Maybe I look like a ticket inspector...

[OLJR]

So after my St Pancras to Sheffield yesterday it was time to leave the train.

I was wearing a blazer, slacks, shirt and tie. And headphones.

There was nobody behind me, so when I reached the door of the carriage I stood for a few seconds in the doorway, looking around for the exit.

I did see the exit, but not before noting from the departure information screen that the train on which I had arrived would be operating the next service back to London, calling at Chesterfield, Derby and Leicester.

A chap comes up to me. I take the headphones off.

Chap: "Excuse me, is this train going to London?"
OLJR: "Yes"
Chap: "Cheers, mate!"

Then a lady came up...

Lady: "Does this train stop at Leicester?"
OLJR: "Yes"
Lady: "Thank you!"

Then another lady came up...

Lady: "Where is coach A?"
OLJR: "Over there" (pointing)
Lady: "Thanks!"

The headphones went back on and I went off to a warm place to wait for somebody arriving on another train.

But that's not all...

On the way back from SHF-STP I was walking through the train, stretching my legs. It was not busy. I was wearing headphones again.

When I reached one of the vestibules a chap took his ear bud headphones out and moved his lips.

I took off my headphones.

Chap: "Hi, are you here to check my ticket?"
OLJR: (after taking my headphones off) "No"
Chap: "Alright!" (ear buds back in)

I realise that I was wearing a tie, but is that really enough for people to think that you work on the railway? I was not wearing a name badge and I was wearing headphones. Have you ever seen a member of railway staff wearing headphones? I certainly have not!

Maybe I just look like a ticket inspector for some reason!

 

[northwichcat]

If you look like you know what you're doing then confused people will ask for help.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've had this years ago. I was standing next to the door of a VT at Preston, next to my sister, we'd met there with different destinations and were chatting before departure. I was wearing black trousers and blue shirt and tie, she was wearing a red puffa jacket. We looked all the world like VT and North Western Trains (as was) staff, and as a result got *loads* of questions.

 

[scott118]

at least you was thanked for your good work..

did you get nominated for employee of the month?

 

[DaleCooper]

Were you rude and aggressive as all the ticket inspectors in Disputes and Prosecutions seem to be.?

 

[AnonymousUser1]

If you look like you know what you're doing then confused people will ask for help.

yep, very common phenomena , also can be used to your advantage in both good and bad ways ...

 

[HLE]

Happens to me a lot when I'm stood in the vestibule area on the way back from work. Even the 'rowdy' lot seem to treat anyone in a suit with respect.

The best was one Friday night, been out for a couple after work....was about 8 30 and I was stood in the back vestibule on a 153, there'd been a fatality on the main line , got asked all sorts of different destinations where they wanted to travel and if they could change etc....whilst it was 21 questions for me , the guard was in the back cab laughing his head off! think he enjoyed the extra commission though off those that had just boarded without knowing where they were going ....

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I seem to get the same response too - as if I had a plate on my head saying "ask me anything" - always happy to help if I can.

When I briefly worked for FCC last year - we were issued with name badges and encouraged to walk through the train whenever possible. I did a little run to Bromley South to clear my head on the Catford loop and walked through the train - tidying up Metros etc - to my amazement the passengers all showed me their tickets / Oyster cards , smiled nicely and said how nice it was to see a ticket check ...bar two gentlemen who bundled off at Catford Bridge rather quickly . Cannot think why ! Not a threatening sort of person .....(so my wife tells me) !

 

[badassunicorn]

haha! I've had that before, sitting in a 317 by the doors on the Chingford Branch in uniform, the amount of people who had one foot on the train, clocked me and then got straight off!

 

[sheff1]

If you look like you know what you're doing then confused people will ask for help.

I must have that look then as I am regularly asked for advice whilst out and about on the railway - and I have not worn a suit in the last 30 years !

Only the other week, I was waiting on the platform at Sheffield and two different people walked past two uniformed staff members and asked me for info. I couldn't assist the second and suggested they asked the staff - the look of surprise on their face was a picture.

