You couldn't make it up!
 

The scene: EXT. DAY. Willesden Junction station ticket office 12 noon-ish
today, window open, woman sitting behind window

Mrs. Ian: "Can I have a ticket to Boundary Zone 3 please?"
Ticket office woman: "No, sorry - I'm on my break."

:-))))

Ian

You couldn't make it up!
 

"Ian F." wrote in message
...
The scene: EXT. DAY. Willesden Junction station ticket office 12 noon-ish
today, window open, woman sitting behind window

Mrs. Ian: "Can I have a ticket to Boundary Zone 3 please?"
Ticket office woman: "No, sorry - I'm on my break."

Doesn't surprise me at all. Having lived in that area during the university
years, and having revisited recently, it seems that despite the superb
refurb/rebuild of what was once an awful station, Silverlink & NR can't be
bothered to endure the employment procedure to find "customer-facing" staff
that actually enjoy working with strangers.

I'm not at all surprised that this unfortunate incident happened - a copy of
the OP's message has been sent to SL's Customer Relations department; not
that I expect any reply.

Regards

M

You couldn't make it up!
 

M J Forbes wrote:

"Ian F." wrote in message
...

Mrs. Ian: "Can I have a ticket to Boundary Zone 3 please?"
Ticket office woman: "No, sorry - I'm on my break."

Doesn't surprise me at all. Having lived in that area during the university
years, and having revisited recently, it seems that despite the superb
refurb/rebuild of what was once an awful station, Silverlink & NR can't be
bothered to endure the employment procedure to find "customer-facing" staff
that actually enjoy working with strangers.

At least at my local station they have the politeness to shut the window
and put a notice up to tell you to use the machine.

--
Jonathan Stott

You couldn't make it up!
 

Jonathan Stott wrote:
M J Forbes wrote:

"Ian F." wrote in message
...

Mrs. Ian: "Can I have a ticket to Boundary Zone 3 please?"
Ticket office woman: "No, sorry - I'm on my break."

Doesn't surprise me at all. Having lived in that area during the
university years, and having revisited recently, it seems that
despite the superb refurb/rebuild of what was once an awful station,
Silverlink & NR can't be bothered to endure the employment procedure
to find "customer-facing" staff that actually enjoy working with
strangers.

At least at my local station they have the politeness to shut the
window
and put a notice up to tell you to use the machine.

Or even arrange a relief booking clerk (or insert this week's title) while
the person takes their break.

You couldn't make it up!
 

In message , Piccadilly Pilot
writes
Jonathan Stott wrote:
M J Forbes wrote:

"Ian F." wrote in message
...

Mrs. Ian: "Can I have a ticket to Boundary Zone 3 please?"
Ticket office woman: "No, sorry - I'm on my break."

Doesn't surprise me at all. Having lived in that area during the
university years, and having revisited recently, it seems that
despite the superb refurb/rebuild of what was once an awful station,
Silverlink & NR can't be bothered to endure the employment procedure
to find "customer-facing" staff that actually enjoy working with
strangers.

At least at my local station they have the politeness to shut the
window
and put a notice up to tell you to use the machine.

Or even arrange a relief booking clerk (or insert this week's title) while
the person takes their break.

Er...If they are eating sandwiches and drinking tea, why can't they
serve and eat at the same time?
And be paid a 'work-through lunch hour' of course.

Mike

You couldn't make it up!
 

"M. J. Powell" wrote in message
...
In message , Piccadilly Pilot
writes
Jonathan Stott wrote:
M J Forbes wrote:

"Ian F." wrote in message
...

Mrs. Ian: "Can I have a ticket to Boundary Zone 3 please?"
Ticket office woman: "No, sorry - I'm on my break."

Doesn't surprise me at all. Having lived in that area during the
university years, and having revisited recently, it seems that
despite the superb refurb/rebuild of what was once an awful station,
Silverlink & NR can't be bothered to endure the employment procedure
to find "customer-facing" staff that actually enjoy working with
strangers.

