The art of service

This morning, I went to Coventry by train to join Clare, looking after Rhiannon. The journey up the Severn estuary at low tide under a bright blue sky was just beautiful. It was enhanced unusually by a rather original ticket collector. He made traveller announcements over the train's loudspeaker system and in person in a hip southern American negro drawl delivering or should I say rapping his message in rhyming couplets. 

"Are your tickets fine for the Birmingham line?

Gimme a sight and I'll check if they're right."       And so on..

Whether he was American or not I don't know, but his skin was as black as his uniform. He had a big warm smile and radiated charm and good humour. He played the part of a cool yankee train conductor to perfection and passengers loved him. Some even joined in and replied to his poetic banter with rhymes and couplets of their own, and the carriage rocked with laughter from time to time. It made a change from curt if not dour actors whose passing speech is limited to "Tickets please".

This was a fun mini-theatrical experience. I wondered if Cross Country Trains were training other operatives to deliver their sevices with such originality and panache. The last such memorable experience that I could call to mind was crossing Switzerland by train, and being sold refreshments from a trolley by an guy of Indian origin whose sales patter switched continually between English French German and Italian, all in the same sentence. No doubt he could have switched into a few Asian languages as well, if needed. Excellent, confident relaxed communication from someone takng pride in doing very well what many would regard as a menial job.

People like this really do enhance the quality of life for others, simply by making them smile more often.