Greetings ,
I was waiting at a bus stop the other day, along with three young men. From what they were saying to each other (and their little carry-on suitcases), I thought they were off on a trip somewhere.
That made sense - the bus I was waiting for went to my town, but the one in the other direction went to the airport.
The bus to my town arrived and to my surprise, the guys got on. They didn’t check with the bus driver or anyone else to see if it was the right bus.
I wondered if I should say something to them. But then I thought I must be wrong — they were either connecting with a train or maybe their final destination was somewhere near where we were.
The bus headed off - they were totally relaxed. A few minutes later, the bus on its way to the airport went past in the opposite direction. I don’t think they even saw it.
We were in my town (a very short trip) when they suddenly realised (1) something was wrong (so they were heading to the airport!).
They went to get off, so I explained to one of them that this was the right bus. We were nearly at the end of its route, then it would go in the other direction, to the airport.
They settled back down. However, after talking among themselves and looking at information on their phones, they moved to the door again.
We weren’t near shops or the train station, so I looked questioningly at the man I had spoken with. He explained that they had decided to take a taxi.
I guess they were running out of time to catch their plane (or train)!
Looking back, I probably did the wrong thing. If I had said something, they wouldn’t have ended up on a bus travelling in the wrong direction.
But I didn’t want to interfere (2), to try and help where no help was needed. Plus they had acted so confidently…
What do you think? Should I have said something to start with, or was it right to wait for them to ask?
Until next week,
Andrea
(1) realised - became aware, suddenly understand something
(2) interfere - push into a situation that you are not part of, where your help hasn't been asked for and probably isn't wanted
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