Neurotic Cord Pullers

I recently started taking the bus to work a couple times per week to save on gas and wear-and-tear on my car. There’s a Park-and-Ride just a few miles from my house, and the bus route dumps me pretty close to work. Although it adds an extra half hour to each end of my commute, I appreciate that someone else is behind the wheel when traffic is brutal. During the ride I’m preparing emails for work, drafting blog posts, listening to music or watching a movie on my iPod. The time just flies. Sometimes I just stare out the window or observe riders as they board or disembark the bus, and I’ve come to recognize the same people occupying the same seats day in and day out. But one thing puzzles me. Each day without fail, the same person pulls the ‘Stop Requested’ cord when approaching my stop. At this point, the same half-dozen people get off the bus driven by the same bus driver each day. It’s almost as if said cord puller is afraid that the one time he doesn’t perform his daily duty the bus would breeze on past this popular stop. If I were a bus driver, this would drive me nuts.