Higher Ed Utah

Even when seats are scarce, I see some of my fellow riders of public transit placing bags on nearby seats – as if the bag had its own bus pass!  The bags are unwelcome mats warding off those who would intrude on over-inflated personal space bubbles.  I’ve been guilty of strategic bag placement myself, but only when I’m contagious with the plague, swine flu, or both.

Is it bad that I enjoy forcing the offending bags to move? 

I used to fall under the bags’ spell and search out a more inviting seat.  I was a vampire (not of Edward Cullen’s “vegetarian” variety), the seats were necks, and the bags garlic.  But my conscience pricked.  Why should passengers polite enough to leave open a seat be punished, so to speak, with the higher likelihood of being crowded by my very imposing 5’2” frame? 

I resolved to right this social injustice.  Seats with the offending bags now receive my special consideration.  I can’t sit in every illegally staked claim on every bus, but I do what I can.

The bus lurches to a stop and I step off into the financial world.  There, when one person doesn’t pay back a loan everyone else picks up the tab.  We won’t get that person’s bill in the mail, but a loan company has to charge more to cover the loss.  These extra charges are built into the price and paid by – who else? – paying customers. 

In other words, the polite passengers who don’t take up two-for-the-price-of-one seats are punished. 

UHEAA distributes justice in the form of late and collection fees.  Borrowers who are slow to pay are penalized with these fees to protect the innocent, paying customers from the costs that come with extra collection efforts.  

But remember how I can’t be on every bus?  The fees can’t stop the handful who dodge responsibility and ruin it for everyone.   The borrower who simply refuses to pay, late fees or no.  The guy in the theater whose cell phone rings during The Best Part of the movie.  The neighbor whose “eco-friendly” disinterest in yard work brings down property values.   No one wants to be that person – right?

If you are struggling to make your payments, please call.   In some situations, your payments can be reduced or postponed – before you ever get a late fee!  You can use the money you save to buy a bus pass . . . for your bag.