Elvis Explains

The local rag caught up with the fellow who bore the brunt of the Bus Uncle's rant.

... Elvis "Alvin" Ho ... forgave Bus Uncle and sympathised with him for feeling stressed.

"The most important thing I learnt from the incident is that I must work hard to shorten my working hours so that I can go home earlier and avoid taking the same bus with Bus Uncle again," ...

"Having said that, I think everyone should stand in others' shoes and think for others. I felt a bit upset, because Bus Uncle verbally abused me and my family. But I am not mad at him, as I know he has pressure."

If we've learned but one thing from the video, it's that everyone has pressure.

"I just tapped on his shoulder and told him to tone down when he was talking loudly on the phone. I did not expect him to explode like that," he said. The commuter said he had asked other passengers to keep their voices down before, and most accepted his requests; he had never met anyone who reacted like Bus Uncle.

"I always take long-distance bus journeys and it is very annoying to sit near those who speak at the top of their voice, especially when I want to sleep," he said.

"Maybe it is a problem of civic education of an individual, but if bus companies can appeal to passengers to keep their voices down when riding on buses, that would be great."

Right; these are the same bus companies that installed televisions no one wanted to blast out commercials and other inane crap.

Mr Ho said that although he acted calmly when facing Bus Uncle, he felt scared.

"I feared he might hit me. So when he asked me to shake hands, I did. I kept thinking how to make his anger die down. But I never thought of fighting back, because I did not want to make it big and end up being questioned at a police station.

"I kept reminding myself to stay cool and avoid provoking the desperate man, as I had to work the next day. All I thought about was how to get off the bus safely."

Smart thinking.

Good thing Elvis didn't jostle Bus Uncle's seat on his way off the bus.

Update here!

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