Well, today’s entry from me is not related to economy (which seems to have calmed
a bit anyways) or from computer-related topics (nothing new happened so far).
Today I am writing about people who tend to push buttons for no reason… in tramways
or buses for example… or in offices on computers or phones or other devices…

Imagine this situation. It is 8a.m. in the morning. You’re on the way to the office. You missed the actual train because the tram-driver was in the mood to get a bit earlier to the following station as the train is very empty and no one is waiting at the station anyways, so we ignore the timetable at the tram-station and depart 1 to 2 minutes earlier… nobody would care anyways…
Yet the train destination display still desperately shows the already departed train to arrive in 1 to 2 minutes…

Okay… missed the tram, wait for the next one and hopefully it doesn’t rain… So I decided to wait for the upcoming tram, knowing that time is now very short to arrive at the upcoming meeting in time!  Then… after 8 minutes of waiting (because the following trams always tend to be delayed for absolutely NO reason, I thought till now) the next tram finally arrived.

When entering, the tram is crowded like hell, because either the people at the station before mine also had the misfortune to either miss the previous tram to the city or were also late like me. So they also entered the upcoming tram.

Okay, I am in the tram now and heading to the city… just 6 stations to go to arrive at the transfer station to switch trains to my office.

Then it happens: The announcement in the train: “Ausserholligen” – Just the next stop yet known for many ppl to switch trains as the regional commuter service has it’s stop there also.

What now happens is the classical “We-push-the-button”-phenomenon: People push the button to signalize to disembark the tram at the next station. So good so far, nothing bad here or something to complain about. The tram enters the station and I hope that the man who just pushed the “Stop”-Button would leave the tram so I would have more space to stand.

But NO, the man who pushed said button stands there while the doors have opened. So I wonder, WHY on earth has this man pushed the button when he’s not intending to leave the tram then??? When I saw him shuffling some air with his newspaper to him I knew why: He’s hot and the air condition seems to be set to “wuss mode” (to explain it with temperatures: We have 30°C outside and the temperature in the train is approx 26°C…)

Okay, as 26°C is really okay for everyone, the man seems to suffer from extreme heat. His door-opening cost the tram approx. 30 seconds more stop-time. I thought, he’d do it just at this station and now the rest of the trip would continue as regular… so the tram now departs with 30 secs additional delay.

The announcement says “Steigerhubel” and I watch the man who stopped the tram at “Ausserholligen” for no other reason than cooling down as no other passengers were entering the train anyways. I watch the driver’s cabin window where I can spot the drive-in to the next station (no one standing there, so probably a short stop for ppl who are exiting the train then).

What happens? Our man who already opened the doors at “Ausserholligen” again pushes the little green stop button. So I think, okay, he has to leave at “Steigerhubel”…

We arrive at “Steigerhubel”, the doors open and the man is… (who’d guessed it) NOT exiting the tram! So the tram is again stopping and waiting 30 seconds for a man who probably seems to have problems travelling in closed cars that are mildly air-conditioned. 1 minute delay so far. “Thank you you big a**hole” I thought to myself while the tram departs and is on it’s way to “Schlosshalde”…

While I am thinking about my already-missed meeting I see that the man again is moving his hand to the little tiny button. My face-color is slowly but distinctively fading into a hate-based red as a decent “Ding” has confirmed that man’s button-push… AGAIN 30 seconds lost because he’s hot! Why on earth is this stupid a**hole not walking then…

The train arrives at “Schlosshalde”, the man isn’t exiting and I am REALLY pissed now!

The doors close and we’re departing to “Loryplatz” now. So I am now carefully watching the man’s hand.
As we’re on our way to “Loryplatz”, his hand again moves to the little tiny green button…

Now I’ve had it! I asked the man why he’s always opening the door. In a very harsh way he tells me, he’s hot and needs some air. My only reaction was to tell him that he’s better off walking the rest of the way while other passengers are also discussing about the delay this one man is causing because of his repeatedly door-opening and cooldown…

Gheez. We arrive at “Loryplatz” and guess what, the man is finally leaving. The rest of the trip is going as usual. Every stop short opening, passenger-transfer and departure. The obligatory stop for almost 1 minute at the big roadcros just in front of “Kocherpark”. At my final station “Kocherpark” I arrived with a total delay of 2 minutes. So I better hurry to catch the connecting tram to my office.

And guess what… I was in time, whereas I was also very exhausted because I had to do some sprint…

So what is the conclusion of all this? We still have dumb people on earth who think the public transportation service is for them only and the don’t care for other people for one second. If you then try to know why they delay an otherwise perfect system, you get some harsh comments back. And THIS is what annoys me! The lack of understanding that other people might have time issues when they are late.

I guess, that example can be applied to many public transportation systems and commuter services, such as the one in Munich where the regional commuter service (S-Bahn) usually is delayed 5 to 10 minutes where nobody can explain why. But now I know better. Despite the fact that there are sometimes lazy drivers, there’s the second factor: Simply dumb, ignorant, selfish people with a distinctive propensity to push buttons…