The Clumsy Start

Bus ticket adventures

I had just gotten out of the Minneapolis airport after a long transatlantic flight. I got on a city bus and tried to figure out where to cancel the bus ticket, as the driver watched silently. There was a black box with various buttons and slots. I didn’t know what to do. Finally the patient bus driver pointed to a slot on the top of the box. “Right there,” he said. I made the international “phooo” sound, put the ticket in, and nothing happened. “You’ve got it catawampus*,” he said...

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