Can you hear me now?

I am a person that enjoys small gatherings as opposed to parties with lots of people.  It's quieter although not boring, because we are playing cards and enjoying eachs other's company.    When I became a school bus driver and drove for the first time by myself, without a mentor, I thought I would quit the first day because the noise was intolerable.  But I stuck to it, and now have been there 10 years.  In that 10 year time I have driven a short bus for the handicapped and behavior disordered;a conventional bus for elementary and high school students.  I have done some charters, which are field trips or after school activities, and adult charters as well, like when a company orders a bus for an outing. Personally, I like regular school routes because I know where I'm going and when I'm coming back. With charters you could be gone all day and night, and that doesn't suit me, although the money would be nice. 
Now that I have been doing this so long, children seem a lot quieter.  They aren't, but my tolerance level has gone up QUITE a bit! 
At a family gathering a few years back, when I had been a school bus driver for about 3 years, the craziness with all the kids, there were 10 of them all about the same ages of 10 or so, I did not reprimand one kid.  My family finally stepped up to the plate and reprimanded their own children and the cousins.  Hah!  I got a laugh out of it, because I said, "What noise? They're not loud".