I was passing through a metropolitan line station this morning and saw
something that upset me at the time, and I just want to see what
everyone's take on it is. We were waiting on a train, and the customer
service assistant made an announcement that chiltern railways trains
were holding up the met line trains, and he would try and find out
where the next one was.

He went to the ticket office window, and was presumably trying to find
out from a colleague, when a man stormed up to him and asked why the
board said good service, "where is the good service?" he demanded. The
customer service assistant told the man that he was just trying to find
out where the train was, and the man's reply was "well thats no good is
it". As I guess you would expect the staff member then got a little
snappy (it was before 7am) and asked what else he could do, before
turning back to the window to finish finding out.

He then made another announcement about the delays, and said the train
we were all waiting for was 2 minutes away. The same customer piped up
again, and shouted "turn the speakers on and we might hear you." The
speakers were on, and were loud enough for myself to hear. Then the
man started shouting "do your job what are you paid for?" when it was
clear this young man was doing his job more than adequately.

I just wondered what other attrocities of human nature people have
seen. I know its part and parcel of a customer services job, but
surely that is just appalling?

cyril sneer wrote:
I was passing through a metropolitan line station this morning and saw
something that upset me at the time, and I just want to see what
everyone's take on it is. We were waiting on a train, and the customer
service assistant made an announcement that chiltern railways trains
were holding up the met line trains, and he would try and find out
where the next one was.

He went to the ticket office window, and was presumably trying to find
out from a colleague, when a man stormed up to him and asked why the
board said good service, "where is the good service?" he demanded. The
customer service assistant told the man that he was just trying to find
out where the train was, and the man's reply was "well thats no good is
it". As I guess you would expect the staff member then got a little
snappy (it was before 7am) and asked what else he could do, before
turning back to the window to finish finding out.

He then made another announcement about the delays, and said the train
we were all waiting for was 2 minutes away. The same customer piped up
again, and shouted "turn the speakers on and we might hear you." The
speakers were on, and were loud enough for myself to hear. Then the
man started shouting "do your job what are you paid for?" when it was
clear this young man was doing his job more than adequately.

I just wondered what other attrocities of human nature people have
seen. I know its part and parcel of a customer services job, but
surely that is just appalling?

Hmmm let me have a guess, this'll be at Amersham or Chalfont and
Latimer, thats where the arrogant *******s live, (Was it Baltor? GD&C)

www.waspies.net wrote:

cyril sneer wrote:
I was passing through a metropolitan line station this morning and saw
something that upset me at the time, and I just want to see what
everyone's take on it is. We were waiting on a train, and the customer
service assistant made an announcement that chiltern railways trains
were holding up the met line trains, and he would try and find out
where the next one was.

He went to the ticket office window, and was presumably trying to find
out from a colleague, when a man stormed up to him and asked why the
board said good service, "where is the good service?" he demanded. The
customer service assistant told the man that he was just trying to find
out where the train was, and the man's reply was "well thats no good is
it". As I guess you would expect the staff member then got a little
snappy (it was before 7am) and asked what else he could do, before
turning back to the window to finish finding out.

He then made another announcement about the delays, and said the train
we were all waiting for was 2 minutes away. The same customer piped up
again, and shouted "turn the speakers on and we might hear you." The
speakers were on, and were loud enough for myself to hear. Then the
man started shouting "do your job what are you paid for?" when it was
clear this young man was doing his job more than adequately.

I just wondered what other attrocities of human nature people have
seen. I know its part and parcel of a customer services job, but
surely that is just appalling?

Hmmm let me have a guess, this'll be at Amersham or Chalfont and
Latimer, thats where the arrogant *******s live, (Was it Baltor? GD&C)

I am sorry to burst the bubble of righteous indignation being expressed
at the rudeness of the passenger to whom the original poster referred,
but my personal experience suggests that, unless absolutely necessary,
it is better to have no verbal contact with "customer assistants" or
whatever name they now operate under. My own experience suggests that
ANY word of even mildest criticism, however politely expressed, and I
am a model of politeness at all times, is likely at best to evoke
indifference of the "well what can I do about it, not my job" response
to downright rudeness and an attitude likely to draw attention from
everyone around as if it were I that was being thoroughly unreasonably
for having the temerity to expect a civil response.

I certainly do not condone the rudeness of the passenger concerned, but
nor would I go as far as to suggest that all T.F.L. (or whatever of the
myriad companies now operating public transport in the U.K.) employees
are graduates of the Rank Charm School.

Marc.

wrote:
I certainly do not condone the rudeness of the passenger concerned, but
nor would I go as far as to suggest that all T.F.L. (or whatever of the
myriad companies now operating public transport in the U.K.) employees
are graduates of the Rank Charm School.

Fair comment, but you miss the point. THIS particular member of staff
was more than doing a good job, and his reward for this was absolute
rudeness, I saw him dealing with subsequent queries in a polite and, to
re-use your word, charming manner.

And waspies - Not Amersham or Chalfont, but not so very far away from
them.

"Cyril Sneer" typed



wrote:
I certainly do not condone the rudeness of the passenger concerned, but
nor would I go as far as to suggest that all T.F.L. (or whatever of the
myriad companies now operating public transport in the U.K.) employees
are graduates of the Rank Charm School.

