Miscommunication=I HATE MONDAYS!!!

What a day. Probably the worst Monday in...well...ever. Did I mention that I hate Mondays? And to top it all off, I just was feeling crappy from the get-go.
The morning started ok...aside from the feeling crappy part. The run went smoothly enough...even got to school early on my morning run. It was after that that everything went downhill. No, I didn't get thrown up on(though that might've been the least of my worries with the way the rest of the day went!). I got home for my morning break, which also went relatively smoothly. Nice to come home to coffee and have the chance to collect myself and wake up for the rest of the day...thanks Doodle for making the coffee!
My problems started as soon as I went to check in for HandiBus. The first thing the dispatcher tells me at the office window is that my driver hasn't showed up. Great. I told him I saw the bus sitting out there running already, and he said that's 'cause there was a slight mix-up with another driver before I got there...he thought he was using that bus, but wasn't supposed to be, so he just left it running for me. I figured my back-up driver would arrive soon, as I had been told that she was already called to cover my run. So I went to the bus to attach all the carseats(I switched busses again)while I waited for the driver to show. I finished that quickly, and went inside. The driver still wasn't there. No biggy, I'm only about 10 minutes late leaving the yard. I knew we could catch up on that time, so it wasn't a problem. So now it's about 11 o'clock. The school lets out at 11:15, and it takes about 20 minutes to drive there from the bus yard. I stood inside waiting for the driver to show....still no sign of her. Another 20 minutes goes by. At this point, I went and talked to the second dispatcher in the office(the first one went on lunch). She said she still hadn't heard from the driver, but she would call the school for me to let them know I'd be in late. I started pacing...I had finished my mug of coffee and it was starting to make me antsy. And I was antsy because of the fact that I was running SUPER late! During this time, the dispatcher started calling all the parents to let them know their children would be about half an hour late getting home. I continued to pace...outside watching for her car. I think I should've sat down in the driver's room and read my book, but I was much too antsy for that! It felt like an eternity of pacing. I was inside and outside, a mix of watching for the driver and asking the dispatcher if she'd heard from any of the parents as to whether they'd just go pick up their children themselves and save me time. No luck. I was super frstrated by this time, and I'm sure I left marks in the carpet from pacing infront of the window for so long! This eternity kept dragging by...I'm over half an hour late by now, and the driver still hadn't showed. I went back inside and asked the dispatcher to call her at home. She got ahold of her, and was told that she was just heading out the door. I knew this driver didn't live more than 5 minutes away, so I couldn't figure out why(after she'd been called the first time at 10:30) she didn't show up right away! I was outside waiting when she got there, and as soon as she saw me she asked, "am I doing a pre-school run?!" I confirmed that she was, and she just went off and panicked. She said that when she was called at 10:30 the guy didn't tell her what she was doing, just that she should come in for noon, or as soon as she could. Well, that's super vague, and she thought it sounded like there was no hurry, so she wanted to wait until her uniform was out of the dryer. She ran inside and punched out, and we took off for the school. It was over an hour later by this time. That SUCKS! She just kept telling me, as we were on our way to school, that if she was told she was doing a school run, she would've turned off her soup and wouldn't have worried about her uniform, 'cause she knows they run at about 11 o'clock. But because she wasn't told, she figured it was ok to wait for her uniform! In the end, after she got the second phone call just before noon, she didn't have her uniform on anyway 'cause it wasn't dry, and she knew she had to be there for at least 12. Anyway, we got to the school about 12:30(when pick up is at 11:15), and herded my 9 children onto the bus and into their seats. We were over an hour late to each stop, and I was asked multiple times what had happened. The parents and daycare workers were all very understanding, but were all curious as well. I told the story way too many times today. The jist of it was that the original driver didn't show, and the back-up showed an hour late because she didn't know she was doing a lunch pre-school run!
During my time waiting for her at HandiBus, I realized I wasn't going to make it to Cardinal for 2 o'clock because my last student gets dropped at 1 o'clock, and being an hour late, she wouldn't get dropped until 2. This posed a problem when I am supposed to get picked up at Cardinal at ten to 2! So I phoned the office and let them know I couldn't make it in time, and asked if they could get someone to be the attendant for the afternoon. I was told there was nobody to cover and that I had to be there. That REALLY sucked! I told her I was over an hour late already and I couldn't guarantee I'd be back by 2. Apparently it didn't matter to her, 'cause she said I had no options. She said she could get the Cardinal driver to meet me at HandiBus at 2. I told her I'd be there when I get there, but I said I'd call her if anything changed and if I wouldn't be there. I called her again from the deep south at 1:30, before I had my last student picked up, and told her that I still had one student to pick up and drop off, and I didn't think I could make it. She told me again that I still had to do the run. I said "fine", and asked her to get the driver to meet me at HandiBus. Well, as I figured, I got the student to school shortly after 2, and was back at the bus yard by ten after 2. At this point I was so frustrated, I had to pee, and the Cardinal driver wasn't even there!! AHHHHH! I ran around the building to see if maybe she was out front instead of in the back, but she wasn't. MAN, was I tired of people not showing up! I ran inside and called Cardinal...AGAIN!...and told them that the driver wasn't there. The guy on the phone talked to the dispatcher, who talked to the driver, and then came back to me that she was still at the Cardinal yard waiting for me!! AHHHHH!!! I could probably have strangled a few people today. I asked whether she could come meet me, gave the guy the address, and then the dispatcher came back with, "please meet her on southbound Edmonton Trail". DANG! That meant running(with a full bladder), down a hill 4 blocks...thank goodness it was downhill. I got on the bus, quite out of breath and quite sore, and asked her whether she had gotten the message that she was supposed to come up to HandiBus. Negative. The office lady I had talked to didn't communicate with the driver to even let her know that! Some people. So now, after running late the whole way through my HandiBus run, I was now running late on my afternoon Cardinal run as well...and causing this driver to be late to the school, therefore making her route run late too!
Boy, do I hate causing such pandemonium!
Luckily, by the time my afternoon run got going, we weren't TOO far behind, and I got home in one(sore)piece. All this after still having to walk to get the car as I had to leave it behind at HandiBus instead of getting it to Cardinal.
What a dumb day.
Sorry for the rant.

~K~