Batch

12-06-2012 -- Don't know how I got there, but I am driving up the little road right alongside the shops at the Buena Park Mall, in a passenger van, though I think I am the only one in it. I think it is a Mears van, and I took it over right in the middle of a shift, at the mall. The van was in bad shape, a lot of damage to the interior, a broken glove compartment, and oddly enough, the previous driver's purse was still sitting there near the driver's window.

As I am driving along, I am amazed at all the idiots who will dart right out in front of a big van with no concern for their health, and others who will just stand there in the road, and not get out of the way. Since the brakes are the usual soft and weak brakes from my dreams, this really isn't a good thing. Some idiot has left his bike parked right in the middle of the lane, and as the brakes aren't working well, I plow right into it, though I don't run it over so much as just push it in front of me.

I manage to stop the van, and grab the bike. I put it at the side of the road, standing it on its kickstand, then start driving again. Suddenly, *BUMP* ... did I hit someone? No, thankfully it is just a bump in the pavement. I keep driving up the little traffic lane, alongside Sears, and on up to Stanton. As I approach the road, I try to stop, but the brakes just don't do it, and I shoot right into the road. Thankfully nothing is near enough to cause trouble. Since stopping isn't working, I try to spin the wheel and maybe head back the way I came, but I soon find myself right in the center of the road, almost on the divider, facing the wrong way.

I decide this just isn't safe. I turn around and start to head toward Orangethorpe on Stanton, and just before I reach the 91 freeway, I reach the Mears yard and turn in. I manage to park without too much trouble, thankfully. I'm now in a parking lot in front of the M1 building, which is further from the street than it is in real life, and as I walk toward the building I see some young sheep dogs in the parking lot. I head in the building, and end up speaking to the shuttle supervisor, who seems to be modeled on the guy who tried to shut down the GhostBusters in the movie, except the guy's hair is a dark brown rather than a light brown or dark blond from the movie.

I am expecting the guy to be a jerk, but he's actually quite nice, and isn't trying to blame me for being given a bad van or anything. He's telling me to drive around to the shop and swap out the van. As I am about to head out the door, I feel my face and realize I haven't shaved in days, and I'm looking rather ragged. I try and apologize, but he waves it off like it is nothing.

I make it out to the parking lot, but I am having a lot of trouble finding the van. Almost everybody has left, and it is now mostly vans parked here, so I am having problems finding the right one. A lady supervisor comes out to talk to me, and again I am expecting her to be mean, but she is really nice. She tells me they don't want me to drive the van if it has no brakes, and they will move it to the shop. She gives me a new set of keys and directs me to another van, which seems to be a more normal style (the last one was closer to one of the old Mears handicapped vans).

There are a couple of minor issues with it ... the seat is really far forward and tilted sharply, and I have to adjust it to fit. By this point I have a full-on Santa-style beard, and am only wearing a t-shirt, but she brushes it off as if it were nothing! Man, I guess things have really changed around here! By this point, we are on Gore in Florida (where the company is really located), and the sheep dogs are running through the area again.

The female super asks me if I would like to take on two runs, and I agree. I think one of them is going to Tampa, and the other is taking some elderly passengers to Leisure World (a retirement community located in Seal Beach, in CA). Somewhere in the back of my mind, I am thinking runs to both Florida and CA in the same day might be difficult, but I am so happy to have work, and that they are being so easy-going about the horrid beard and the lack of uniform, I'm not going to make waves.

I drive the new van out of the parking lot, and head toward the I-4 on-ramp, but I find the police are blocking off the intersection at Gore and Division, and traffic is really backing up badly. I want to avoid both problems and delays, so I swing into the gas station on the corner [there is no gas station there] to turn around, and start back the other way.