annabtg | Public transport bitchin' and some of my news

I usually make a point of not getting angry at people who are just trying to do their job, but today I failed to comply with that principle of mine.

First - my dad dropped me off to the communal bus stop, to take the bus going to the University campus. Now, I had asked the driver last Thursday whether the bus went, apart from the University campus, to the Polytechnical school campus and the Medicine campus too, and he had replied yes to all.

Today? The same driver tells me that the bus just goes to the University and the Polytechnical school campuses. Not to the Medicine campus. (I had figured he hadn't been listening to me when I was talking to him last time... Grr.)

Anyways, the bus stop was just by the Line 1 train station, so I figured I'd take the train, get down two stations later, at the Suburban Railway connection and follow my usual route from there (take the Suburban Railway train and then the Metro Line 3 train). Changing lines, however, required a global ticket of 50 cents, and in the vending machines there were only 40-cent tickets. If I wanted a global ticket, I'd need to go to the other platform from where I was standing, hope that there would be an employee in the booth (which, unfortunately, is not always something you can take for granted), buy a global ticket, return to my earlier platform and *then* take the train. The train was already there, though, and I wanted to catch the 8.04 Suburban Railway train, to be at Goudi before 9, which is when class starts. (Technically, they give us a free quarter first and it starts at 9.15. If I missed the 8.04 train and took the 8.19 one, I'd still be there at around 9.10, but why risk it? Some teachers are weird.) So I figured I'd ride the Line 1 train without a ticket and buy one from the Suburban Railway station.

So I get to the Line 1/Suburban Railway connection, get down from the train and go to the ticket vending machines. No global tickets, again, and it was the platform without an employee. (Sometimes there is one there too, but today wasn't my lucky transport day.) I go to the other platform. Same vending machines, but hurrah, an employee! ...helping a girl get a ticket to Korinthos. (Which is not too easy, because that's inter-city, and there are some arrangements needed.) In the meantime, time was ticking out, and, while I didn't want to be rude, I didn't want to miss the train either. Also, didn't want to ride without a ticket again, because, unlike Line 1, Suburban Railway gets visited by conductors quite often. So I waited, and waited, and the employee lady was taking her time.

Then, I see a guy in a Suburban Railway uniform enter the booth. He then comes out. "Excuse me," I tell him (I admit I was a little harsh, but I was in a hurry, and angry at the inexistence of proper ticket vending machines - people *do* buy global tickets, you know!!), "isn't there a way to get a ticket? I'm going to miss my train." He asked me where I was going, I explained - pointing out that what I wanted was a global ticket - and he went into the booth.

Moments later, the employee lady asks me where I'm going. I give her the name of the station where the Suburban Railway/Line 2 connection is, thinking that if the guy told her I wanted a ticket, why didn't he tell her what kind of ticket I wanted too, to save us some time?

I give her a 50-cent coin. She hands me a 40-cent ticket.

"Excuse me," I ~~bitch~~ say, "I want a global ticket."

She gives me a 'No need to be rude, missy' look and reaches for the correct ticket. "You didn't tell me."

Okay, I admit I didn't, but a) I thought the guy would have told you and b) WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD I WASTE MY TIME WAITING FOR YOU IF I WANTED A 40-CENT TICKET? I had just given her a coin, too, so I obviously *had* change and I *could* have got one from a vending machine if that was what I wanted. I don't think I look like I can't use a vending machine.

However, because I was running late and had no time to give her a piece of my mind or tell her exactly what I thought for the vending machines they had in the station, I just whatevered and left. Run down the stairs - the train was already there and the doors were closing when I arrived by them. Thankfully, the driver caught sight of me and opened them again so I could enter. So it all ended well.

But seriously, it pissed me off. Thankfully, since I was going to be early anyway, and Metro has trains passing more frequently than the Suburban Railway does (so I could afford missing one), and it was the 30th today, I spared some time at the Metro station to buy a monthly global pass for November. No need to go on a ticket-searching marathon every time I want to use a public transport medium! IN YOUR FACE, SUBURBAN RAILWAY PEOPLE. (On my way back, I met a conductor in the Suburban Railway train and I showed the pass to him. He accepted it, despite the fact that it's not November yet. Hee. I love it. Plus, my father gave me back the 19 euros it cost me. Actually, he gave me 20, which is even better.)

On other news, remember the story with that money that were given to the student with the highest grade in the school and that I finally didn't take?

Turns out, the girl who took them wasn't supposed to take them, either. Because they actually go to the student with the highest access grade. And that's neither me nor her, but a boy from my class. So she must give them back and they'll go to him instead.

So glad it didn't happen to me. It would be really bumming. As it is, I even find it slightly amusing (though I shouldn't). I'm very happy for the boy, though, because he's one of the most amazing people I've met in my life. He's smart, he has a strong personality - born to be a leader, I swear. He's always getting involved with politics and winning over *everyone* (I so wish to see him in our government someday, seriously), confident but not conceited. Also, a decent guy who knows how to treat the people around him, except when his actions come with bad timing. I used to have a crush on him four years ago despite the fact that he was, and still is, the shortest boy I've ever met. He and his friends pulled a prank on me the night after he rejected me for the second time. I was not amused.

Boo for principals acting without reading the paper that's sitting in their office and explains everything they need to know about certain things.

(Also, as I was re-reading this to catch any typos, I realized a funny connection between the two subjects I've mentioned in this entry, so far: that boy's father works as a high-level executive for the company running Metro. Hee.)

Now, I've been writing this entry for one hour and fifteen minutes, so I'll spare you the rest of the details. Just suffice it to say it was a full day. To mention one last highlight, I lost my right contact and was forced to go around with 6 degrees of myopia in one eye for 5 hours, two of them during Physiology I class. It's good to be home. (Now I have to do some Inorganic Chemistry I homework, which isn't so good, but at least it's Chemistry, which isn't so bad. Actually, it's great, but it's greater if it comes with no homework. Anyways.)

See ya,
Anna.