A Spy on the Bus: Memoir of a Company Rat
Margean Gladysz
Language: English
Pages: 272
ISBN: B00JU86JBW
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
“It was 1946, I was 18, a college graduate, and about to become a spy. I was going to ‘hit the road’. But what was it like—this road—when I had hardly been out of Kalamazoo?” writes Margean Gladysz in her letters to her parents written from 1946 to 1949. Unearthed from an attic trunk in 2003 these letters detail her employment with The Great Lakes Greyhound Bus Company as a company rat. As a collection, they form the contents of A Spy on the Bus.
Young Margean’s “can do” attitude permeates the letters as she reports daily activities about the people she meets, the cost of meals and hotel rooms, the countryside crops, the politics of the company and the best part–her spying activities. Disguised as a passenger, she rides on bus routes to various towns to observe bus drivers’ honesty–or lack of, the road conditions, equipment handling, and all things the company bosses needed to know. These were the days before surveillance cameras and Margean becomes the boss man’s eyes and ears.
The fear of being discovered or “turned-up” as a spy was always a worry. She had to carefully plan her bus routes to avoid being recognized.
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sometimes the gang goes maudlin and sings hymns. Reactions of the other passengers to this startling assortment are varied. Strait-laced old women turn up their noses and murmur “vulgar”. Businessmen get out their private bottles and attempt to persuade their seat companions to become sociable. Gradually the whole load takes on the friendly air of one big happy family getting happier by the minute as the miles click off. If the driver happens to snap on the light about an hour out of Dayton,
because JP didn’t consult him? JP’s mad! Mr. Adamson and I went to Clare and back yesterday. Today we worked suburbans. The other day four of us got on one man—Curtz, Allen, Edith, and I—a survey with three cash fares paid by inspectors! The driver better be right. Tomorrow I’m going down to the Main Y to hep up Miss Maloney about my transfer. Can hardly wait to move—I want to so badly! Love, Margean May 17, 1947 From YWCA Residence, Detroit, Michigan Dear Ones: Congratulate me! I shall be
make carbons of all my reports, and this is the only pen that will make a carbon excepting those ballpoint pens. As usual, there are loads of cash fares down here, usually at least half of my load, so must carefully work up my audits. Love, Margean January 6, 1948 From Florence, Alabama Dear Ones: My hotel here in Florence couldn’t put me up but kindly secured a room at a tourist home. This letter is on an official report form. I’m fresh out of any stationery, and there was no paper in the
jaw. I floated down to the lobby and floated the two blocks to the Denver bus station, so lightheaded I must have staggered all over the place, partly from fever and partly from not eating. I had an hour to wait, so invested 85 cents in an ice bag and got it filled at the coffee shop. This, with aspirin, definitely broke the fever and got my feet on solid ground again. So I copped a whole front seat, rented a pillow, curled up, and set that ice bag on my ear. I didn’t have the slightest
that has kept me busy about twelve hours a day. Worth a bonus. Have finished the last of my Christmas shopping and my Christmas cards. I splurged 35 cents on ones for Mr. Burleigh and Pete. Have been enjoying unseasonable weather of 80 degrees plus for the last five days. A humid, misty, constant rain has accompanied this— everything steams. I hear you’re having freezing, icy weather and I shall probably run into it out of St. Louis: until then, I’ll leave the lining out of my coat. Mr.
