We’ve all had moments where we’ve seen or read something that makes us laugh out loud or think, “What the heck?!”

I had such an experience not too long ago when my fiancé and I were driving to meet my friend for a concert. I was in the passenger seat of my car, and I happened to look to my right. In the car next to us, I saw a man dressed up as a clown. He was wearing a costume, a wig, face paint — even a red nose!  

I don’t like clowns, but I had to laugh at how bizarre the situation was; after all, that’s not something you see on the road every day. (I can only hope he was on his way to a kid’s birthday party.)

I was reminded of this incident when I read recently about an unusual occurrence involving a pupil transportation operation in Washington state.

On the Facebook page for the Centralia/Chehalis Pupil Transportation Cooperative, officials wrote that on the last day of school prior to Christmas break, one of the operation’s special-education route drivers was meeting with a parent at a pickup location.

“After they unloaded the student, the mom realized that she had, unfortunately, locked her car keys in her car, while it was running,” officials said. “Needless to say, as the snow fell on their heads, there was some concern.”

The school bus driver radioed the transportation facility and suggested that they call 911, but Director of Transportation Lionel Pinn felt that emergency responders might have more pressing issues to handle given the snowy conditions and accidents throughout the region. 
 
“I asked if there might be a spare set of keys at home and someone we could call to bring them,” Pinn said. “Of course, it was their only set of keys and there was no one else at home.” 

Pinn went on to say that he decided to send his shop supervisor out to assist them, and he said he wanted to confirm that there was no one in the car. He learned that there was no one in the car — no one, that is, except the family’s dog. 

“I could not help myself — I said under my breath, ‘Then ask the dog to unlock the car.’” Pinn said. “Fortunately, the dispatcher just giggled and reminded the driver that the mechanic would be out there in about 15 minutes.”
 
Pinn added that within five minutes, the driver called back and informed them that the car door was now open.

“Her monitor simply tapped on the window of the car until the little dog touched the automatic door opener and — bingo — it popped open,” Pinn explained. “‘Don’t need the mechanic,’ was the driver’s next radio call, ‘the dog opened the door.’”

I really got a kick out of this story. SBF has reported over the years about bear sightings at school bus stops, wild birds flying into bus windshields and critters finding their way onto school buses, but since I’ve been on the SBF team, we’ve never reported about an incident like that.

Has your operation dealt with unusual situations at the facility or on the road involving animals or something else? Share your story below.
 
Until next time,

Kelly Roher
Managing Editor