I Love the eBay Shuttle Bus

I love the eBay bus, I really do. It picks me up every morning at 7.30 am. The bus driver is my morning ally. She patiently waits for me to cross the street when I get stuck at the other side of the road. She rides a huge bus, proudly sporting the “Quality Assurance” logo. I mean, really, with such a name, you expect nothing less than bus heaven. My fellow bus riders love it too. We heard wild stories about the Google bus and the Apple bus. We even heard rumors that the Apple people have coffee on their bus and a wireless network that actually works. But we brag to them that we have a masseuse on the bus and the latest movies. We will never know the truth though. We all sign a non-disclosure agreement before we get on the bus.

My mother-in-law loves the bus even more. She took pictures of it when she was visiting us. She loved the blinded windows. No one can see who is inside and she thought that was absolutely fabulous. To her, we were famous rock stars on this giant tour bus, riding all the way from San Francisco to San Jose and getting ready for our next concert in front of millions of fans. She stood on the balcony of our apartment and took pictures of my bus buddies. They thought that a famous Belgian journalist was writing a story about my fantastic life. Annelien’s mom is incredibly convincing.

But it’s not all glitter and glamour on the bus. We behave like nasty schoolchildren because we each want to have two seats in the morning. The bus goes through the city, starting at the Embarcadero and then all the way up to Guerrero and 24^th. The people who get on the bus at the first stops take the best seats. Then they pretend to be asleep when they approach a new stop, mouths wide open and snoring. It’s their special strategy because they want to avoid having a fellow rider on the seat next to them. Oh, I am guilty of this behavior too. We act like little brats and tell ourselves it is ok because it’s so early in the morning. The truth is, we are all afraid to get a bad neighbor. Sometimes, people will fall asleep next to you, fall on your lap, and suddenly wake up with a loud snort. But hey, this is part of the game. We would never complain about our bus, even when the network is out again or it loses a wheel.