How this Romanian bus driver was loved by England. Please read.

I have been getting the same bus to and from work for the last four years. One of my regular bus drivers was a Romanian man called Serghei who I chatted to in Romanian - which highly amused and delighted him.
I was so very sad to learn that he died of Covid19 in January. It hit me hard when I found out and I rang the bus company to tell them how much I liked him. The guy I spoke to said he really appreciated the call and that they were all very sad about it.

On Friday, I got on the bus and it was a lady driver who I also knew pretty well, (she drives the later bus that I sometimes get when I’m often running late), and I mentioned to her about Sergio’s death and she told me something that really made my heart swell with emotion.

Sergio lived in the UK alone, sending money to his wife and children in Romania. He was poor. The bus company paid a huge chunk of money to fly his body home to his wife and family so that he could be buried in his native country. They also had a fund set up whereby all his colleagues sent money to his wife.
They had a convoy of buses drive his route at 8pm one night in his honour.
The buses were covered in Romanian flags and had his photo on them.

I couldn’t believe how wonderful that bus company was, looking after his family and paying to fly his body home.

In the words of the lady who told me:

“He was the loveliest man you could ever meet, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for others if he felt they needed his help. We were all so heartbroken”

Oh, and while he was in hospital, the bus company gave him a tablet so that he could FaceTime his wife.

What a wonderful company.

See the short story and video of the convoy here: https://www.yourharlow.com/2021/03/06/bus-convoy-pays-tribute-to-tragic-colleague-who-succumbed-to-covid/

Rest in peace Serghei, your smile always made my day.

Eddie told me a lot about this guy; he seemed to have been a real character. In fact, she told a lot of her friends about how much she liked this guy.

He'd always wish her (sorry for the mangled Romanian) "sa o zi buna," which means "have a good day." One of her friends came away from eddie's story thinking the driver's actual name was Ozzie Buna.

I would love to write this story properly, I just can't think of what publication it'd be right for.

Thats a cool story. I like watching companies step up when they don't have to. Restores my faith that people will help out when they can. He also dispelled the myth of the lazy immigrant.

Maddog wrote:Thats a cool story. I like watching companies step up when they don't have to. Restores my faith that people will help out when they can.  He also dispelled the myth of the lazy immigrant.

You know what Maddog? Over here in the UK, the Romanians work fucking hard, so do the Polish. They put the English to shame, actually.

I have to say that Romanians are really warm people, they’re very touchy-feely too. They like to share their food with you. My favourite people at work are Romanian. They often get bad press in Europe but I like them a lot.

eddie wrote:

Maddog wrote:Thats a cool story. I like watching companies step up when they don't have to. Restores my faith that people will help out when they can.  He also dispelled the myth of the lazy immigrant.

You know what Maddog?  Over here in the UK, the Romanians work fucking hard, so do the Polish. They put the English to shame, actually.

I have to say that Romanians are really warm people, they’re very touchy-feely too. They like to share their food with you. My favourite people at work are Romanian. They often get bad press in Europe but I like them a lot.

I've said before, that immigrants make better Americans than folks born here.

Obviously there needs to be some sort of system at the border, but if folks want to come here to work, bring them on.

I love meeting people from different places. As you read, I am learning Romanian, mainly because the staff that “work for me” are Romanian and some of them can’t speak much English so I learned Romanian to make it easier to communicate with them quickly if I need something done. I’ve also learned some basic Polish but it’s a tougher language than Romanian.

eddie wrote:I have been getting the same bus to and from work for the last four years. One of my regular bus drivers was a Romanian man called Serghei who I chatted to in Romanian - which highly amused and delighted him.
I was so very sad to learn that he died of Covid19 in January. It hit me hard when I found out and I rang the bus company to tell them how much I liked him. The guy I spoke to said he really appreciated the call and that they were all very sad about it.

On Friday, I got on the bus and it was a lady driver who I also knew pretty well, (she drives the later bus that I sometimes get when I’m often running late), and I mentioned to her about Sergio’s death and she told me something that really made my heart swell with emotion.

