A few stops before the end of the tram ride home tonight, a slightly dishevelled looking fellow boarded the tram with a soft drink in one hand and a large souvlaki in the other. He sat a few seats away from Di and I and proceeded to eat for about twenty seconds before asking the passenger closest to him if he had any spare change to give. The passenger gave a semi-laugh and said “Nah mate, I wish!” which the fellow didn’t respond to and returned to eating.

Roughly a minute later, he began to call out “Excuse me! Excuse me! Excuse me!” trying to get my attention. I was reading at the time so since we were the only other people in the back part of the tram I figured it was likely he’d give up if I ignored him for long enough. Plus, I knew what he was going to ask me and the answer was going to be negative. He didn’t seem like he was going to give up calling out though so in the end I looked up to face him.

“Got any spare change you could give me?”

“No.”

“Go and get f***ed then!”

Ah. So apparently he has the right to abuse me because I won’t give him money he hasn’t earned. I didn’t ask him why he was able to afford both food and drink yet had not validated a tram ticket, and went back to ignoring him. As we stepped out of the tram at our stop a minute or so later, he continued to hurl invectives at us. You just have to love that public transport…

Trav.

PS: It was a close one today as to who won the SPOTD award. I also had a Dominos Pizza shop attendant baffled later in the evening when I handed over a voucher for a “complimentary large pizza” which I received after I commented via the Dominos website that their junk mail vouchers were confusing (see a previous SPOTD report). Evidently he was completely unaware that “complimentary” meant “free” and I had to explain it to him. I don’t think they hire the brightest sparks to work in pizza shops…

Categories: SPOTD