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You know the old saying, to cut off one's nose to spite one's face? Well, I just saw the greatest example of it ever. They didn't just cut it off; they stomped on it, ground it into paste, smeared it on a cracker & fed it to their dog.
BG: I work at an urban railway station, we connect directly to multiple lines which criss-cross themselves & other interconnecting lines meaning that the fastest route to any given destination can change from minute to minute. As such we can often advise you to take a different each time you ask, but it will always be the best route for when you're travelling.
Disclaimer: names are made up, but will hopefully offer some representation of the interconnectivity of all things.
So.
10:59
Mother & her wheelchair-bound (this is important) daughter come to the window and ask for tickets to North Southton. She claims to have been advised by Local Junction that she can get a direct train from us to Farshire then change. This is not true; that service was withdrawn close to 3 *years* ago. To connect to Farshire will require a journey via West Wilderness, which makes it both long and inconvenient as platform changes will be required & West Wilderness has no lifts due to street level access points - getting on & off the platforms is easy, but the distances are great & it'll take a very long time to transfer, and then you've got to wait for the Farshire service & do it all again. We have trains to West Wilderness every 15 minutes, one had just left as they came in & the next one isn't due until 11:12.
I look up the route & at 11:07 we have an earlier train coming for Northern Lights, which connects directly to North Southton. Northern Lights has a platform island between their two lines meaning that the wheelchair will just need to come off, cross the island, and get on the train on the other side to head back down to North Southton - it's the simplest route imaginable & the connection time is almost as quick as the explanation, as the train they want will pull in within 4 minutes of them getting off the other one.
Of course, she doesn't like the idea because this is not what she was told before, but I do my best to reassure her that it's her best option, show her the route map that explains the times etc. She grudgingly buys tickets & heads onto the platform. It's now 11:01.
11:10
I'm engaged in other duties when I notice the wheelchair girl has returned to the ticket hall. Curious, I approach & discover that when my colleague attempted to help them board the train to Northern Lights, the mother insisted they were supposed to be going via Farshire & refused to board. I approach to advise them of their new, more complicated but still viable route, and find that they've decided to just cancel travelling by train entirely & will catch a cab instead. For some reason she has determined that travelling via Northern Lights is "too far", despite the fact that it was the proven fastest route... Oh well, whatever. I'm so happy I bothered trying to plan your route only for you to ignore it.
They leave the ticket office & visit the minicab office next door to arrange transport. Now, as the daughter's in a chair they're gonna need an estate (station wagon) to transport them, which means there may be a slight delay...
11:42
I'm fiddling about with our CCTV monitors as part of our daily checks to ensure all safety & security systems are functional, and I notice that the wheelchair girl is still sitting outside the station. To satisfy my own curiosity, I have a quick look at the journey plan I'd made for them... If they'd followed my advice, they would have been arriving at their intended in 3 minutes.
I'll admit it - I felt a vindictive little thrill at finding this out. So much so that, when I was completing the systems check & had to go out for a visual inspection 10 minutes later, and they were STILL there, I couldn't help myself...
RU: You okay there? Someone is coming for you, yes?
Mum: Yes, we're just waiting for a cab.
RU: Such a shame, you'd have been there by now if you'd taken that train.
Mum:
(She genuinely doesn't seem to understand this!)
*exit RU, pursued by guilt & giggles*
Seriously, they'd exchanged the fastest & cheapest option for the slowest & most expensive. The cab finally arrived for them almost exactly one hour after they could have caught the train, and even with normal traffic they had to be looking at another 80-100 minutes of drive time to come.
Another great example of asking a question & not liking it when the answer doesn't match expectations, I guess. But seriously, if she was so set on following the advice she'd received from the other station, why did she even bother trying to double-check it?
Thank you for reading, you all deserve bacon, cookies, & alco-beverages.
BG: I work at an urban railway station, we connect directly to multiple lines which criss-cross themselves & other interconnecting lines meaning that the fastest route to any given destination can change from minute to minute. As such we can often advise you to take a different each time you ask, but it will always be the best route for when you're travelling.
Disclaimer: names are made up, but will hopefully offer some representation of the interconnectivity of all things.
So.
10:59
Mother & her wheelchair-bound (this is important) daughter come to the window and ask for tickets to North Southton. She claims to have been advised by Local Junction that she can get a direct train from us to Farshire then change. This is not true; that service was withdrawn close to 3 *years* ago. To connect to Farshire will require a journey via West Wilderness, which makes it both long and inconvenient as platform changes will be required & West Wilderness has no lifts due to street level access points - getting on & off the platforms is easy, but the distances are great & it'll take a very long time to transfer, and then you've got to wait for the Farshire service & do it all again. We have trains to West Wilderness every 15 minutes, one had just left as they came in & the next one isn't due until 11:12.
I look up the route & at 11:07 we have an earlier train coming for Northern Lights, which connects directly to North Southton. Northern Lights has a platform island between their two lines meaning that the wheelchair will just need to come off, cross the island, and get on the train on the other side to head back down to North Southton - it's the simplest route imaginable & the connection time is almost as quick as the explanation, as the train they want will pull in within 4 minutes of them getting off the other one.
Of course, she doesn't like the idea because this is not what she was told before, but I do my best to reassure her that it's her best option, show her the route map that explains the times etc. She grudgingly buys tickets & heads onto the platform. It's now 11:01.
11:10
I'm engaged in other duties when I notice the wheelchair girl has returned to the ticket hall. Curious, I approach & discover that when my colleague attempted to help them board the train to Northern Lights, the mother insisted they were supposed to be going via Farshire & refused to board. I approach to advise them of their new, more complicated but still viable route, and find that they've decided to just cancel travelling by train entirely & will catch a cab instead. For some reason she has determined that travelling via Northern Lights is "too far", despite the fact that it was the proven fastest route... Oh well, whatever. I'm so happy I bothered trying to plan your route only for you to ignore it.
They leave the ticket office & visit the minicab office next door to arrange transport. Now, as the daughter's in a chair they're gonna need an estate (station wagon) to transport them, which means there may be a slight delay...
11:42
I'm fiddling about with our CCTV monitors as part of our daily checks to ensure all safety & security systems are functional, and I notice that the wheelchair girl is still sitting outside the station. To satisfy my own curiosity, I have a quick look at the journey plan I'd made for them... If they'd followed my advice, they would have been arriving at their intended in 3 minutes.
I'll admit it - I felt a vindictive little thrill at finding this out. So much so that, when I was completing the systems check & had to go out for a visual inspection 10 minutes later, and they were STILL there, I couldn't help myself...
RU: You okay there? Someone is coming for you, yes?
Mum: Yes, we're just waiting for a cab.
RU: Such a shame, you'd have been there by now if you'd taken that train.
Mum:
(She genuinely doesn't seem to understand this!)*exit RU, pursued by guilt & giggles*
Seriously, they'd exchanged the fastest & cheapest option for the slowest & most expensive. The cab finally arrived for them almost exactly one hour after they could have caught the train, and even with normal traffic they had to be looking at another 80-100 minutes of drive time to come.
Another great example of asking a question & not liking it when the answer doesn't match expectations, I guess. But seriously, if she was so set on following the advice she'd received from the other station, why did she even bother trying to double-check it?
Thank you for reading, you all deserve bacon, cookies, & alco-beverages.
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