On 9 Jan, 08:04, "solar penguin"
wrote:
John B wrote:

OTOH, I'd bet a penny to a pound that nearly all the annoyed people
behind you were seeking to waste the ticket clerk's time by doing
stuff that the machines could have handled anyway.

...in fact, thinking about it, it makes me angry that clerks get
annoyed about people seeking to carry out transactions at the ticket
office that are difficult and take time. Of course they sodding are;
anything easy or urgent could be done at the machine, and anyone who
tries to speak to a clerk to buy a ticket that's also sold at the
machine thoroughly deserves to be made to wait.

OTOH it would only be easier to do it at the machine if you know how to
use the machines in the first place. *If you're not familiar with them,
or just don't feel comfortable with machines in general, it's usually
much easier and quicker to deal with a real live human being in the
ticket office.

If you've never used any kind of machine in your life, perhaps:
however, if you've successfully managed to buy a Mars bar or a condom
from a vending machine, the Tube machines are hardly a complex
development on that.

I'll forgive people who aren't literate in any of the languages they
offer, perhaps...

[sarcastic hyperbole]Or preferably shot[/sarcastic hyperbole]

Better still, shoot all the machines and replace them with more human
clerks. *That would be a big improvement.

If by "improvement" you mean "extremely expensive way of making things
slower and more complex for regular travellers", then you're
absolutely right.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org