Yet another stellar example of public transport customer service…

Four inspectors were travelling on the tram to the city this morning.  They’re regulars on the tram but never check tickets because they seem to work on another line and don’t start work until they have to so our tram is just their transportation.  They don’t usually sit down because they’re employees and seats should go to paying passengers.

Today though, two of them avoided sitting down by standing in the doorway which made it hard to get in and out.  The doorway is split in two with access either side of a rail.  One inspector leaned against the doorway with the hand on the rail so people boarding the tram were forced to crouch down under his arm because it was at head-height.

The other inspector slouched in such a way that people boarding or alighting on his side of the handrail had to press up against him.  The way he was slouching meant passengers were basically forced to rub against his crotch if they didn’t want to play “oranges and lemons” and crouch down to get under the arm of the other inspector.

A joint SPOTD award to those valued representatives of Yarra Trams…

Categories: SPOTD
No Comments »

Today’s journey to work could best be described as shambolic, thanks to the ever-useless folks at Yarra Trams.

First the tram took 12 minutes to arrive at a time when they’re supposed to be coming at a frequency of every 4 minutes.  Did I mention it was raining and windy?  Lovely weather to wait for a tram in…

Then, a quarter of the way to work, the tram driver suddenly announced the tram was ‘defective’ and turfed everyone out into the cold and rain again so she could take the tram back to the depot.  With more than 50 people on the tram at the time, we all had to cram into the tram behind (which already was quite full) so it got to the point of being jam-packed beyond comfortable levels.  When the tram arrived at my stop, I simply looked at the packed throng and decided I couldn’t get off so had to travel another two tram stops down the line before I could disembark.

And, of course, the thing that makes me give the driver the SPOTD award (and not just the Yarra Trams sucks award) is that the tram we were ejected from did not appear to be defective.  The brakes, heater, doors, ticket machines, and validators all worked.  There was no fresh vomit or urine which might require removal from service for immediate cleaning.  Nothing.  It seemed rather like the driver simply needed to go to the bathroom and dumped everyone into the street as a result.

Yarra Trams did not respond to my feedback.  I guess that pretty much sums it up.

Categories: SPOTD
1 Comment »

At a workshop today, down in the city, I was standing beside the Spencer St bridge over the Yarra River. A bald man strode northward across the bridge until he reached the midpoint, whereupon he unzipped and urinated off the bridge into the river. At the end of the task, he simply rezipped and then continued across the bridge as casually as though he had simply stopped momentarily to admire the view.

People walking past in both directions were a little startled, as was I. Fortunately none of the regular tourist vessels were passing underneath or they would have been diving for cover…

Categories: SPOTD
No Comments »

Walking past a tram at the terminus near work I noticed the driver drop something out the window as he sat in the cabin. I was irritated by the littering and figured I’d report it to Yarra Trams so looked for the litter but couldn’t see anything specific beside the tram.

I looked a bit harder and realised it had been ash from the cigarette the driver was smoking whilst seated in the cabin. It was a cold day and evidently the driver had decided that he could not be bothered getting out of the tram and instead committed an offence which passengers would get fined for.

I’m not sure whether this guy should get the SPOTD award or something less flattering and more attuned to the complete lack of social awareness this cretin displayed. Fortunately I didn’t have to travel on that tram and breathe in the smoke which would have been present inside it.

Categories: SPOTD
No Comments »

Attending a BBQ in the park near our house today with a group of friends, we noticed a young woman about 100m away doing a series of exercises (boxing, pushups, weight lifting, etc) in the park. No, before you go there - we were not perving on her - it was 11C so there was nobody in the park except our group so any activity naturally caught our attention.

The thing that really got our attention was that she had a personal trainer doing, well, not a lot. Most personal trainers we’ve seen really get into the activity with the customer, doing pushups at the same time and generally being quite participatory. This personal trainer was rather more aloof, standing off to one side a bit whilst the girl exercised. He didn’t even seem to be getting in her face, demanding to know how much she wanted to get fit, to push through the pain, blah blah blah.

We were somewhat bemused that she seemed to have picked a personal trainer who was getting paid to just go stand in the park and watch her without getting too involved. Perhaps it was just a long-suffering boyfriend who’d been dragged out into the park on a cold day and he was not enjoying the experience? It certainly did appear more likely to be a customer not getting her money’s worth out of the personal trainer and for that, we declared her to be the SPOTD - paying someone to stand idly by and watch her exercise when she could just be there by herself and save the cash.

Also, it was either give her the award or accept it ourselves for standing out in the cold to have a BBQ!

Categories: SPOTD
No Comments »

Whilst putting together a document today I typed a sentence commencing with:

It is important to note that…

Microsoft Word immediately had a grammar fit and underlined the first portion of the sentence.  I checked their suggestion:

It is not important to note that…

You know, I’m pretty sure I still get to make some of the decisions around here but thanks anyway, Microsoft SPOTD grammar check programmer.

Categories: SPOTD
No Comments »

An anonymous SPOTD award today for the person(s) who decided that the best place to eat seafood was on the tram. I boarded the tram for the ride home and was immediately assailed with the stench of room-temperature seafood. I had a quick look around and underneath one of the seats were 6 or 7 prawn heads, along with torn of strips of paper.

So far as I can tell, someone went to a delicatessen or market and purchased several prawns, sat on a tram and ate the flesh from the prawns by ripping them in half then discarding the heads and tails on the floor of the tram. The shreds of paper seemed to be the manner by which they had held the prawns during the consumption. Naturally, the only sensible thing to do at the end of their feast was throw everything on the floor for others to enjoy.

Lovely… So glad I got to enjoy that smell for half an hour - thank you anonymous SPOTD.

Categories: SPOTD
No Comments »