At least at my local station they have the politeness to shut the
window
and put a notice up to tell you to use the machine.

Or even arrange a relief booking clerk (or insert this week's title)
while
the person takes their break.

Er...If they are eating sandwiches and drinking tea, why can't they
serve and eat at the same time?
And be paid a 'work-through lunch hour' of course.


That would be a personal choice, the only time I've done was as a signalman
in a singlemanned box. But then the timetable was such that it was quite
feasible.

As a "customer" I wouldn't want to feel that I had interrupted someone's
meal break. Besides which, we all need a break during and eight hour shift.
So much depends on local variables.

It's possible of course that the staff in this particular booking office had
asked for arrangements to be made for them to have a proper break, even if
that simply meant closing the window for half an hour, which had been
declined and they were making a protest.

You couldn't make it up!
 

"Piccadilly Pilot" wrote in message
...

It's possible of course that the staff in this particular booking office
had
asked for arrangements to be made for them to have a proper break, even if
that simply meant closing the window for half an hour, which had been
declined and they were making a protest.

Sheer bloody-mindedness, if you ask me. It would have been just a tiny tad
more effort to have sold my other half a ticket rather than telling her
'no'. Then, you have a happy customer and the revenue from the sale. If I
treated my clients like that, I wouldn't have any!

Ian

You couldn't make it up!
 

Ian F. wrote:
"Piccadilly Pilot" wrote in message
...

It's possible of course that the staff in this particular booking
office had asked for arrangements to be made for them to have a
proper break, even if that simply meant closing the window for half
an hour, which had been declined and they were making a protest.

Sheer bloody-mindedness, if you ask me. It would have been just a
tiny tad more effort to have sold my other half a ticket rather than
telling her 'no'. Then, you have a happy customer and the revenue
from the sale. If I treated my clients like that, I wouldn't have any!


From a narrow self-interested point of view it may well appear that way.
Since neither of us know the reason why the booking clerk behaved in the
manner described neither of us are in a position to make judgements are we?

You couldn't make it up!
 

"Piccadilly Pilot" wrote in message
...

From a narrow self-interested point of view it may well appear that way.
Since neither of us know the reason why the booking clerk behaved in the
manner described neither of us are in a position to make judgements are
we?

Whatever. It's just that *I* know what *I'd* have done if I'd been her,
whatever time of day it was!

Ian

You couldn't make it up!
 

In article ,
Piccadilly Pilot wrote:
From a narrow self-interested point of view it may well appear that way.
Since neither of us know the reason why the booking clerk behaved in the
manner described neither of us are in a position to make judgements are
we?

This is uk.railway. :-))
Sentence first - followed, possibly, by the trial.

--
__ __ __ __ __ ___ _____________________________________________
|__||__)/ __/ \|\ ||_ | / Acorn StrongArm Risc_PC
| || \\__/\__/| \||__ | /...Internet access for all Acorn RISC machines
___________________________/

You couldn't make it up!
 

On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 13:15:38 +0000 (UTC), "Piccadilly Pilot"
wrote:

It's possible of course that the staff in this particular booking office had
asked for arrangements to be made for them to have a proper break, even if
that simply meant closing the window for half an hour, which had been
declined and they were making a protest.

Quite possibly - though I think a handwritten notice stating "Closed
for lunch" would have done the trick...

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To e-mail use neil at the above domain

You couldn't make it up!
 

On Mon, 06 Sep 2004 20:11:16 GMT someone who may be
(Neil Williams) wrote this:-

Quite possibly - though I think a handwritten notice stating "Closed
for lunch" would have done the trick...

Agreed. Any annoyance the public feel can usually be rapidly
diminished by explaining what is going on.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

You couldn't make it up!
 

"Neil Williams" wrote in message
...

Quite possibly - though I think a handwritten notice stating "Closed
for lunch" would have done the trick...