Fair comment, but you miss the point. THIS particular member of staff
was more than doing a good job, and his reward for this was absolute
rudeness, I saw him dealing with subsequent queries in a polite and, to
re-use your word, charming manner.

And waspies - Not Amersham or Chalfont, but not so very far away from
them.

Mebbe that station whose name reads 'Krap Room' backwards? ;-)

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

Mebbe that station whose name reads 'Krap Room' backwards? ;-)

lol no, the one whose name reads "htrow snam kcir" backwards actually.

Unfortunately certain passengers become 'rude' because of the increased
levels of stress and anxiety brought on by the prolonged experiences of
personal inconvenience when traveling from A to B. The big causes of
stress in regard to rail travel are delays, increase in prices and
claustrophobia. Different people have different levels of tolerants
through experiences but if person feels threatened then the common
human reaction is to 'fight' back with fists, words or even a brolly
attack. When that's understood you can hardly blame anyone for the way
they feel or react when placed in such an environment/system and then
increase their stress levels.

To call someone rude is to disregard their perspective, experience and
point of view. (am I being rude too by pointing that out?)

On 15 Dec 2006 08:26:56 -0800, wrote:

Unfortunately certain passengers become 'rude' because of the increased
levels of stress and anxiety brought on by the prolonged experiences of
personal inconvenience when traveling from A to B. The big causes of
stress in regard to rail travel are delays, increase in prices and
claustrophobia. Different people have different levels of tolerants
through experiences but if person feels threatened then the common
human reaction is to 'fight' back with fists, words or even a brolly
attack. When that's understood you can hardly blame anyone for the way
they feel or react when placed in such an environment/system and then
increase their stress levels.

To call someone rude is to disregard their perspective, experience and
point of view. (am I being rude too by pointing that out?)

While I understand your point I think you are stretching it a little too
far. Yes people get anxious, cross etc when there are delays on the tube
- completely understandable. I feel the same when I get delayed. However
you cannot use that as some sort of justification for people being rude,
insulting, patronising or violent to LU staff. In the same way there is
no excuse for LU staff reacting in the same way if they are stressed or
under pressure. It can be very, very stressful dealing with the
general public - I know as I've done it and there are incidents
indelibly printed on my memory from those times. Overall everyone must
exercise self control [1] or else we will simply end up with a real
mess.

[1] and yes it is very difficult to do. My special "delays" voodoo doll
has far too many holes in it ;-)
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Paul Corfield wrote:

On 15 Dec 2006 08:26:56 -0800, wrote:

My special "delays" voodoo doll
has far too many holes in it ;-)
--
Paul C

Much like the rail system it was probably based upon ;-)

--
Nathan

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
On 15 Dec 2006 08:26:56 -0800, wrote:

Unfortunately certain passengers become 'rude' because of the increased
levels of stress and anxiety brought on by the prolonged experiences of
personal inconvenience when traveling from A to B. The big causes of
stress in regard to rail travel are delays, increase in prices and
claustrophobia. Different people have different levels of tolerants
through experiences but if person feels threatened then the common
human reaction is to 'fight' back with fists, words or even a brolly
attack. When that's understood you can hardly blame anyone for the way
they feel or react when placed in such an environment/system and then
increase their stress levels.


To call someone rude is to disregard their perspective, experience and
point of view. (am I being rude too by pointing that out?)

While I understand your point I think you are stretching it a little too
far. Yes people get anxious, cross etc when there are delays on the tube
- completely understandable. I feel the same when I get delayed. However
you cannot use that as some sort of justification for people being rude,
insulting, patronising or violent to LU staff. In the same way there is
no excuse for LU staff reacting in the same way if they are stressed or
under pressure. It can be very, very stressful dealing with the
general public - I know as I've done it and there are incidents
indelibly printed on my memory from those times. Overall everyone must
exercise self control [1] or else we will simply end up with a real
mess.

If you can accept that it is possible for a normal, rational person to
become to purturbed by their environment that they essentially lose all
control, then you can't blame anyone for being rude. They might have been
through something, possibly just before you interacted with them, that had
you been through it, you might not react so well afterwards. Just think of
those you love - if they'd had such a ****ty day, would you want people
second-guessing whether they really have had a bad day, or are just being
rude? If your loved ones were in such need, would you encourage criticism?

Being rude or violent towards anyone is definitely not ideal behaviour, nor
should it be encouraged in any way at all. However, blaming the people who
commit rudeness or violence as being flat-out *******s is doing a great
disservice to both the victim and the perpetrator. Psyches are very
complicated, and it's nigh-on impossible for one person to accurately figure
out precisely what's driving another. The stimuli and mental condition of
one person might be completely alien to someone else.

When I see the LU workers walking around stations looking like they just saw
Santa getting mugged, I don't get ****y that they don't shoot me a smile or
perform a magic trick for me - I am quite capable of giving the benefit of
the doubt - especially as I know I'd like that benefit myself, should I need
it

I'm not having a pop, I just think rude people need help, not scorn

[1] and yes it is very difficult to do. My special "delays" voodoo doll
has far too many holes in it ;-)
--
Paul C

dave


Admits to working for London Underground!