 

[Bevan Price]

I tend to get asked more for bus service information. Maybe some people mistake my camera case for a ticket machine - or a conductor's money bag (despite bus conductors being an almost extinct species...)

 

[Welshman]

I recently experienced a slight variation on this theme:-

Mrs Welshman had gone to our local station for the very early train to Crewe, intending to connect from there to London, leaving me warm and snug in bed.

After about 15 minutes she woke me up by phoning from her mobile. Her train had been cancelled due to lack of crew, and as the station was still unstaffed at that time in the morning, she was enquiring about revised travel plans, and I was able to assure her there was another connection in 30 minutes or so.

Just when I was trying to get back to sleep, she rang again, with a query for a gentleman on the platform who was beginning to panic about his connections, and then a little later on behalf of yet another intending passenger!

So I assisted 3 passengers within the space of about 20 minutes and wasn't even in a suit and tie - rather my pyjamas!

However, ATW did refund her half her return ticket for cancelling the train, and, on her return journey, her Virgin train was over 1 hour late, so she got the other half refunded from Virgin.

So a free couple of days in London for her! The only loser was me, as I didn't get my lie-in!

 

[Bishopstone]

When I wore a uniform as clerical grade within a high street bank, I was forever being pestered about the availability of eclectic magazine titles whilst in WH Smiths on my lunch break. It quite disturbed my browsing of 'Dirty Old Shunters Monthly.'

 

[pdeaves]

Maybe I just look like a ticket inspector for some reason!

About 1-2 years ago I walked for what seemed miles around Gloucester station carrying bags for a couple of old (well, not *that* old!) ladies who seemed to think I was a porter. I happened to be wearing a dayglo yellow cycling shirt and cycling leggings, and had my own luggage. The latter I left with my similarly-dressed family whilst I helped!

 

[arb]

Years ago, when I was dressed for a job interview and changing trains at a station I wasn't at all familiar with, I was standing on the platform when an old lady came up to me and asked if this was the right platform for trains to Edinburgh.

Not realising that she'd mistaken me for staff, I gave the simple and honest reply of "I don't know, sorry", which resulted in her standing there looking at me expectantly for a few seconds before she exclaimed "well, even if you don't know, you could have at least told me where to find someone would know" and walked off angrily.

I've always wished there was some way I could find out if she'd complained about the rudeness of staff at that station as a result!

 

[dvboy]

I used to get asked a lot of questions at Wolves bus station but only on certain days, and then I realised and stopped wearing a grey shirt with a red tie.

 

[Statto95]

I get asked frequently about different platforms, connections, ticket types etc. and I certainly don't look like a guard/ticket inspector. 20 Year-old male, with long hair in a ponytail, cap or some form of hat, and very very rarely do I wear a tie to travel, let alone a suit.

Although it may be something to do with my various folders full of train maps, timetables and copy of Rail Times (the book showing all the UK timetables) which I often have open in-front of me!! (and maybe, just maybe the jumper or front of the folder with a tagline of something like "Ask me about my National Rail Challenge".

Had it the other day when travelling home from Leamington Spa, where the electronic board showed one train, the announcement said something else, and the train that pulled into the platform had a 3rd different destination showing on the front of it... I think I managed to advise everyone on the correct train for them.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Quite often when I have my notebook and / or camera out I will get asked all manner of questions about train times, platforms, etc - presumably some people think an obvious enthusiast is more likely to know the answer than the nearby members of staff?

 

[TEW]

Passengers are always asking random people stood next to the ticket barriers questions. Normally they're just waiting for someone and don't look like they work at the station at all, but just because they're standing near the barriers people ask them things.

 

[yorkie]

Maybe I just look like a ticket inspector for some reason!

I agree.

