Let pompousness serve the city

After my class final at PSU, I took the shuttle back to work. Just after the shuttle left, he started to accelerate to turn onto Brodway when the light turned green. The bus jerked to a halt and the driver honked at a person who crossed in front of the bus. The driver opened the door and suggested the pedestrian obey the signals. The pedestrian taunted the driver: “What are you going to do – hit me?” I could easily hear from the back, but the pedestrian, whom I will refer to as jackass continued with the following dialogue:

Driver: “You should obey the signals”
Jackass: “What are you going to do? Hit me?”
Driver: “You should obey the signals”
Jackass: “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? HIT ME?!?!”
Collective internal dialogue of all the passengers: “Yes, please do…”
Long pause
Jackass: “Never do that again. You hear me? NEVER DO THAT AGAIN. SAY IT!”

The bus driver closed the doors on the jackass, whom several passengers had stood up to get a better view of. I also got a better view. The jackass looked like he must have been a professor whose mistress/student had just broken off their relationship. His face was splotchy pink with unrighteous anger. Evidently he wasn’t aware that the 13 people on the bus also had places to go. But we missed the light and sat there for another several minutes in silence.

Ironically, this all took place under the pedestrian bridge which is decorated with the school’s mission: Let knowledge serve the city.