 Good evening everyone and welcome! This is Melissa Armo with the Stock Swoosh and this is me right here. And today I am going to read to you a story that I wrote on my LinkedIn. If you'd like to go and follow me on LinkedIn, you can go to LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com and look up Melissa Armo and you can follow me there. I put marker reviews and plays of the days and stories like the one I'm going to read to you right now. So sit back and listen to a nice little Christmas story. This is a true story. The story is called Girl with Ticket Refused Bus Ride on Christmas. It was Christmas Eve and I was heading home to see my mom and dad. I had to take the first bus out of the New York Port Authority on Christmas Eve morning, which left at 7.30 a.m. Eastern time. I got my ticket and I waited in line. I had plenty of time before boarding, although there was a line. This bus line is notorious for waiting until the very last minute before the bus is scheduled to leave to allow passengers onto the bus. So at 7.29 a.m., we began boarding. I gave the ticket to the driver. He said he could not accept it. I was shocked. I said, what? What? He said, this ticket has the receipt ripped off. I cannot accept it. As the driver, I have to rip it off. I said, wait, I have the receipt right here. Along the credit card purchase receipt. I showed it to him. He did not care. He said, he couldn't let me on board. I said, then I will go upstairs and I will buy another ticket. Will you please hold the bus for me? He said, no. Well, then I was starting to get upset. I said, I'm getting on this bus or I will not make it home to my family for the holidays. He didn't care and said, there was nothing he could do. Well, I walked right past him and said, I'm getting on this bus. I put my suitcase in the carriage below and meanwhile, he went up to the bus and locked the door. He locked the door to the bus. He actually locked the door to the bus, locking the 30-plus passengers already on board so no one could get off. In fact, some man with a child was trying it off the bus and because the bus was locked, he couldn't. He was trying to get out and he couldn't. I don't know if he was trying to get something for the baby or not, but he could not exit the actual physical bus. After the bus driver locked the bus, I stood in front of the door and I said, well, if you plan on driving this bus anywhere, you will have to open that door to get in it and when you do, I will be getting on that bus with you. Then the driver left it up and came back. Meanwhile, half an hour later has gone by. Maybe more. The bus is now late and all the routes afterwards he had that day would be late. That's what happens. There was still a line of 20-plus people waiting to get on the bus inside the Port Authority, listening to everything that was happening, the whole story, along with everyone on the bus. Two New York City policemen came down and began talking to me. They asked me the story. I showed them my ticket and proof of purchase for the time stamp and the credit card that I bought the ticket at 709 in 33 seconds today. Literally, the credit card receipt had the seconds on it, which I had. No bus has left since then, I said, and therefore it would be impossible for me to have used this ticket before, receipt or otherwise. Okay, therefore the ticket was not ever used, even though the receipt was not with the ticket. And I had the credit card receipt. And I showed the date of the purchase. The New York City cops started coming in Paris two by two. Within a few minutes, I was surrounded by 10 cops. They all explained the bus line can make their own rules and therefore there is nothing that they can do. I explained that I paid for the ticket and they needed to be reasonable. And after all it is Christmas. I said, why are you signing with this bus driver? I live in New York. I am a citizen of New York State and Manhattan and I pay taxes, just pay your salary. You are not being reasonable at all. You can't see I have the ticket. One of the officers actually took my bag out of the carriage. And I said, well, I guess we'll stand here all day because I'm getting on that bus. I am getting on that bus. I said, one cop even said he could arrest me for being disorderly. I said he could try, except for the fact that I'm not shouting or even being loud. So I'm not sure how it would work exactly to say I'm being disorderly. I actually am talking louder now that I even was that day. It was so ridiculous of the fact that the bus driver wouldn't let me on the bus that I was so calm. It was the calmest I ever was. Either that or I had no caffeine or 7am. Either way, I was half asleep and I was very, very calm. So we all stood a wrap and then one guy said, I'm getting the head caught. I said, great, go get the head caught, please. So I can speak to him and we can get going on the trip. The head cop came and was kind and reasonable. I shown him my receipt and ticket. The head cop said, you can get on the bus and he made the driver let me on the bus. I shook the head cops hand and wished him a very, very Christmas. I said, thank you, sir. The head cop was reasonable and he used common sense. The bus left an hour late when I got on the bus. So many passions were talking to me and cheering me on telling me stories about the bus driver telling me he's grumpy mean and he does this run every day at 730 and he gives everyone a hard time and good for me for sticking up for myself. The passengers were saying, I was relieved and felt grateful. They've been blaming you for holding up the bus because I thought people might be upset with me. But the fact is they were sorry with me because apparently this man is grumpy and mean and miserable to everyone. But I had to get on the bus. I had to get home. One man who came