Bus drivers put up with a lot of crap: cranky commuters in the early morning, drunk partiers late at night, and would-be passengers breathlessly demanding that they open-the-doors-right-this-minute-I-didn’t-chase-this-bus-three-blocks-for-nothing. Maybe even witnessing the occasional fight.\n<\/p>\n
But, to my surprise, one of the spit falls of working in mass transit appears to be getting in spats yourself. The kind that requires wiping the saliva off your face afterward.\n<\/p>\n
For example, in 2009 there were 51 New York City bus drivers assaulted with spittle<\/a> (yes, it counts as assault) who took paid leave after such an “incident.” And it took them, on average, about three months away from the job (with pay) to get over it. Based on these spittin’ images below, it doesn’t seem to be an uncommon weapon of mass disfunction. Has anyone witnessed such an orally corrupt event?\n<\/p>\n <\/a>fintbo via Flickr Creative Commons\n<\/p>\n Spitting is now a crime punishable by CSI-style investigation.\n<\/p>\n <\/a>Pete Ashton via Flickr Creative Commons\n<\/p>\n Your saliva is no good here.\n<\/p>\n ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————\n<\/p>\n Like what you see? Sign up to receive The Grist List, our email roundup of pun-usual green news<\/a> just like this, sent out every Friday. And help keep puns in environmental news by donating a Lincoln <\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/a> to Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n Show how much you—and BP—care with a commemorative oil spill T-shirt<\/a><\/p>\n Passive-aggressive cakes spill onto Gulf coast<\/a><\/p>\n Boost your support for urban agriculture with a rice-growing bra<\/a><\/p>\n
\n Grist <\/a><\/strong><\/em>(or a Benjamin, we don’t discriminate against non-presidents)<\/a><\/strong>!
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