Guy 1: “She said they were all abscessed. All 18 of those teeth are bad. She could’ve pulled them all today, and I wouldn’t have cared.”

Guy 2: “Why didn’t she?”

Guy 1: “She wanted to make sure I could pay for it. If you can’t pay, they won’t do anything.”

Guy 2: “It’s just as well, though. You would’ve been walking around with half your grill missing.”

Westbound Connector (Microsoft’s private commuter bus, which I tested once last week), 9:40 a.m.: Connector employee 1 to Connector employee 2: “In my 20s, I dated these nice guys who were into commitment, and I was the fickle one. Then, at about 29, I decided I wanted to settle down, and I keep getting these bad eggs.

[…]

So then I got with my cheater/liar, and now Tim, so I’m like, ‘What’s next — a murderer?’”

Eastbound 4, 3:10 p.m.: Two middle-aged men who are apparently acquaintances are making conversation in the back of the bus. One of them takes a drink from a bottle of pop.

Middle-aged man #1: “This tastes just like that orange ice cream we used to have back in the day. You know, with the cream in the middle? [Pause] Want some?”

MAM #2: “No thanks, man.”

MAM #1: “Come on, have a taste! I don’t have any germs. Got a little cancer, but no germs.”

A third man, 10-15 years younger, gets on and joins the conversation. As the bus passes the new City Hall, he gestures toward the building.

Young man: “I heard they have a misdemeanor jail up there.

MAM #1 (shrugging): “Jail’s jail.”

YM, gesturing toward the county jail: “I’d rather be in a misdemeanor jail than in there. I was in there for three weeks for a DV [domestic violence charge]... My cellie had killed two people. I was like, ‘I don’t belong in this joint. We were just arguing!’”

Westbound 14, 1:10 p.m.: I’m sitting in the very front of the forward-facing rows, on the driver’s side, in the seat nearest the window. At a light somewhere in the International District, the man sitting in front of me (in the closest of the sideways-facing seats) strikes up a conversation. Three sentences in, he asks an odd variation on one of “those questions “ [“Can I Ask You Something?” Nov. 30, 2006].

Man: “What nationality are you from?”

Bus Chick: “I’m from here.”

Man: “No, but what is your ethnic background?”

BC: “I’m mixed: Black and white.”

Man: “Well, you could pass for a lot of things: Lebanese, Egyptian, Mexican… anything with color.’ [Pause] People look at you and expect you to speak some languages.”

Got something to say about public transportation in Seattle? Email Bus Chick at: buschick@gmail.com or http://www.blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/buschick