Random Acts of Kindness

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Well there's plenty of nerdy techie stuff on the Forum, and lots of giving out, constructive or otherwise but I thought we shouldn't bury the little moments of commuting that make you feel warm and fuzzy - even for a minute.

Come on people share your good deeds or the good deeds of others - even IE's ! maybe we can inspire future goodness.

A few IE examples of mine:
Twice this year I've been very blonde and left bags on the train when coming home, once in the summer and just last night (16 Nov).
Both times the guys in the station, Portlaoise earlier and Tullamore & Portarlington last night, were very helpful and delivered the bags to Port on the next train where I could pick them up and always phoned me straight away.

There's a nice ticket checker who never wakes up the people that are
sound asleep in the mornings, and remembers most of the faces of the annual/monthly ticket holders and tells them it's okay so they haven't struggle through handbags or coat pockets. Yes - by the rulebook he probably should check them all - but sometimes rules can be bent

And me being the street angel/house devil I am:
Late one evening I was in the back of beyond (i.e. Heuston, Platforms 6/7/8) waiting for someone. An elderly lady asked me where the public phones were and we looked around and there were none up that end, all at the front entrance. She needed to call her daughter as she waiting for her somewhere. It's a long walk. So rang the number on my mobile for her.

My partner has carried bags for older women quite a few times or helped put them in the luggage racks.

And if I'm ever travelling on my own, I always move to let friends/couples sit together instead of stubbornly sitting on the outside seat or whatever.

[Thomas J Stamp]

Random posts of random acts of kindness and indeed random acts of IE doing their job poperly are randomly posted, from time to time, around the entire messageboard.

Over the weekend i might find them and link them here.

To be fair, people dont usually talk about good experiances on our boards, they usually come here to give out, usually because they are fed up being told that their experiance didnt happen and that if they cannot PROVE it happened you'll get no joy from IE.

Last night was a classic example. Everyone goes to P2 in Heuston because they are told to go there. There is no train for them, all told to go elsewhere. IE customer Relations man says "no-one told you to go to P2" despite it being announced over the PA.

So, unless someone actually has a tape of the PA announcement, IE will deny it ever happend.

Remember O'Brien burning the photograpgh in 1984? That's what we deal with on a daily basis here.

[2Funki4Wheelz]

I'm not feeling much warmness or fuzziness from your post ThomasJ

All points noted, and trust me, I do my share of giving out! I think improving any service means removing/replacing the bad and increasing/learning from the good where possible.

Let's not forget the P11 committee as a an example of massive act of kindness - giving up their free time/expertise to help the ordinary commuter.

[PaulM]

Thomas is a solicitor. He doesn't know what a random act of kindness is.

[Oisin88]

The lady in the fast track office and the guy with the fast track buggy just pulled out the stops and took an emergency consignment of medicines for Tullamore at 18:35, 10 minutes after their deadline for the 19:05.

Also, on Tuesday, the regular ticket checker on the 1500 Galway to Heuston listened to the concerns of passengers and had security in Heuston meet and greet a lady who wasn't bothered about her kids harassing other passengers.

I think the staff in Tullamore station deserve praise for a consistent customer focussed service.

[philip]

Wednesday evening, coupla pints in the pub then realised it was 18:08, legged it to station, hopped on 18:14? train from Coolmine to go to match. About Ashtown my phone rings-a voice says "Have you lost something?". I pat my self down and realise my wallet has gone awol!! Voice says "this is the ticket office at Coolmine, I have your wallet here mate!" He'd found my dad's business card, called him up and gotten my number from him. Picked up the wallet the next day, and yes, it had plenty more beer tokens in it. Decent skin.

[PaulM]

Once when I was in School me and two friends went to the cinema. One guy had the tickets and money (we were in shcool, all broke) and lost his wallet.

We only realised that when we were at the chipper in Georges arcade. The chipper said he recognised us and we could pay him tomorrow (very decent).

Then the cinema people let us in as they remembered us too (IFC).

Three days later we were back in the IFC and my friend asked about his wallet. Someone had handed it in. They took the money and left a note apologizing for taking it. I'm not sure if that was nice or wierd.

[Derek Wheeler]

Originally Posted by 2Funki4Wheelz

Let's not forget the P11 committee as a an example of massive act of kindness - giving up their free time/expertise to help the ordinary commuter.

Im quickly running out of random acts of kindness. But then Im one of the longest serving prisoners...ahem..I mean members of the committee.

