Train Ticket - have you got one?
September 9th 2006 12:14
TRAIN TICKET
I caught the train from Werro to Mt Druitt this afternoon to go to work. I bought a return ticket but when I got to Druitt the gate blurted at me "Invalid Ticket. See personnel". So I did, and the guy told me to put it through again. It accepted this time but took my ticket.
The train guy smiled smugly and said, "See? It works."
"Yeah, but it was a return. I need it to get back home again"
"Well, it wouldn't have taken unless it's gone through twice"
I tried to argue further but he wouldn't have a bar of it, so I walked off to work.
I stopped halfway down the ramp, angry as all fuck, and thought - No. I paid for a return ticket, why the fuck should I pay again to get home? This is in no way whatsoever my fault. So I started to walk back to complain, but I chickened out, because I'm a fairly quiet and cowardly person and hate confrontation, so I turned back around and kept walking.
I got to the bottom of the stairs, still angry - now mostly at myself - and thought, fuck it, what else am I gonna do for the next half hour before work? So I turned around and went back again.
As I got back (there were heaps of police everywhere) the guards and cops were busting some dude for fair evasion. The guard who said I wasn't entitled to my ticket saw me and looked away. Some big train guard made eye contact with me, and I stammered out what had happened - that I had paid for a return ticket and the gates had taken it. He pointed to some chick standing nearby, and told me to speak to her.
I explained my story and she took me over to the gate that my ticket had gone through, trying to tell me that I must have had a single ticket and not a return. This made me really angry and I told her that it couldn't have been a bloody single because the guy at Werro had charged me for a return.
The guard who looked away turned around and goes to the lady, "Nah, I've already dealt with this guy, his ticket is used up, it wouldn't have been taken if it hadn't have gone through twice already".
"NO!" I started to get fairly loud, "How the fuck can it be? Pull it out and look at the time on it (ten minutes ago) - how the hell could I have gone through two separate gates in that amount of time? The trains don’t come that quick".
"Well" continued the guard, "It wouldn't have taken it unless it had gone through twice".
"Well it hasn't! I came from Werrington, there's no gates there! It must have registered as going through once when it said invalid the first time - why else do you think I came to you in the first place?"
The guard just kept repeating himself, "Well, it's been used up"
"ARE YOU CALLING ME A LIAR?"
The guard started stammering, "No, no, I'm just saying..."
"HOW COULD IT HAVE GONE THROUGH TWICE" by this time the lady had taken the ticket out of the gate, "LOOK AT THE TIME", he looks at it, "THAT'S TEN MINUTES AGO, HOW COULD IT HAVE GONE THROUGH TWICE? YOU'RE CALLING ME A LIAR"
So they gave me back my ticket and apologised.
"How am I gonna get back home again if it doesn't work though?"
So the idiot guard goes to let me through.
"No, not now, I have to go to work now, I'm talking about later!"
"Um, just go through the manual gate" (where he was standing).
So I walked off, slightly shaken, but with more self-respect than usual. They can get fucked, I don't care about buying tickets, but the fact of the matter was that none of it was my fault - I simply bought a ticket and used it - so I shouldn't have to bend over for them.
If you read this expecting something more interesting, then you obviously don't know me very well.
Here is a picture of me going for a swim. I have adventures so frequently that I have to swim in Samurai armour just in case.
I caught the train from Werro to Mt Druitt this afternoon to go to work. I bought a return ticket but when I got to Druitt the gate blurted at me "Invalid Ticket. See personnel". So I did, and the guy told me to put it through again. It accepted this time but took my ticket.
The train guy smiled smugly and said, "See? It works."
"Yeah, but it was a return. I need it to get back home again"
"Well, it wouldn't have taken unless it's gone through twice"
I tried to argue further but he wouldn't have a bar of it, so I walked off to work.
I stopped halfway down the ramp, angry as all fuck, and thought - No. I paid for a return ticket, why the fuck should I pay again to get home? This is in no way whatsoever my fault. So I started to walk back to complain, but I chickened out, because I'm a fairly quiet and cowardly person and hate confrontation, so I turned back around and kept walking.
I got to the bottom of the stairs, still angry - now mostly at myself - and thought, fuck it, what else am I gonna do for the next half hour before work? So I turned around and went back again.
As I got back (there were heaps of police everywhere) the guards and cops were busting some dude for fair evasion. The guard who said I wasn't entitled to my ticket saw me and looked away. Some big train guard made eye contact with me, and I stammered out what had happened - that I had paid for a return ticket and the gates had taken it. He pointed to some chick standing nearby, and told me to speak to her.
I explained my story and she took me over to the gate that my ticket had gone through, trying to tell me that I must have had a single ticket and not a return. This made me really angry and I told her that it couldn't have been a bloody single because the guy at Werro had charged me for a return.
The guard who looked away turned around and goes to the lady, "Nah, I've already dealt with this guy, his ticket is used up, it wouldn't have been taken if it hadn't have gone through twice already".
"NO!" I started to get fairly loud, "How the fuck can it be? Pull it out and look at the time on it (ten minutes ago) - how the hell could I have gone through two separate gates in that amount of time? The trains don’t come that quick".
"Well" continued the guard, "It wouldn't have taken it unless it had gone through twice".
"Well it hasn't! I came from Werrington, there's no gates there! It must have registered as going through once when it said invalid the first time - why else do you think I came to you in the first place?"
The guard just kept repeating himself, "Well, it's been used up"
"ARE YOU CALLING ME A LIAR?"
The guard started stammering, "No, no, I'm just saying..."
"HOW COULD IT HAVE GONE THROUGH TWICE" by this time the lady had taken the ticket out of the gate, "LOOK AT THE TIME", he looks at it, "THAT'S TEN MINUTES AGO, HOW COULD IT HAVE GONE THROUGH TWICE? YOU'RE CALLING ME A LIAR"
So they gave me back my ticket and apologised.
"How am I gonna get back home again if it doesn't work though?"
So the idiot guard goes to let me through.
"No, not now, I have to go to work now, I'm talking about later!"
"Um, just go through the manual gate" (where he was standing).
So I walked off, slightly shaken, but with more self-respect than usual. They can get fucked, I don't care about buying tickets, but the fact of the matter was that none of it was my fault - I simply bought a ticket and used it - so I shouldn't have to bend over for them.
If you read this expecting something more interesting, then you obviously don't know me very well.
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Check and mate Ms. Anon!
I am the victor here, just as I was at the train station in Mt. Druitt on that fateful day.