I’ve sent an email to the touring company about a week ago highlighting our disturbing interaction with one of the drivers, and have yet to receive a response. Please see the interaction below:
At around 1 pm at the Sky Tower stop on Monday, I was standing around the desk reading the map to note the points of interest, and JP approached me to ask if I wanted the map in my language. I was very taken aback as I was very much born in an English speaking country and have never had that assumption made on me. We did not interact with him prior and so there would have been very little basis for the question. It would have been appreciated if he asked how I was doing to try and gauge my English speaking abilities if he was trying to be helpful.
While the rush to profile may have been inappropriate to most people, I understood that maybe it was an honest oversight...
It was the next interaction with the very same driver that was so grossly out of hand that I disembarked the bus with my grandmother and sister.
Prior to onboarding the tour bus, my grandmother had purchased a smoothie for herself. As we were entering the bus, my grandmother asked JP verbatim: “hi, is it okay if I bring my smoothie on the bus?” Bear in mind that if the driver had made it clear that drinks were not allowed on the bus, we would have been fine to dispose of it. Instead, he responded: “yes, but only if we make a deal. If you spill it, you clean out the entire bus.” My grandmother was startled by the joke, if that’s what it was, and responded: “haha, yes ok I’ll be very careful”, and started to head towards the stairs, to WHICH he responded: “no come back love, I’m very serious. If you spill it, you’ll get on your hands and knees and scrub the bus clean”.
We left the bus. I don’t need to go on about how devastatingly inappropriate that comment was or how that made us feel. My grandmother is 75 years old.
These subsequent interactions were incredibly disturbing and effectively had me question whether I had selected a credible touring company with which to experience the city.