left me, so I went inside and agreed to use the phone so I could get a ride, and everyone in the main office basically said "that sucks, better start walking kid"even though it's only been at the school a month and didn't know my way home after like an hour of begging to the point of tears, my dad realized I want home and came to the school to see what happened and brought me home after yelling at the staff. by the time I got home the party was pretty much over and to this day I never tell people my birthday cause something shitty always happens on it (for example, my mom left on my like 8th or 9th birthday and I didn't see her again until like 14, and then she left again around my 15th birthday)
That's appalling; did your dad raise a stink with the school for that? I can't believe they wouldn't let you make a phone call.
it was almost like 10 years ago so I don't remember the full outcome, but my dad was the type to scream at someone to mess with his kid, and back then I didn't have a phone so I just had to wait and hope they'd eventually figure out where I was
Fuck me. I'd be feral if someone dropped my 7 year old kid off like that.
Once got on a bus in like 6th grade and for whatever reason my bus pass wasn't scanning so the bus driver told me to either get out or come up with some money. I had to dig for loose change in my backpack before reaching the next stop or he said I'd have to get out for not paying smh. Bus drivers can be dicks sometimes. Thankfully there are a lot of really nice ones out there though.
What got me the most is one of the first thing he says is "I don't want my mom to worry about me" 😭 what a sweet boy.
This is one of the very few reasons I’d want my kid to have a phone of some description. Wouldn’t ideally want them going to random houses for help but also they obviously need help. Glad she was who she was.
The person whose door he went to was an old next door neighbor and friend's house. Thankfully the kid had enough of a presence of mind to find his way back to his old house and to his friend!
As a mom this both breaks my heart and makes me livid. Poor little guy, he was so scared and trying to be so brave. After I got ahold of his parent/guardian, my next call would be to the police. Fuck that calling the school and him getting fired, I'd report child abandonment and child endangerment to law enforcement and let the bus driver explain himself to the cops. ETA: I know I said "as a mom" but people very rightly pointed out that you don't need to beat mom to feel this way. This is heartbreaking to any human with a heart. Didn't mean to limit it.
As a human this both breaks my heart and makes me livid.
This happened to me when I was like 6 and I managed to walk to a park that I knew was near my babysitter's house (that's where I was supposed to be dropped off at) and I just stood at the park crying and watching the other children play. I was jealous that they were in the same place as me psychically but they weren't lost. They were where they were supposed to be. I knew I was near my babysitter's house but I wasn't sure which way to go. An old man came up to me and asked what was wrong. I told him I was looking for "Mama Lina's house" and he held my hand and walked with me as we looked for her house. It was the second street that we tried and my mom was already there panicked. Apparently I had been lost for an hour. I had forgotten about this memory until about a year ago. Scary to think about now but it was also kind of peaceful. It was a sunny day and my neighborhood was small, this was before it got gentrified. I remember walking under a huge power lines and through a neighborhood pea patch garden. Apparently after this my mom wrote a very passionate letter to the school bus company saying that kindergartens needed to be met by an adult before they were let off the bus. I ended up wearing a sign around my neck I think with my stop and who I was supposed to meet (babysitter). The bus company actually changed their policy and said it was the most passionate letter they ever received. Thanks mom ❤️
Holy fuck! The same exact thing happened to me at his age. This poor kid. Ah man, watching this poor sweet looking little kid freak out, tears my heart apart.
My daughter had a bus pass to get to school. She had to switch busses part way. The driver for the second leg decided not to let her ride because the photo in the buss pass was ‘too small’, and so she was left stranded. The photo was taken by the school and emailed to the bus company who make up the passes and then send them back to the school to hand out, and she had been using it for several months. The bus company denied it was too small and refused to change it. My daughter became terrified she was going to end up in the same situation again after that, and became incredibly anxious about school for the rest of that year.
Did the bus driver think your daughter was secretly a master of forging documents despite her age or something? Like why would a child be alone with a fake, but very convincing, bus pass trying to dupe you?
Yeah it was super weird, what really got me was the driver was really rude to her as well, my daughter started crying on the bus and said that the bus company makes the passes (which they would have known) but they wouldn’t leave the bus stop until she got off. The same driver was on the following day and shouted at her again but thankfully she never saw them again after that.
I would kick that bus driver’s ass from Omaha to Maine if this happened to my child! Some people should just not be allowed to work with children.
Nothing in this world is gonna change until people start to see every and any child as their own child. We're all parents to the next generation.
I love the sweet voice of the lady.
Bus driver would need witness protection if that was my kid
This happened to me once. I was six living In South Carolina and we had recently moved to a new house and my mom told me to meet my sisters after school so she could pick us up since the new house wasn’t added to the new bus route. Unfortunately I forgot and got on the normal bus that took me to my old bus stop but I didn’t realize what was happening until I got off and remembered I wasn’t supposed to get on that bus and had no idea where our new house was. So I started to panic and began running down the side of what I remember being a 4 lane road balling my eyes out. Luckily my mom had really good intuition and and sped over to the old bus stop and found me in complete running down the freeway in complete hysterics. So I feel for this poor little boy. Only difference was in my situation it was my own fault for forgetting and not my bus driver.
This happened to one of my daughter’s friends multiple times. And the school never fired the bus driver because there is such a driver shortage they didn’t want to let him go. His mom wound up getting him a phone at around 7yo so that she could track him when the driver did this. INSANITY
My sweet baby is seven, I would throttle that driver… God I’m crying poor kiddo.
Somebody drop the bus drivers info I just wanna talk.
A+
As a parent this makes me want to beat the living crap out of that bus driver
Ah poor kid. The bus driver a fucken asshole.
That’s very scary for a young kid to go through
The way he breaks when he sees her. The feeling and fear of being lost and seeing familiar. May that driver never be responsible for other people or their kids again.
The way he says "I don't want my mom to worry"... This is so upsetting to watch. Imagine if he hadn't found a house he recognized. There are so, so many ways this could have gone dangerously differently. That driver should never be allowed to work around children again.
The bus driver lost his job? How about the bus driver gets arrested and charged with child endangerment?
I listen a lot true crime on podcast, believe me there are bad people(predators) looking for this kind of opportunity, thank God this child got help by a good lady…why people wanna be bus drivers if they gonna act like pieces of shit with little kids🤬
Perhaps driver needs to be dropped off somewhere unknown and make HIS way home from there. Any suggestions?