Today something happened on the train that I wouldn’t believe if someone told it to me. I got on the second wagon, second class, the first wagon was first class. Me and two other young men were standing in the aisle between the exits and the compartments because the train was quite full. No problem with that.
One of them had a question about his long-term ticket provided by the army, so he turned to the conductor and asked “Excuse me, can you tell me if my ticket is valid for…” He couldn’t finish, because without even looking at him, the conductor muttered “It’s not.” and off he went. The three of us looked confused at each other. What was wrong with this guy?
Then came his colleague (we hadn’t even left the station by then) and asked me where I was going. I showed her my ticket. She said, “We’re not going there.” Nothing more. I said, “I know, I have to get off at the the next stop to catch the train to my destination.” She looked at me and turned away without further comment, entering the big compartment. There were 6 youths heading towards us, and she intercepted them with “There’s only first class in the front.” That was the moment when I would have loved to see these guys get out their take-whatever-train-you-want-first-class cards (not really a bargain for € 7,200 per year) and say “That’s where we’re going, miss.”
Then the conductor came back to us to punch our tickets and she said “I didn’t want to offend you.” At least she knew that her reaction hadn’t been the best option, which would have been “Welcome aboard. Do you know that your route requires you to switch trains at the next station?”, and she calmly explained to my neighbour why his ticket wasn’t valid for first class. Of course the opportunity to leave a positive impression was gone by then, but at least she tried to limit the damages.
My bet is that no one had told both of them that they’re also in the business of marketing now, and they didn’t care at all, even if they knew. But what saddens me the most is that they didn’t know they had a choice — and they still have, each day.