on was waiting outside and heard the whole thing said next to me on purpose. He shook my hand and said he called and told his friend the whole thing while it was happening. He said he hates the bus line. The only reason they even have any customers is because they have no competition. I thought about that and I pondered the thought and I thought, gosh, he is right. Perhaps I should start my own bus line one day soon. Another business that I will make successful. The other passenger said that I should go and complain and I said, no, I bother. I don't want to get the man fired and it's Christmas and I doubt the bus line would even care. In the 20 plus years I've traveled that line back and forth from Pennsylvania to New York City. They have never once remodeled the dirty, disgusting bathrooms at the station in Cookstown, Pennsylvania. They are disgusting. And as a business owner myself, I've always known that caring about your clients is important. If you don't care about your clients, how can a business survive? Well, only if you have no competition, I suppose, but this is very, very rare. I guess it's what they call a monopoly, but time will tell because no business can last long if they treat their customers poorly and have grumpy staff and be successful and make a lot of money. I wonder what would have happened if I'd gotten arrested because I wanted to get on the bus and had a valid ticket, a valid ticket with approaches to receipt. And I have a feeling that you would have seen me with a camera crew live on TV before the end of 2015 if I had been arrested. My parents would have had a conviction, but that's neither here nor there. I would have been lecturing about common sense in the stock market from jail. Now that would have been a very interesting and entertaining television show. But I felt badly for the New York cops because they had to work on Christmas and being in New York City cop is one of the hardest jobs in the state of New York. You don't make millions of dollars and you put your life on the line every day and I admire people that are willing to do that. A lot of people give cops a hard time and it's actually sad because it's gotten to the point that cops don't meanly don't trust anyone, anyone at all, even a girl like me, because they can't use common sense because there's so many crazy people out there in the world. And it's true. So I understand where the cops are coming for them, but luckily the head cop made the right decision in the end. The story had a happy ending and I made it home for Christmas with my family. Of course that bus driver had no idea who was talking to. Clearly. I had my hair up in a ponytail leggings and a leather coat on with my sneakers and I'm sure I looked 25 and didn't look anywhere near the age that I actually am. I did not look successful, smart, strong or anything like the person that I am, but looks can be the same thing. So there are several mores to the story and the reason that I wrote this out is because I wanted to share this with you. Number one, it's a good story. And in the end, I did get helped out by a New York City police officer because if he hadn't helped me the head cop, I wouldn't have been on the bus and I would have made it home for Christmas. So thank you New York City police. But the morals to the story are what? Number one, don't judge a book by its cover. Someone could look very, very young or or even poor or dumb and may not be. You never know who can walk by down the street. You also need to be kind to people over the holidays. If you're going to be kind any time of the year, now is the time. Okay. Think about the spirit of the season and be kind to people in general when they need a little kindness, which I needed that day. Obviously, I didn't realize it was illegal to rip off the ticket for the bus line. I'll never do it again. It was not clear. The rules were not stated and it was an honest mistake that I ripped it off. I was hurried and rushed to get in the line because they board so late. The other lesson is use common sense in your dealings with others. This is very important, extremely important. Common sense plays a big part if you are able to think about things and just rationalize correctly. It will help your business relationships and your personal relationships as well. And don't wait until the very last minute to come to see your mom and dad for Christmas because you might not make it and you might get a crappy bus driver and then what are you going to do? My father, who is a wonderful person and a very special person and an amazing dad, probably would have then ended up driving in New York, driving two and a half hours from Pennsylvania to pick me up to get me home, in which case I never would have made it home on time to wrap my gifts or dress myself or get ready for mass. And we have to go to mass so early on Christmas Eve to save a seat. Even though we go to the overflow, but the point is thank you New York City police officers for helping me out. The head cop did the right thing. I feel badly for the bus driver. He had to work on Christmas and obviously has a very unhappy life if he's grumpy every day. It's important to do a job that you love. If you do a job that you love you will be happy and you will treat others better. That's why you really have to think about what you do for a living. And if you're not happy doing what you're doing for a living, then think about it. Maybe you want to become a stock trader. Maybe you want to do something else. Maybe you want to start a new bus line. But either way it is very important to get up every day with a positive attitude and be happy with the people that you meet. Happy holidays everyone and have a wonderful, wonderful rest of the year. If you're interested in more information email me at melissathestockswitch.com