Sergio lived in the UK alone, sending money to his wife and children in Romania. He was poor. The bus company paid a huge chunk of money to fly his body home to his wife and family so that he could be buried in his native country. They also had a fund set up whereby all his colleagues sent money to his wife.
They had a convoy of buses drive his route at 8pm one night in his honour.
The buses were covered in Romanian flags and had his photo on them.

I couldn’t believe how wonderful that bus company was, looking after his family and paying to fly his body home.

In the words of the lady who told me:

“He was the loveliest man you could ever meet, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for others if he felt they needed his help. We were all so heartbroken”

Oh, and while he was in hospital, the bus company gave him a tablet so that he could FaceTime his wife.

What a wonderful company.

See the short story and video of the convoy here: https://www.yourharlow.com/2021/03/06/bus-convoy-pays-tribute-to-tragic-colleague-who-succumbed-to-covid/

I filled up reading that.

I'm so glad he was appreciated.

Me too, Syl. My favourite memory of him is him laughing at me and saying “I cannot believe you speak Romanian! It’s so funny to me!”

eddie wrote:I have been getting the same bus to and from work for the last four years. One of my regular bus drivers was a Romanian man called Serghei who I chatted to in Romanian - which highly amused and delighted him.
I was so very sad to learn that he died of Covid19 in January. It hit me hard when I found out and I rang the bus company to tell them how much I liked him. The guy I spoke to said he really appreciated the call and that they were all very sad about it.

On Friday, I got on the bus and it was a lady driver who I also knew pretty well, (she drives the later bus that I sometimes get when I’m often running late), and I mentioned to her about Sergio’s death and she told me something that really made my heart swell with emotion.

Sergio lived in the UK alone, sending money to his wife and children in Romania. He was poor. The bus company paid a huge chunk of money to fly his body home to his wife and family so that he could be buried in his native country. They also had a fund set up whereby all his colleagues sent money to his wife.
They had a convoy of buses drive his route at 8pm one night in his honour.
The buses were covered in Romanian flags and had his photo on them.

I couldn’t believe how wonderful that bus company was, looking after his family and paying to fly his body home.

In the words of the lady who told me:

“He was the loveliest man you could ever meet, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for others if he felt they needed his help. We were all so heartbroken”

Oh, and while he was in hospital, the bus company gave him a tablet so that he could FaceTime his wife.

What a wonderful company.

See the short story and video of the convoy here: https://www.yourharlow.com/2021/03/06/bus-convoy-pays-tribute-to-tragic-colleague-who-succumbed-to-covid/

what a heartbreaking but beautiful story edds

I’m so glad you all appreciate it. I’m so glad you know all about my gentle bus driver.

And what a wonderful bus company!

Maddog wrote:Thats a cool story. I like watching companies step up when they don't have to. Restores my faith that people will help out when they can.  He also dispelled the myth of the lazy immigrant.

you must be joking,

at one time beanie was working part time hair dressing and part time at Aldi store

Aldi loved her and wanted her to train for management but she hated it

she came home from her hairdressing job furious one day and had her work cut out not to have a go at some woman sitting at a table outside the cafe next door moaning on about ''too many immigrants and not enough jobs''

but as beanie said to me

''mum, the immigrants at Aldis work like machines, they just don't stop at all. I wanted to say to that woman, if you spent less time drinking coffee and moaning and more time looking for work you'd find a job all righ,,,,,and she was in her fucking pyjamas''

very much to the shame of Britain, the immigrant work force are brilliant and show up just how bloody lazy and entitled a lot of Brits are.

i'm so glad my own kids have a good work ethic

Rest in peace Serghei

What a wonderful story and yet sad to here that he passed away

Hats off to the Bus company for what they did

Beautiful story eddie

Didgee wrote:Rest in peace Serghei

What a wonderful story and yet sad to here that he passed away

Hats off to the Bus company for what they did

Beautiful story eddie

I knew you’d like it. He was a lovely man. Me speaking Romanian really amused him!

What really impressed me was the hanging of the Romanian flags on the buses. That obviously took a lot of effort, perhaps some money, and not a small amount of cheek, considering it was in Essex, but good on them.

And it goes to dispel the myth that the UK is racist. We mostly are NOT.

eddie wrote:And it goes to dispel the myth that the UK is racist. We mostly are NOT.

Absolutely, especially in London and the bigger cities