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| no thanks - i can do it myself!
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When I'm a customer in a store and I get treated badly by the people who work there its usually a given I'm going to find someone else who can provide the product/service without the bad attitude. Sometimes I've had to keep going back to a place because they are the only one who is providing the product or service... that sucks. I hate it - I hate continually giving them my business no matter how badly they treat me. The internet has helped with this though. I used to deal with a lot of local suppliers who had that monopoly - now I get a lot of the products they're pedalling from overseas suppliers who can provide things more cheaply, more quickly and with absolutely sparkling service. You know, there's still always something you can only get locally - but, I keep these things on the backburner - keep my eyes open for alternatives so that finally I can vote with my money against bad service.
So, last year I was catching a train. I did nothing illegal. I got a fine anyway - I guess its called revenue raising. The matter is still in the courts. I would take a little solace if I find that the legal system is able to relieve me of the fine and thus protect me from rogue transport officers. That aside - I have used the railway system consistenly for 15 years - always paid for my ticket, never committed an offence - it is excessively insulting to be treated so badly then by a representative of an agency that has taken so much money from me as a customer over the years. At first I felt powerless - helpless.... work was in the city and I needed to get there. No buses service my area. Can't afford parking in the city - what normal person can? Too far to walk. I gave up. It made me angrier and angrier - not only could they fine a good, loyal, obedient customer but they went on to insult me and all their other good customers by cancelling peak hour trains ALL THE TIME. Peak hour trains are crowded - as packed as can be... its sure not pretty when the people who were going to pack onto 3 trains have to try to pack onto 1. And no - after waiting on the platform for an hour and a half while all the trains on your line get cancelled you are not going to just "be patient" and wait for another train - you don't even know if the next train will make it. If there's a train on the platform going on your line you rush at it - like everyone else. Once on that train you just try to stay on it. At the next stop more people will try to get on - some will try to get off - the ones that try to get off may push you off in the process - once you're off the other people trying to get on at that stop will push past you.... you can easily find you've waited an hour and a half to get on a dangerously overcrowded train to be spewed off at the next station - not knowing when another train would come.... or if you'd fit on it.
Yes - this is bad service. Horrendous service. With the insult of a fine for an offence that was never committed on top of that you KNOW I'm gonna be looking for an alternative. But no - no alternative. I kept catching the train to work. Kept seething. Kept wanting to kick every transit officer in the face - they get around like a pack of rabid dogs.... No one likes them, no one trusts them. They know it - they love it. The power - they're on a power trip - the more they're trippin' on it the more they want it, need it, must have it.... the more they're digging their fangs into anyone - drawing blood for the sake of blood and their hunger. Deranged psychopaths - they should be committed - the lot of them.
I looked online at a road map website - did the "get directions" thing - its just over 20km to work. On the train it takes just over 35 minutes to get to work - I guess 'cause it takes a very roundabout path. 20km though is a bit less than I'd expected. My friend told me his speed on a mountain bike and on a 20" bmx bike. I think on a mountain bike I could probably keep pace with him on a 20"... so, say, at a guess I could do 15km per hour - if that speed were constant then I should be able to cover the distance to where I used to work in about 1 hour and 15 minutes... sounds too good to be true - maybe it is. Usually with the walk to the train station, line up for a ticket, waiting for trains and the walk at the other end it takes me an hour to get to work. Seems to me like if I were to ride it wouldn't take too much longer.... And, I'd get fitter (it would be good training for my bmx racing) and most of all, best of all - I would be independant. I can give a big "fuck you" to the public transport system, to the nazi transit officers and to treating good customers badly. Once again I can feel empowered to vote with my money by no longer paying for a service over which I am insulted and treated badly.
This is just one thing - one part of my life where I'm going to empower myself. These systems they think you NEED them.... well, I just figured I don't NEED it - I can do just fine under my own steam so fuck you very much! One by one I'm going to purge these things from my life - find my way around the reliance... find independance. It's all I want. |
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Posted by crashing_down on 2008-05-22 20:30:17 | Rating: | Views: 47
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