Next Monday, I start my intensive French language lessons, so need to travel from Castelsarrasin to Toulouse/return every Monday to Friday. So today, while Peter waited in the car, I went into the local train station to buy a ticket for 5 weeks travel. I told the man I was studying in Toulouse, and needed a ticket for the next 5 weeks. I didn't qualify for a 'student discount' because of my age. So he decided I needed a 'senior's card' which allowed me a senior's discount. I know he was trying to be helpful, but then he tried to see the best way for me to travel... a monthly ticket? No. A concession ticket of someother description? He decided no. And with every step, he was consulting another colleague. Also with every step, he decided to explain to me very carefully in French how he was going to do it. To make a long story short... 45 minutes and now 7 people waiting very patiently in line behind me, he decided I needed one ticket for each trip... so proceeded to print out 50 single tickets with a Senior's discount, putting each day in a different folder, and patiently explaining to me how I must protect so many tickets, how I mustn't carry them all at once, how I had to accompny each journey carrying my Seniors' pass, etc. It took an hour for me to buy the train tickets.
On the 'up side' his diligence saved me about $150 in travel the way he did it. The down side was Peter was waiting in the car park the entire time when he could have been on the barge which was just across the canal. C'est la vie en France.
Patient Peter :)
ReplyDelete