I also recall when I met you at one of our monthly London meals, I knew I was meeting two new people, one from Pimlico, the other from somewhere like Peckham. I knew instantly which of you was which, without having to ask

 

[LowLevel]

I get the opposite problem - when I pop into the station shop I get people expecting me to be able to help with their retail issues, reset the self checkouts etc - they seem surprised that as a railwayman I know bugger all about something that just happens to rent a retail unit off us!

 

[eastwestdivide]

Happened to me at Gloucester. Hot summer's day, I was wearing a proper shirt and suit trousers, but no jacket and not even a tie, and someone asked me about some train service - I said I really didn't know, and she then told me "well that's not very helpful, is it?". Took me a moment or two before I realised and said I didn't work for the railway.

 

[sprinterguy]

It certainly does happen. Going back a fair while, a friend of mine who does work on the railway, but it must be stressed for the purposes of this story was entirely off duty, had been out at a beer festival all day and was changing trains at Swindon for whatever reason on his way home.

Standing on the platform in that hazy state between soporific and paralytic following an extended session on the ales, he is nonetheless approached by an American couple. "Gee sir," says the fella (I have no idea if they were actually this stereotypically American, but this is how the story is told), "do you work for the railway?" My friend begins to respond with "Yes, but.." intending to add a hasty caveat that his was not the condition you would expect to find an on-duty employee of the British railways, but is quickly cut off by the enthusiastic American who immediately queries "Oh swell, could you tell me when the next train to London is?"

My friend, recognising that he could still perform a useful service for the railway, provided them with details in the affirmative and the American couple walked off satisfied. Apparently our transatlantic cousins do not bat an eyelid at the idea of an official representative of Britiain's railway with the smell of beer on their breath and swaying gently back and forth on the platform during the course of his duties.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Perhaps it is something about looking "helpful" or looking like you know where you're going. I've lost count of the number of times I've been asked for directions in a foreign language when abroad. What was even more surprising was knowing the answer, once in Brussels, where I happened to know, and once in Switzerland, where I happened to have a local map which I'd only recently consulted, and on which I'd just noticed the very exhibition hall that they wanted.

 

[Minilad]

My favourite when standing on a platform in full uniform is being asked "do you work for British Rail" My usual reply of "if only" confuses more often than not

 

[Greenback]

I used to be mistaken for a member of staff all the time just because I wore a big blue coat with Royal Mail on the back of it in red!

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The only loser was me, as I didn't get my lie-in!

I'd have sent in a bill .... "Extra-mural advice services"!

I have often been asked for help on Cardiff Central Station, and most of the time, if I know the answer, I'll try to help.

I've worked it out that some of the coats / shirts etc. I wear look as if they're part of a uniform. I understand, therefore, that it's therefore not impossible that I might work on the railways.

I don't think I've had anyone being annoyed if I can't help ... but there's always a first time!

 

[Deepgreen]

I am asked directions by people no matter where I am in the world. I remember being at Beacon station in New York state and a young man who had apparently just been 'thrown off' a train for a fares issue/no ticket asked me how to get to Yonkers!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I have occasionally been asked for help at stations, but it must be because I look like a spotter because my usual attire would never be mistaken for uniform! The problem with giving advice at times of disruption is that before too long a queue forms of people wanting to know how they can get to X or Y, now that the train to Z is cancelled!

 

[332 > 444]

Whilst waiting on the platform at Liverpool Street on my way home from work, I was asked quite a few times if the train was stopping at Stratford. As I do work for a TOC and had uniform on I could understand why they were asking but I was on my phone and they were bloody interrupting me!

If any person was on their phone whilst carrying out safety critical duties would guarantee a bollocking! Secondly I could've mistakenly given wrong info as my attention was elsewhere.

Also remember at Oxford Circus waiting for a train home some heads coming up to me asking how to get to somewhere, one of them smugly said "ah now you have some work to do" then the street side come out of me and said does my uniform look like undergrounds, lol, his friends were laughing then he was like sorry. told them in the end though.

You all are right though, if you look as if you know where you're going, people will ask for help.