Being someone who occasionally takes a train to work, I usually experience a scene that’s pretty quiet and uneventful while taking that mode of transportation. Sure, you often people sprinting with laptop bags in tow, trying to catch a train they’re late for. For the most part, however, most people are quiet and behave normally while on the train.
Note the word most.
While the majority of the people are quietly reading, working on a laptop, emailing/websurfing on their smartphones, or even sleeping – some people provide a little bit of flavor to the whole scene. This typically shows up as not-so-personal conversations that adjacent people can hear, or general excitement at the end of a workweek. On occasion, there is some especially unique behavior on display that gives us a snapshot into different ways people handle things – including spending money.
In this 11th edition of the “Squirreling Gone Wild” series, I’ll share some interesting tactics I recently observed one passenger employ in what I believe might have been a deliberate attempt to save money by doing some acting.
When it comes to paying for a ride on this train, there are four primary options:
- Buy a monthly pass
- Buy a 10-ride ticket
- Buy a single ticket at the station
- Buy a single ticket on the train
When the train conductor walks by, he asks “Tickets, Please!” in a loud voice. At that time, most commuters bring out their monthly pass, 10-ride ticket, or pre-paid ticket, and set it out for the conductor to look at or hole punch, depending on ticket type. If someone has no ticket, they buy one at an inflated price from the conductor.
So on the day in question, the guy sitting next to me in the upper level, a much older gentleman, opened his wallet and started fumbling through it looking for what had to be either one of the first 3 options I listed above, or money to buy a ticket. He seemed to quickly assess that he didn’t have one. Then, he sat quietly. A few minutes later, he closed his eyes and leaned over against the window, head slanted to the side and pressed on the window.
Within a few minutes after that, the conductor walked in and asked for tickets, as per usual. “Tickets, Please!” he said.
He made his way through the aisle, then looked at the guy who was sleeping.
“Tickets, Please!” he said while looking right at the guy.
The guy didn’t move. With his eyes closed and head leaning up against the window – away from the aisle – it looked like it would take a persistent effort to wake him up.
“Sir – I need to see your ticket!” exclaimed the conductor, with frustration.
The man didn’t flinch. He looked like he was out cold.
The conductor stared at him for a few seconds, then shook his head as he turned forward, and proceeded down the aisle.
The sleeping guy was never charged. He was going to be riding for free.
After the conductor opened the door to go to the next train car, an interesting thing happened: the sleeping guy woke up! He opened his eyes, and pulled out reading material for the rest of the commute.
Now, call me a cynic in this case, but I have a hard time believing it was a coincidence that he just happened to fall asleep right before the conductor was going to come through, and then woke up very alert just as the conductor left.
It sure looked like he pretended to be asleep to get out of paying!
I immediately thought to myself that I will not feel bad anymore if the conductor happens to accidentally skip me, as has happened before. To me, it looks like there are people that deliberately try to get out of paying by resorting to such crazy schemes.
I don’t support this behavior at all, and wouldn’t ever try something like that. But the way I see it, I reserve the right to laugh at those who actually do such things!
It seemed like something out of Seinfeld, that George could possibly do.
Have you ever seen anybody play games like this to save money? Have YOU ever done anything wacky like this? If so, it’s ok to come clean:)
What an innovative fellow!
However, I maybe don’t blame him. If he truly left all his money at home and didn’t have any other options, he may not have had a choice. (Other than to leave the train.) I guess he could ask to borrow money from someone, but how many people are going to jump at that opportunity? Most would assume it was a scam.
I don’t know why, but I like this guy. Maybe it is the ‘George’ in him? I love George!
Everyday Tips – I found the whole situation with that guy to be pretty funny. Now, I don’t advocate that type of thing, and wouldn’t do it. But I sure to find these things to be entertaining. For some reason I just find it to be fascinating how people try to save money in all kinds of ways – even if I don’t recommend some of them:)
I couldn’t imagine doing anything on purpose to skip out on a bill…it’s like trading your honor for a $2 savings. I probably would have tapped the guy on the shoulder while the conductor was standing there to help “wake” him, lol. 🙂
BFS – very succintcly put: the guy likely traded honor for a few dollars.
The worst thing I’ve ever seen was at Target at christmas a couple of years ago. The checkouts where about 20 deep with trolleys and this lady with a trolley full of diapers just walked straight out. I was just gobsmaked. She just walked straight out the door.
Ben – that’s really wacky, to see a person just walk out like that. That is someone who I would want nothing to do with. I do not like seeing one person deliberately trying to cheat or steal from another person or entity. Can’t stand it.
I’m a bus rider in Seattle and I’ve seen quite a few people get on the bus and say, “I don’t have enough money.” Usually the driver lets them pass. Sometimes they get kicked off.
In one case it was a girl who looked about 14 and a younger girl who I assumed was her sister. They got very upset when the driver asked for an extra quarter (it had something to do with the time of day and a school pass, I think). They didn’t have the money and were pleading to be allowed to go home. I gave them the quarter and the older girl thanked me with tears in her eyes.
I’ve seen a lot of people try to use expired bus transfers, too, and some people who just walk on past the driver without a word. In the latter case the drivers ALWAYS make the person either pay or get off.
Donna – good for you to give those young kids the quarter. Sometimes there are people like that bus driver that can’t discern between innocent mistakes (those young kids) and attempts to freeload. Glad you didn’t let the bus driver’s short-sighted behavior impact those kids.
In a heavily multicultural city like Melbourne, I’ve seen some people playing a fool to get away from paying the fine. If you don’t buy your ticket yet, you’ll get fine pronto, at least $150. They won’t even give you a chance to redeem yourself by buying. No ticket = stealing. So I saw some people pretended they don’t speak English, acted foolish and the inspector had to pull some money out of their wallet to buy the ticket. Can’t get away with sleeping here.