3 ms·

When systems punish people who are basically doing the right thing and supporting the system, it makes my fucking blood boil. Like if you spend hundreds of poun

When systems punish people who are basically doing the right thing and supporting the system, it makes my fucking blood boil. Like if you spend hundreds of pounds on a ticket and then miss a connection and are fined because the train wasn't quite late enough and you should have teleported to your platform on getting off the train (happened to my mate, had a £180 ticket to Glasgow from down south, her train was like 10 mins or so late, missed her connection, and the conductor fined her £140 despite her breaking down on the spot and the "wrong" train being completely empty. What the fuck did that achieve, Virgin?). But aside from moralising - the people who manage this shit are setting themselves a colossal failure in that they do not see the value of consumer trust and respect. A rigid system which stomps people into submission is one that people will have no qualms about circumventing, which they will, brutally and with abandon. A trusting, caring system is one that people will be proud to support, other than a few outliers. Once you become the former, it takes a very very long time to become the latter again. See the story about the Israeli child care center.

pasbesoin 14y ago
What if further frustrating is that with today's computer/data systems, it would be easy to correlate appeals with equipment service and train schedule data, and to make reasonable allowances. (Although there would have to be enough policy and procedure to mitigate arbitrariness and bias.) The ticketing machine was broken, and you appeal your fine? It should take an administrative employee a minute or two to resolve this. And, reasonable preference should go to believing the customer. Not only is it good public relations, it's a good incentive to maintain equipment and to properly manage schedules and capacity. For example, as the business, you are worried about people seeing a broken machine and deciding that they can ride for free? Well, that's a good incentive for you to fix the machine. Good businesses don't take advantage of their customers with crap services and unfair fines, just as they expect their customers not to take undue advantage of them. The nature of a civilized society. Something having more than a bit of appeal in Switzerland (so I understand).

pasbesoin 14y ago

What if further frustrating is that with today's computer/data systems, it would be easy to correlate appeals with equipment service and train schedule data, and to make reasonable allowances. (Although there would have to be enough policy and procedure to mitigate arbitrariness and bias.) The ticketing machine was broken, and you appeal your fine? It should take an administrative employee a minute or two to resolve this. And, reasonable preference should go to believing the customer. Not only is it good public relations, it's a good incentive to maintain equipment and to properly manage schedules and capacity. For example, as the business, you are worried about people seeing a broken machine and deciding that they can ride for free? Well, that's a good incentive for you to fix the machine. Good businesses don't take advantage of their customers with crap services and unfair fines, just as they expect their customers not to take undue advantage of them. The nature of a civilized society. Something having more than a bit of appeal in Switzerland (so I understand).