Monday, July 16, 2007

Do your little turn in the aisle

When riding the bus, there are a few tips that one must keep in mind. First off, it's probably not a great idea to start talking to the people around you, unless you know them from somewhere other than the bus. Secondly, if you have a seat, and someone less fortunate than you needs one, by all means, get up and stand, holding the railing. And third, bring a book or something, just so you aren't staring out the windows, possibly leading others to strike up conversations with you (see point one). But we never thought we'd hear about anything approaching a dress code for the bus.

And yet, that's pretty close to what happened to a German woman in the town of Lindau. The 20-year-old, who was wearing "her snug-fitting summer clothes with the plunging neckline" was told by the bus driver that she had to move seats, or he would kick her off the bus. The reason he gave? Her cleavage was too distracting.

Naturally, a spokesman for the bus company is defending the driver, saying that he has the right to insure safety for his passengers, and, if he feels that something is too distracting, he can request that it be removed from his line of sight. This all does make certain amounts of sense, but, while we've never driven a bus, we have driven cars with women displaying cleavage in the backseat. Sure, it can be distracting, but when you're driving a thousand pounds or more of metal around the streets, you do your best to keep your focus on the road. It's not like the woman was prancing around, doing pole dances and wearing nothing more than pasties and a grin (at least, we assume. We haven't checked the Bild to see the photos).

Maybe the better question would be why the driver was getting so distracted in the first place? Was it just the cleavage? Did she maybe have a lollipop or something? Were there neon arrows pointing to her chest? Or hasn't he been seeing enough of it as of late (and, with German television, we find that a little hard to, um, grasp). Either way, while we commend the driver for wanting to keep things safe, we do think that maybe he was a little over the top. After all, if bus drivers in Minneapolis can handle people having shouting matches and drawing firearms, then the Lindau driver can handle a little jiggle when he comes to a swift stop.

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