That would have been fine. The felony was compounded by the fact that there
was a queue at the ticket office on the other side of the station and the
clerk there sent us around to the other one!

Ian

You couldn't make it up!
 

David Hansen wrote:
On Mon, 06 Sep 2004 20:11:16 GMT someone who may be
(Neil Williams) wrote this:-

Quite possibly - though I think a handwritten notice stating "Closed
for lunch" would have done the trick...

Agreed. Any annoyance the public feel can usually be rapidly
diminished by explaining what is going on.

At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, "nothing" is what was going
on. At least as far as ticket sales were concerned anyway. :-)

You couldn't make it up!
 

"Ian F." wrote in message
...
"Neil Williams" wrote in message
...

Quite possibly - though I think a handwritten notice stating "Closed
for lunch" would have done the trick...

That would have been fine. The felony was compounded by the fact that
there
was a queue at the ticket office on the other side of the station and the
clerk there sent us around to the other one!


Quite obviously there is a serious lack of communication, which could be at
the heart of the problem.

You couldn't make it up!
 

In article , David H Wild
wrote:

In article ,
Piccadilly Pilot wrote:
From a narrow self-interested point of view it may well appear that way.
Since neither of us know the reason why the booking clerk behaved in the
manner described neither of us are in a position to make judgements are
we?

This is uk.railway. :-))
Sentence first - followed, possibly, by the trial.

Any defence of the accused is, of course, superfluous.

Sam

You couldn't make it up!
 

Sam Wilson wrote:
In article , David H Wild
wrote:

In article ,
Piccadilly Pilot wrote:
From a narrow self-interested point of view it may well appear that
way. Since neither of us know the reason why the booking clerk
behaved in the manner described neither of us are in a position to
make judgements are we?

This is uk.railway. :-))
Sentence first - followed, possibly, by the trial.

Any defence of the accused is, of course, superfluous.

Only superfluous? I thought was tantamount to contempt.

You couldn't make it up!
 

"Piccadilly Pilot" wrote in message
...
Sam Wilson wrote:

Any defence of the accused is, of course, superfluous.

Only superfluous? I thought was tantamount to contempt.

Worse than that. Tantamount to trolling.
Peter

You couldn't make it up!
 

"Ian F." wrote

The scene: EXT. DAY. Willesden Junction station ticket office 12 noon-ish
today, window open, woman sitting behind window

Mrs. Ian: "Can I have a ticket to Boundary Zone 3 please?"
Ticket office woman: "No, sorry - I'm on my break."

:-))))

Not restricted to WJ. A well known British manufacturer of model railway
equipment based in Devon once employed a Mrs Turner (no relation) who
revelled in answering the telephone during her lunch break and then
complaining that the caller was interrupting same.

Fortunately she has now retired!

John.

You couldn't make it up!
 

"John Turner" wrote in message
. ..

"Ian F." wrote


Not restricted to WJ. A well known British manufacturer of model railway
equipment based in Devon once employed a Mrs Turner (no relation) who
revelled in answering the telephone during her lunch break and then
complaining that the caller was interrupting same.

On a trip to Southern Ireland I once saw a notice in a cafe window "Closed
for lunch"
--
Paul

You couldn't make it up!
 

In message , STANNOX 30116
writes
On a trip to Southern Ireland I once saw a notice in a cafe window "Closed
for lunch"

That practice is quite common in rural France.......
--
Ian Jelf, MITG, Birmingham, UK
Registered "Blue Badge" Tourist Guide for
London & the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

You couldn't make it up!
 

In article , Ian Jelf
wrote:

In message , STANNOX 30116
writes
On a trip to Southern Ireland I once saw a notice in a cafe window "Closed
for lunch"

That practice is quite common in rural France.......

I have some friends who bought a cafe in Northumberland. They realised
it might be a going concern when they found the then owner closed for
lunch.

Sam