Day 38

So I've been pretty busy lately. My parents, upset with the fact that I still don't have a job and also that I refuse to clean up after myself when I'm home, have forced me to do charity work. I've spent the last few days cleaning a homeless shelter or something. Literally I hate it so much I haven't even paid attention to where I am. I just assume it's a homeless shelter because everyone smells. It could be a hospital I guess, I don't really know, but the people that work there dress like they walked through a time portal in the back of a Walmart from 1994 so they probably aren't doctors. Either way it sucks. I have to get up early in the morning, I have to wear non sweatpants (if for no other reason than to distinguish myself from the people that call the shelter home), and since my parents claim that they need their cars for work I have to use public transportation.

Public transportation blows. I may be unemployed, and I may live with my parents, but I still have a rep. At least I can spin this volunteering thing to make me look caring or something. But how am I supposed to explain the fact that I share a ride with the bums I clean for?

"Oh my gosh you pick up the homeless people you volunteer for in the morning? That's so sweet!"

"Well, yeah, we pick them up, me and the uh...bus driver."

Literally I've seen one of the homeless people from the shelter on the bus. He recognized me too. You know you've hit a new low when you're on a bus and a homeless guy recognizes you. And they're so removed from social cues that they can't take the hint when you're blowing them off. They just keep chatting you up. I can't tell you how many half hearted "uh huh's" I threw this guy's way. The other day on the bus a different homeless guy was trying to talk to some black guy sitting a few spaces away, and about three words in the black dude just goes "Shut the fuck up!". It was awesome (and hilarious, mostly because he delivered the STFU in that perfect angry black guy voice). You could tell he was seasoned bus veteran, he wasn't gonna take shit from some dirty bum, he just wanted to be left alone. Unfortunately public transportation hasn't hardened me enough yet, I still try to politely ignore people that bother me on the bus.

Luckily most people on the bus actually don't want to talk. This is because everyone on the bus is pissed off. Why? Because they're on the bus. It may actually be impossible to simultaneously be in a good mood and be on the bus. Everyone looks like they have a tiny little storm cloud over their head. I don't blame them, I hate the bus too. The carpet is sticky and gross, the seats are too small which is ironic since most people on the bus are fat as fuck, and you know there's a good chance that at some point in the last 6 months someone has relieved themselves in your seat. And you pay for this privilege.

What's scary about riding the bus for me is that for all I know I could be looking at my future. Maybe that's why my parents are making me do this. I mean how many of these people at one point had a somewhat promising future, or were at least young? Man I need a job. The bus is kind of like a scared straight program on wheels.