Stay classy dude!

[fireheart]

So at most train stations there is a little shop where one can visit to buy train tickets (if they need them, most people will either use the vending machine, their smart card or if theyre a pensioner, they can buy their ticket literally anywhere) as well as assorted munchies, trashy magazines and non-trashy magazines

Yesterday I had gone to the shop to get some magazines for me to read on the way to the city (I had an errand and a psych appointment). I was busy browsing the magazines when this gentleman entered, wielding a small suitcase that he threw down on the floor, pulled out his ticket (a pensioner one, this is important) and started yelling at the guy behind the counter.

The gist of the yelling was that the yelling idiot was entitled to a pensioner ticket and according to his yelling was entitled to two tickets (I actually checked up on this later, based on his argument, he got this one mixed up with another thing I'll explain about in a minute) whereas the guy behind the counter had sold him one. Yelling idiot told guy behind the counter that he was a Chinese crook (guy is Chinese) and he should be reported to the police. When he realised that the guy behind the counter wasn't going to cave in, he then made the parting shot of "if you screw me over again, this (suitcase) will be at your head." To his credit, the guy behind the counter handled it very well

Last I saw of him, he tried his ticket, ticket refused to cooperate so he threw his suitcase on the other side and jumped the barrier. Thankfully he was not on my train!

(Re the pensioner thing, in order to qualify for a pensioner ticket over here, you either need to have a seniors card, a pensioner concession card or similar. Note that "pensioner" does not mean "senior" in this case and if you're on the disability pension or receive certain allowances for medical treatment, you will receive the pensioner concession card. The card entitles you to certain discounts AND also entitles you to two return class tickets onboard certain interstate/rural line trains. It does say this clearly on the form you get given with your pensioner card. The ticket the guy bought does not entitle him to such and is in fact a metropolitan ticket)

[Seshat]

NSW pensioners are lucky: Victorian pensioners get two single OR one return ticket.

Also, this is annually - the free ticket is only once a year.

[fireheart]

NSW pensioners are lucky: Victorian pensioners get two single OR one return ticket.

Also, this is annually - the free ticket is only once a year.

NSW pensioners get a pensioner ticket that costs $2.50 and lasts the entire day. One ticket for the WHOLE DAY. Even on the smart card they have as an option, they still only pay $2.50.

The free tickets I was referring to come with the Centrleink Pensioner Concession Card and I remember this because I was on it for a period of time (how it was explained to me was that while I wasn't on the disability pension, I was receiving a pharmaceutical allowance and this somehow entitled me to get the pensioner card instead of the healthcare card. I do not qualify for said allowance now obviously) and the tickets are for like the Ghan to a certain point.

This train the dude was catching? Only went about 5km (as the crow flies) from my station to the final stop. (there are two trains at my station: one goes the 5-or-so-kms to a final stop, the other goes some distance to the south-west region. Going the other way, the distance-related one goes "express" to the city, while the other one stops at all the stops between mine and the city)

[prjkt]

NSW pensioners are lucky: Victorian pensioners get two single OR one return ticket.

Also, this is annually - the free ticket is only once a year.

I'm not certain, but I think this relates to a number of pensioners/veterans complaining they couldn't afford to attend the ANZAC day service/march, so this was introduced. Then expanded to one time any time for various reasons...