Monday Morning blues....advice needed

[313103]

Sounds likeTROLLS REUNITED.

So no matter what the customer is always RIGHT!

Mr Glynn, I think that if someone tells me to do something with my own mother, i think you know i am not going to stand there and take it whether i am being paid for the privilege or not.

No ***** (let you work out what i have put there) i wont be running away, i have no need to, i see your kind everyday of every week that i am at work, no wonder my mate works for dbs, coal, steel and other matters dont argue.

So Mr WUM go away and annoy someone else.

Thats right

WORSE THEN TRAFFIC WARDENS

 

[Helvellyn]

But why are staff so rude, it seems like a common trend im sure their are exceptions to the rule but is it part of your job description?.

Seriously, you lot are worse than traffic wardens with your little ticket machines. Its like you get major enjoyment from finding ticket discrepencies and shouting it out in front of the whole carraige....

You lot have to realise that people spend serious money on the trains i spend almost 4k a year, you should be treating us like royalty and in return im sure you would get the same level of respect back!

You lot? Maybe us lot don't like you lot who leave our trains full of your discarded coffee cups from Pumpkin and unwanted copies of Metro. You lot who mumble, huff and shrug when we come through asking for tickets. As for treating you lot like royalty, does that mean us lot should be bowing to you, tugging our forelock? :roll:


Now read that back through. Collective generalisations like that - whether from a passenger or railway employee - are offensive and get the hackles up. You stated in another post how a Guard/Revenue employee could have taken a better approach. Equally some passengers could do the same in the way they treat rail staff. A good staff member will not lower themselves to the same level as an abusive and/or rude passenger. Equally, polite and reasonable passengers should not lower themselves to the level of someone delivering poor customer service. Unfortunately in some cases it's a case of behaviour breeds behaviour.

To go back to the ticketing issue. The railcard was out of date, so the ticket was invalid. Therefore a new ticket is required. A refund could be requested on the invalid ticket - it should have been endorsed "not valid - out of date railcard." Withdrawing the out of date railcard is permitted. The place to deal with the fact your friend was sold the ticket on an out of date railcard is through the company's customer service centre. In such a case I would have thought a full refund would be given without an admin fee, which is normally levied when a passenger is sold a new ticket for say not carrying their railcard.

Of course you are expected to take it! There is a clear distinction between you and the customer, you are paid to remain professional. If the customer becomes abusive, that is a job for BTP, at no point does a customers rudeness allow a member of rail staff to legitimately be rude in return.

Yes, I am paid to remain professional. No, I am not paid to be shouted at. No, I am not paid to be sworn at. No, I am not paid to be pinned against a train, poked in the chest and spat at. Yes, in all those incidents I did remain professional. But in all those I also reported them.

I will deal with legitimate grievances politely and reasonably, and I will do what I can to help. But if someone becomes rude, abusive or starts losing the plot don't be surprised if I walk away. Because I am not paid to take that. And I did that outside of the railway, where we were told that was what to do. The staff member the OP talks about was clearly delivering bad service. Yet the reaction of the OP was equally wrong. Two wrongs do not make a right.

 

[Greenback]

Mrs Greenback and myself spend over £4000 a year in Morrisons, but we are not treated like royalty every time we shop there. On the contrary, the last time I was in there the check out assistant didn;t even smile at me, and when Mrs G wanted to use her savings stamps, but had left them at home, we had to pay cash.

Should I make a complaint? Is there a supermarket forum somewhere where I can start a tirade against all supermarket staff?

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Just look how this thread has descended!

First post, calm and presenting a simple story about one journey with one ticket, told in a very calm, methodical and chronilogical sequence, beginning:
"Morning all, hope all is well. I have to share my experience this morning " ending with a simple request "what are my friends rights in this situation?"

After 2 replies explaining that he and passenger were in the wrong, he seems to refuse the blame and shifts it on the other party. Its not a request for advice any more:
"today the inability of the inspector to even listen or be reasonable to what we had to say made me mad"

3 more replies explaining he and passenger were wrong, then:
"i should of acted more mature"

First class asks if there might be more relevant ticket, routing and priceing info to come, and we get the re-assuring:
"ill find the pricing information and get back to you" But the details don't come

2 more posts suggesting he was wrong, and he's back with
"i proceeded and took the bait by snatching the ticket"

Another reply, but he won't be told. He extends his argument (and anger) against railway staff in general:
"But why are staff so rude, it seems like a common trend im sure their are exceptions to the rule but is it part of your job description?. Seriously, you lot are worse than traffic wardens with your little ticket machines"

3 more replies, still not accepting the advice he asked for, he's now speaking for a lot of people demanding an overall change in staff relationships:
"all im and probabally alot of people are asking for is some respect from train staff."

