On that bus ride to Wageningen, I observed many passengers greeting the driver as they entered the bus, even if they didn’t have to buy a ticket. As a German I am not used to greeting bus drivers if I am not going to engage in a conversation with them after that. So saying ‘Hi’ to the driver is not familiar to me, for a start.
What was even more surprising was that people continued this politeness before they left the bus. I spent quite some time in that bus and noticed that people waved, said ‘thank you’ or even ‘goodbye’ when they got out of the bus. At first, I assumed that these people knew the driver or that maybe they thanked him because he gave them some time to check out with their OV-chip card. But it turns out this is a normal custom here.
I wonder if Dutch mamas even tell their children to introduce themselves to the bus driver, the way Forrest Gump did? I don’t go as far as introducing myself to the driver, but since this bus ride I also say ‘hi’ and ‘goodbye’ when I take the bus. Rebekka Mejda, MSc student of Applied Communication Science, from Germany
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NL: HELLO BUSDRIVER
Een busrit van Utrecht naar Wageningen deed Rebekka Mejda denken aan Forrest Gump die tegen de chauffeur zei: ‘Mama zegt dat ik niet met vreemden mag meerijden. Ik ben Forrest, Forrest Gump. Zo, nu zijn we geen vreemden meer van elkaar.’ Opvallend veel Nederlanders groeten de buschauffeur. En als ze uitstappen zwaaien ze vriendelijk, zeggen ‘bedankt’, of zelfs ‘tot ziens’. Rebekka gaat niet zo ver dat ze zichzelf voorstelt aan de chauffeur, maar ze groet nu wel als ze de bus neemt.