A Sudden Realization on the Bus in Nanjing

I'm on a bus from the outskirts of Nanjing to the center of town and the bus is jam packed. It's a national holiday and everyone wants to go shopping or see the sights. People can't get on in the front and are packing in through the back door. This prompts the driver to get up and start yelling at people who haven't paid their fare.

I often see people in China arguing on the streets. People store up frustration and arguing gives you a way to vent it. So I always watch with unattached amusement, like a marriage counselor.

The driver continues to yell and somehow they figure it out. I suddenly figure something out myself. When I first started using buses in Shanghai, I couldn't figure out why there was always a lady collecting your fare seated toward the back of the bus. Isn't this a waste of money when you can just put a little electronic box up at the front? I concluded it was just a remnant of over 50 years of communism. There are lots of Chinese people--you gotta give them all jobs, somehow, even if they don't make sense, even if they only make the equivalent of $250 a month.

But today, I get it. If there were a lady at the back of the bus today, she could be arguing with the people trying to get on the bus, allowing the bus driver to drive....