Odd happenings

Yesterday Kjeld was helping me get my ticket  for the train to Copenhagen, when he said that I had to keep my credit card ready to prove who I am.

I laughed and said, "What to do? I am now elderly, and they would certainly have a lot of patience with me." 


"No, no," he said, "if you can't prove who you are with this credit card they will throw you off the train." 

"Seriously?" I asked. 

"Yes," he said. "There was a ten year old girl who commuted to school everyday on the train and she needed  to get her commuter ticket renewed. The printer made a mistake, so the conductor threw her off the train at a stop that had no service."

"That's not possible," I said. "How could he in good conscience throw a ten year old girl off the train and leave her?" 

"It is not his problem," Kjeld said. "The rules say that the ticket must be correct or you can't ride." 

"But a ten year old girl? What if something happened to her? Isn't he responsible"

"No, no," he said. "He is just following the rules the company has set up."

I was getting irritated, because he said all of this  with such conviction that I thought he agreed with it. But thankfully when I asked him he said, "Of course not. But it happens, so you have to be prepared."