The best ever Customer Service excuse I've ever heard....

As many of you know I choose to use public transport as my main way of getting work.

My first blog was about getting the bus (which I don't catch very often) and how for some reason people are more approachable when they catch the bus than when we catch the dreaded train....

You will be pleased to know that I have found a fellow traveller who I can chat to about all sorts of things and brighten up the journey home. I met my fellow traveller when all trains had been delayed or just cancelled one evening - no announcements had been made before I had entered the platform but once I was there on the platform all details of any train times had vanished from the television screens and I think all staff had hidden away in their office as nobody could be seen anywhere!!!!! After finally tracking someone down we knew we were in for a bit of a wait...time passed quite quickly having a few people to chat to and we were soon on our way. Happy Days :-)

Last week though, was just classic "customer service" .........

Got to the station, met up with my new train companion and the train arrived on time. All good so far.....Sitting on the train ready to leave and thinking about what edible delight I could rustle up quickly when I had got home and then we realised.....the train hadn't left the station and it was now 5 minutes late.....what could be the problem we wondered.....couldn't see any member of staff (nothing new there then) and then there was the announcement we were waiting for..."THIS TRAIN IS NOW CANCELLED!!!" the excuse? "THE GUARD COULDN'T BE BOTHERED TO TURN UP FOR WORK!" and those were the actual words used - they had a driver but no guard as the original one had got of the train and must have clocked off!!!-How lovely for him (the member of staff) and how frustrating for us (the customer).

So we all got off and had a bit of a giggle (at least we'd actually got an announcement this time) and waited for the next train to turn up.....

Unfortunately I can't choose my train provider and I think they were probably just trying to be honest as to why the train couldn't run but I think they were a bit too honest this time. I so can't wait for more delightful excuses - there's bound to be quite a few shortly, as we are entering the season of leaves, rain, ice and snow....watch this space and I'll keep you posted.....