ringed-planet punch
I still have my ringed-planet punch.
I was given it in May of 1977 when I began driving bus for Regional Transit Service.
I was told, at the time, that when I retired, was fired, or separated for any reason, I had to give it back — whereupon it would be passed onto someone new.
But it was never asked back. It sits in the same place on our bedroom dresser where I left it Monday night, 10/25/93. The stroke was at about 1:30 a.m. 10/26/93, and ended my career as a bus-driver.
Who had it before I don’t know. It probably goes back to trolley-days. It’s very substantial.
I’ve been on a number of railfan-excursions where some fan, dressed as a faux conductor, walks through the train and punches tickets with an el-cheapo Office-Max punch.
“I have a real punch,” I’d say. “That’s just a wannabee.”
I call it the “ringed-planet punch” because the tiny hole it punches looks like the planet Saturn.
I used to hang my punch on the transfer-cutter near the farebox. I had it on a dog choke-collar, part of the glittering array of shiny steel with which you impressed all-and-sundry.
(I remember terrifying my state legislator when I strode into her office wearing all that steel.)
I didn’t have it on my belt. The drill was to not walk off the bus without it, which I don’t think I ever did (maybe once; but if so, I got it back). Other drivers lost their punch and would start using an el-cheapo Office-Max punch.
Our bosses would do a punch-check once in a while, to see if you still had the same punch you were issued. I was one of the few that passed. (Each punch punched different — a punch-hole signified a specific driver.)
Thousands of tickets got punched with that punch, and I was very fair about using it.
Linda tells of a bus-driver who always punched the same hole on her ticket. That ticket lasted for months.
I’d always make sure there was a spot to punch. Sometimes there wasn’t; or other drivers would punch all over the place.
—Or else multiple-punch, in which case you gave the rider an unpunched ride.
Wasn’t their fault another driver punched multiple times. I was very careful to punch in the right place, and only once.
Sometimes I’d get a ticket with all my punch. “Thanks for riding with just me,” I’d say.
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I was told, at the time, that when I retired, was fired, or separated for any reason, I had to give it back — whereupon it would be passed onto someone new.
But it was never asked back. It sits in the same place on our bedroom dresser where I left it Monday night, 10/25/93. The stroke was at about 1:30 a.m. 10/26/93, and ended my career as a bus-driver.
Who had it before I don’t know. It probably goes back to trolley-days. It’s very substantial.
I’ve been on a number of railfan-excursions where some fan, dressed as a faux conductor, walks through the train and punches tickets with an el-cheapo Office-Max punch.
“I have a real punch,” I’d say. “That’s just a wannabee.”
I call it the “ringed-planet punch” because the tiny hole it punches looks like the planet Saturn.
I used to hang my punch on the transfer-cutter near the farebox. I had it on a dog choke-collar, part of the glittering array of shiny steel with which you impressed all-and-sundry.
(I remember terrifying my state legislator when I strode into her office wearing all that steel.)
I didn’t have it on my belt. The drill was to not walk off the bus without it, which I don’t think I ever did (maybe once; but if so, I got it back). Other drivers lost their punch and would start using an el-cheapo Office-Max punch.
Our bosses would do a punch-check once in a while, to see if you still had the same punch you were issued. I was one of the few that passed. (Each punch punched different — a punch-hole signified a specific driver.)
Thousands of tickets got punched with that punch, and I was very fair about using it.
Linda tells of a bus-driver who always punched the same hole on her ticket. That ticket lasted for months.
I’d always make sure there was a spot to punch. Sometimes there wasn’t; or other drivers would punch all over the place.
—Or else multiple-punch, in which case you gave the rider an unpunched ride.
Wasn’t their fault another driver punched multiple times. I was very careful to punch in the right place, and only once.
Sometimes I’d get a ticket with all my punch. “Thanks for riding with just me,” I’d say.
posted by BobbaLew at 3:04 PM
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