Or the little prick thats supposed to help people but doesn't! Your a cock!
So today I was supposed to be going to Newcastle to visit a very dear friend of mine, who I haven't seen in what feels like forever. Due to some idiot putting the wrong part into a power substation thing near the cesspool that is Northallerton, all trains were being stopped and the passengers were being booted off either at Doncaster or York.
Now while I am fully aware that this was not the fault of the greasy, jumped up, little prat that was ignoring people who were asking for information, but his attitude and fuck you stance were unacceptable. I am not a laid back person at the best of times, but despite my almost overwhelming disappointment at the prospect of not seeing my friend I was actually making a real effort to be calm and polite when asking what exactly was being done. We were told to wait for a few minutes whilst he phoned control.
In the time I was waiting I got talking to a lovely pair of little old ladies who lived in Newcastle and had been traveling since the early hours of the morning. One was diabetic, the other had a broken leg. Both were cold and very tired. In talking to them I found out that the train they had been booted off had been sat in Doncaster station since 1.30pm, which meant they were just a few minutes shy of 4 hour enforced stay in the asshole of Yorkshire.
So, when the jumped up bell end finally reappeared he informed the mass of pissed off people that there would be no trains going North of York for a while, and the strikes in London has tied up all spare coaches and buses (wtf?) When he was asked what he was going to do for the many people who were now stranded, his reply and I quote
"Nothing, get comfy your going to be here a while"
Now being a hot headed type I reacted as most people who know me would expect, and became the mouth piece for the ever increasing number of quite frankly, fucking fuming people stuck in purgatory.
Asking why there was no replacement service, when this had been going on since lunch time, he simply answered with a shrug of his sloped shoulders and a smirk. Not the best way to deal with irate people and certainly not a good way to deal with me! Several more questions were asked ranging from what are all these stranded people supposed to do, to why can't you pay for that bunch of airport taxi's outside to take us to Newcastle, you can get 8 to 10 people in the minibuses and 5 in the people carriers?
"It costs £180 to go from here to Newcastle we aren't paying that, but it's a good idea you should club
together and see if you can afford one for yourselves"
Which was the response which caused me to really loose my temper. That and the fact that more and more people were being dumped off trains and left with no information as to what was happening. And no options but to pull an extra layer out of their cases and pray for pillows and blankets to fall from the sky.
Eventually after another hour and a half of asking questions each increasing in volume, some prick in a suit came down and informed us that there would be no replacement services, and no trains going further than York until some time tomorrow. And could people start clearing the platform as we couldn't stay there all night.
Now that's fine for me I could just hop on a bus to the arse end of the world and get into my own bed, however the huge mass of people who live in Newcastle were shafted. I stayed around for another 40 minutes
waiting to see if they would bend and provide something for the stranded. Eventually I decided to give up and go home as after over 6 hours of waiting we were no closer to Newcastle and hadn't even been offered a warm drink or something to eat.
Now while I understand that short of pulling a train out of his backside, there was not much he could do to get the passengers to Newcastle, but I also know there are plenty of other options open in situations like this. Maybe sending the passengers to a local hotel (which they were doing with the terminated trains staff!) Or at the very, very least let people get back on the train where they have some small hope of keeping warm. Instead of expecting everyone to continue standing about freezing to the point of full body shivers.
I cannot get the smirking little bastard out of my head. Dealing with customer complaints is not an easy job, I do it all day every day, and the customers I deal with are literally the scum of the earth. But I get paid to keep calm let them have there say and then try and deal with any problems they have in a calm and polite manner. It's hard to do, and some days how I make it through a shift without headbutting someone is a miracle, and a testament to the calming power of regular smoke breaks. But I do, I come home have a 10 minute rant about how shit work was and get on with enjoying the small periods of my life not spent dealing with other peoples shit. And I do it for less money than the little prick from the train company. As do many other people.
So Mr I couldn't give a flying fuck your all stranded with nowhere to sleep. I hope the ghosts of the two lovely old ladies that froze to death tonight in the entrance to Doncaster train station haunt you for the rest of your miserable, pathetic excuse for a life.
