An old man boarded today, pushing a buggy. He asked for his stop and said he had a pass and that he would get it out in a minute. I dutifully keyed in the details and awaited his pass to be shown before it hit the 'issue' button. He just stood there, motionless.
Well I'm all for awkward silences. He eventually gave in. He asked for his destination again. I said "Do you have your bus pass handy now?"
"Bloody hell, I said I'd get you it in a minute!"
"All I need to do is see the expiry date," I said, choosing to omit "so I can make sure you're not a robbing git. Often OAPs from other parts of the Kingdom try and use their passes here and it is not allowed. A little silly I know, but them's the rules!
"For goodness sake!" the old man exclaimed, rummaging in his pocket for his bus pass, which he brought out within 5 seconds.
"Satisfied?"
"Yes, thank you. If I could ask you to have it ready every time you board, it will help speed up the service!" I ended with. I couldn't help it.
He didn't say anything other than a tut and a shake of the head.
One - nil.
Common Sense Solution: Clearly there was always going to be an exchange of words here, unless the driver was prepared to issue the guy a free ticket without first seeing his pass. The old git reached for his pass within 5 seconds, so what prevented him from doing so while in the queue to board. I was polite throughout and it was all very clinical. The old guy had absolutely no grounds on which to complain.
No comments:
Post a Comment