Tuesday 11 October 2005

First Day Back at Work

Tuesday, after having been away for nine days, it was back to work. 5 mins after I had started it was like I had never been away.

Not much happened really.

In the morning a young man got on the bus in Paignton and half showed me what appeared to be a pass and started to walk down the bus to find a seat. Something about the way he did it suggested that all was not right so I called him back. I would have called him back in any case as I like to make sure that all tickets and passes people show me are valid. This some times upsets some passengers but in the end it is their money I am protecting. When someone steals some thing from Tescos they are really stealing from all the other people who shop in Tescos. When someone steals a bus ride they are stealing from the people they are sitting next to on the bus.

Anyway, the pass, a Torbay MegaRider was dated 10 Oct 05 and to day is the 11th. I pointed this out and the young man protested that he had bought it earlier in the day. I gently told him that as the ticket was out of date I could not carry him. He still maintianed that he had bought it that morning. I suggested that he take it over to our Travel Shop, handily situated in the bus station, and they would tell him what to do. I was much to polite to tell him what to do. And company rules forbid me from telling him what to do.

He got off the bus and wandered in the direction of the Travel Shop but as I drove out of the bus station I noticed he was heading back towards the bus stop to try his luck on the next bus. So I got on the radio and warned all following bus drivers to watch out for him. I wonder how long he stood there before digging into his pocket and paying his fare like the rest of the passengers.

In the afternoon after my meal break the bus I was taking over was 20 mins late but no problem, so was the bus in front of me.

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