Steve Fitzgerald wrote:
In message , Mike Bristow
writes

I couldn't understand why they didn't just open the ticket office and
simply serve all the people instead of taking several minutes per
person trying and failing to make a machine work.

Perhaps there were no available staff who were trained on the
machinery in the ticket office. In that case, the best use of the
available staff would be to help customers with the ticket machines
(except for the one being trained on the machinery in the ticket
office, of course).

Mike has put his finger on the issue. There are Station Assistants (or
Customer Service Assistants now, or SA/CSA) and Station Assistants Multi
Functional (SAMF). Only SAMFs are trained to operate the ticket
equipment in the ticket offices and nobody else can operate them.

Also, as far as I can see, there is a whole palaver in opening and
closing a ticket office (banking, consolidation etc. etc.) which cannot
just be done at the drop of a hat (or a failing ticket machine).



When it's late in the evening and I am being asked to queue again,
after already queuing for a long time, in a desperate attempt to give
my money to these people who don't seem to be able to take it from me,
and wondering why I don't just jump over the barrier and go home, I
really don't give a toss how much palaver it might be for them to
bother to serve me and take my money.

The situation, against a background of being constantly accused of
being a thief and a cheat for just trying to travel, was totally
unacceptable.

I was trying to pay my money and go home, and the staff on the station
could neither take my money nor assist in me getting home. This is not
an efficient use of bodies, whatever the excuses.