[Oisin88]

Originally Posted by Oisin88

The lady in the fast track office and the guy with the fast track buggy just pulled out the stops and took an emergency consignment of medicines for Tullamore at 18:35, 10 minutes after their deadline for the 19:05.

em... after all this, the envelope didn't manage to leave the train and went to Athlone instead. Hospital got delivery at 11pm instead of 8pm.

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Originally Posted by Oisin88

em... after all this, the envelope didn't manage to leave the train and went to Athlone instead. Hospital got delivery at 11pm instead of 8pm.

Ah service based on the old slogan “We go further to get you there.” Further than your actual stop presumably

[Thomas J Stamp]

Originally Posted by 2Funki4Wheelz

Ah service based on the old slogan “We go further to get you there.” Further than your actual stop presumably

I'm loving this thread. already we have an example of IE ballsing something simple, like delivering a CONSIGNMENT OF EMERGENCY MEDICNES FOR A HOSPITAL, up.

And Paul, you're story hasnt anything to do with railways, so it dosnt count.

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Originally Posted by Thomas J Stamp

I'm loving this thread. already we have an example of IE ballsing something simple, like delivering a CONSIGNMENT OF EMERGENCY MEDICNES FOR A HOSPITAL, up.

Their heart was in the right place, even if the medicines weren't.

Originally Posted by Thomas J Stamp

And Paul, you're story hasnt anything to do with railways, so it dosnt count.

Well I did say commuting, so I'm not sure if that includes walking to the cinema with your mates...but it was warm and fuzzy all the same.

[PaulM]

Originally Posted by Thomas J Stamp

And Paul, you're story hasnt anything to do with railways, so it dosnt count.

You're so lucky I can't say what I think of you on the board.

Besides, I forgot to mention I got the DART to town that day. Sadly I got a bus home.

[shweeney]

got on the Dart recently and realised that not only had I forgotten to take the lights off my bike, but I'd also left them on, flashing like a beacon saying "steal me, steal me"

got back in the evening, and not only were they still there, but someone had turned them off so there was still battery power in them. Nice one!

[2Funki4Wheelz]

This is all great stuff!

I forgot to add one, I commute to Portarlington everyday and you do get to recognise all the faces.
One Friday on the 17.55, I was going all the way to Athenry to visit the folks and a nice couple I used to see lots spotted me dozing and woke me up at Port afraid I was going to miss my stop.

[Donal Quinn]

I posted this story before but i think it's worth another shot!

When we were young lads we would always try to get child's fare on the train going in to galway even though we were 17 and too old

the ticket office was always closed so we would buy the tickets from the conductor person. La amhain, we got on and proceeded to buy our tickets on board. then the conductor looked at the stubble on my friend's face and said, "a childs fare? how old are you?" my friend replied "16"

the conductor wrote out the child's fare ticket and handed it to my friend, saying "by the way, you're 15 !!"

cool guy, no harm done and we were actually more inclined to pay the proper fare in the future cos we respected him!

[PaulM]

I was getting a bus once and asked for School child fare (I was 14). The driver saw me smoking at the bus stop and asked "Do you smoke?" I said "Yes" and he said "Then you're not a child." I got worried and annoyed by this. The driver kept repeating how if I smoked, I was not a child, I kept arguing. Eventually.

Driver: *Sigh*, if you smoke you are not a child. Now, do you smoke?
Paul: Errrmmmm, no.
Driver: 35p please.

I thought that was very cool. I actually had met an unpleasant driver who I encountered many more times and he was unpleasant to all passengers. He once would not give me child fare, even though I had ID, as I smoked. I thought this chap was doing the same thing but it turned out he was just having a laugh.

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Originally Posted by Paul Mulcahy

I was getting a bus once and asked for School child fare (I was 14). The driver saw me smoking at the bus stop and asked "Do you smoke?" I said "Yes"

Tut tut for smoking at 14.
Watch out kids, start smoking young and you too will end up with a job in IT.

[Thomas J Stamp]

When I was young we used to build a little barricade of broken glass, sticks with nails in them and rocks to burst car tyres. We all used to hide behind a hill and laugh. If the drivers started giving out we'd brick 'em till they drove off.

Then there was the single deck bus that got hijacked and burnt out.

Oh, and throwing petrol bombs off the roof, that was fun. We used to aim for the seaguls and the rats, sometimes people we didnt like as well.

We also demolished an abandoned house over the course of a weekend. Took about 30 of us, but we did it.

[2Funki4Wheelz]

You're a bad bad bad man killing the good vibes