Dealing with non-ticket holders on a train (Dutch style)

[whole diary]

[chrisr_75]

The British tourist asked the TM^‡(resolve) how he was supposed to get to Schipol at which point the TM replied "walk"

The above and the story recollected by worcester_passenger are so typically Dutch! The 'directness' takes some getting used to at first, but it certainly makes a pleasant change to how things are done in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), only after you have worked out that they're not just being aggressive, that is!

[BerkshireBugsy]

Discombobulated ? I haven't heRd that for a few years ! Now where's my tickling stick ?

I suspect that are probably more than a few readers that haven't got a clue what I am talking about

Was that n
ot Discomnockerated if we are talking about Ken Dodd.

On reflection you may well be right

[Western Pathfinder]

Day Return to Notty Ash please !

[BerkshireBugsy]

Day Return to Notty Ash please !

Is that with or without tax sir ?!

[thetrout]

On the topic of plain clothes revenue protection staff... I have fallen foul of them in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) before. After a minor pocket dance and finding my ticket just a little further down my top pocket. Out of all the tickets I could have produced. The RPI^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector (or Retail Price Index, depending on the context)) really wasn't expecting the return portion of a First Off Peak. Then quizzed me on my Railcard. I provided it. I think they seemed genuinely upset that they thought they had me good and proper. When I had a better hand the whole time.

The same member of staff now has a vendetta against me as it is the same staff member who says you cannot use a Disabled Railcard in conjunction with a First Class ticket. Also who seems to believe that I am deliberately abusing and exploiting restriction code LC^▸ (Level Crossing) on the return portion of an FSR^▸ (First Scot Rail) by using a peak time train to London, then having a long layover until the ticket becomes valid from Paddington.


As for language barriers. One of my gamer friends in my clan is Dutch. We also have a few who are German. A few have said to me they are all rather rude. However they are all nice people, just to the point.

I supported a company using some German software in the past. When we had a problem with it, I would send a request to Technical Support Level 1 - Only to get back an email of around 6 paragraphs from their Indian Support Centre saying how they had worked "diligently" and "liaised with several agents" and were unable to resolve the issue so they had escalated it to Level 3 - The Germans.

The Germans would send me an email like this:

thetrout

Problem is fixed. Let me know if it's still not work.

Does that seem rude? Well actually I don't think so at all. It's blunt and to the point. The problem is fixed and that's all I need to know.

[BerkshireBugsy]

Ok I am about to take my own post way OT now but given TTs post about dealing with the Germans I couldn't help agreeing with him given that I have spent the last 3 days on site in Munich troubleshooting IT problems. I would agree with TT that they are to the point and in my case it saved a lot of faffing around because we both new where we stood.

I think I mentioned the war once but hot away with it

[didcotdean]

Conversely, the British habit of being polite, not wishing to upset anyone's feelings, and understatement etc comes over in many countries as being shifty, duplicitous and untrustworthy.

Reminds me of working on a project involving a number of nationalities where the first draft of a report in English made frequent use of the word 'demand'. I pointed out that as a group we couldn't demand anything but request or recommend. It had been written by a French speaker where demander has no overbearing connotations and indeed is quite weak ( more like 'ask'). That landed me with the job of being the language editor for English nuances ....

[Tim]

I know they're quite liberal in Amsterdam, but ladies of the night on trains is a new one on me. They'd have difficulty showing their red light - might cause issues in stations!

Allegedly - or So I was told when in Amsterdam by a local - you also have blue lights...I have no personal experience of either colour I must add !

I can see why a red light might flatter the vendor's skin tone, but I thought blue lights were to stop you injecting drugs.  (they always used to have blue lights next to the driver on buses didn't they)