As that didn't work in the 2 replies he got, he has to up the stakes again. He claims to be representing not just " alot of people" but the majority of rail users:
"if MAJORITY of the rail users in the UK are saying pretty much the same thing does that not tell you something? "

2 more replies, and that hasn't worked, and so, and he's still not admitting to being wrong, so he escalates his complaint to all rail staff:
"and thats my point, rail staff are rude accross the board" adding a new twist which seems to bring in another of his beliefs which might appeal to some people on here, and not to others, which we didn't know about before: "unless your in first class"

But after yet another attempt to show him that he's wrong, he now switches his target again, to a personal challenge to one of the posters replying:
"lol....im abusing you now....are you for real??
is this what you call abuse? please dont tell me your gonna call a member of the british transport police to intervene?....
cry baby!....lol " (just contrast his tone with his first post!)

2 more replies, with a hint of sympathy for the new twist which brought in other railway staff, get his enthusiastic agreement (though we've completely moved away from the original request about his fellow traveller being without a valid ticket) :
"WORSE THAN TRAFFIC WARDENS"

Seems perfectly clear that he reponded very badly to the replies to his initial request in his first post, which put him and his fellow traveller in the wrong. Rather than conceed and learn, he simply escalates and changes the argument - the majority of passengers on his side and the majority of rail staff on the other (along with first class travellers!).
All this reminds me of something in his first post. His friend was in the wrong and he gets involved, and escalates the matter somehow until it reached the stage that "i was threatned with being arrested". Does he generally respond to being told he is wrong with anger, agression and attacking whoever is trying to help him?

I'm not convinced that there will never be any way of telling this person that they are wrong which they will actually thank you for and learn from.

And by the way, what's prompted me to reply isn't the pointless repetition that the OP was wrong while he just won't listen, but instead of learning becomes petchulant and changes his argument, its my revulsion for those sweeping generalisations that "the majority of the rail users" are confronted by "rail staff who are rude across the board".
The complete opposite of the truth. And I need to put this on record.
In fact, in my own experience I have never, ever encountered any discourtesy, and I wonder if, just perhaps, its because when I am speaking with rail staff, I am always courteous, friendly and, if neccessary, I'm willing to be told what I can and cannot do on railway property.

This thread isn't going anywhere

 

[scrapy]

I have in fact been told by a manager (admittedly not from a company which serves London), that when it comes to comments regarding on train and platform staff they actually recieve more complements about helpfulness etc than they do complaints. In very few industrys do staff get more complements than complaints, as it is human nature to complain when things go wrong. I am refering only to comments about staff here and of course the company does get more complaints overall when complaints about punctuality, state of trains, station facilities etc are included.

I' be interested to hear from the OP what job he does so perfectly. I bet it's not customer service!

 

[Dolive22]

This seemed a good time to mention that all railway staff I have met, without exception, have been polite and helpful, whether letting me through the gate when my ticket gets screwed up or helping when I thought someone I love very much was in very great danger.

 

[Linux_cat]

Thank you DaveNewcastle for breaking down my posts analysing them so thoroughly, but you should read my posts in a light hearted manner and not get your pubic hairs in a tangle.

for your information I have learned
1. Railcard is property of the rail company - I had no right to snatch it.
2. Railcard was out of date and it was my friends duty to ensure that it was valid (although this is still a grey area as the ticket seller checked the railcard and sold the discounted ticket).
3. In addition to add Ticket Inspectors to my list of people not to argue with which include:

small policemen
traffic wardens
people bigger than me
aggressive dogs.
my mrs

4. Instead next time, that i might try swearing, shouting, pinning against the train, spitting and maybe even a gentle headlock with any ticket inspector i take a dislike too....even if they are sitting down minding their own business, i mean from what i understand i might be able to get away with it:

Helvellyn

Yes, I am paid to remain professional. No, I am not paid to be shouted at. No, I am not paid to be sworn at. No, I am not paid to be pinned against a train, poked in the chest and spat at. Yes, in all those incidents I did remain professional. But in all those I also reported them.

So thats it then, the only way im gonna feel better i think is if i go out and beat up a ticket inspector....traffic warden in the back of a transit lock stock and two smoking barrells style!!


wooooooo!

P.S YOU LOT ARE WORSE THAN TRAFFIC WARDENS!!...

 

[matt]

for your information I have learned
1. Railcard is property of the rail company - I had no right to snatch it.
2. Railcard was out of date and it was my friends duty to ensure that it was valid (although this is still a grey area as the ticket seller checked the railcard and sold the discounted ticket).

And with that it concludes this thread before any more agruments.