A dollar for a day

Wandering into the Perth Underground train station for a trip home this afternoon, I discovered that I had no change. I couldn’t see a change machine, so I trotted over to a guard & asked if there was one I could use.

Nup, but the two ticketing machines right at the back of the set do accept notes.

This was good news, so over I went.

There was a bloke (youngish, maybe early 20s) at a machine struggling without success to pay for his $4.20 ticket with a $5 note. The machine simply refused to inhale the note. He gave up, mentioned some short words, & stormed away from the machine.

In I went, cancelled the settings, keyed in concession & 4 zones, so the machine asked for $2. I fed it my $10 note, which it responded to with acceptance, a ticket, & a barrage of $2 coins in change.

Collecting these, I did a volte face & made as if to walk away, only to face the original bloke, still grumpy.

“Show us yer note?” I invited, which he did. “My tenner worked...” I remarked, handing him 3 coins ($6) & grabbing the $5 note, “try these.”

His response was amazing, a broad smile & straightened gait, looking for all the world as if I’d just handed him the keys to a Ferrari.

He visited the machine, got a ticket & some change, & I could hear him maybe 80-100m away across the station happily exclaiming to his friends over his success.

The $5 note worked fine for buying tins of exotic jelly from the OK shop.

So this cost me a buck — which although small I can ill afford at the moment — but bought him a renewed day.

Bargain! (-:

Feeling bouyed up by this, I was able on the train to cheer up (gently, not forcibly) a lady who was recovering from her Xmas shopping with her 4? year old daughter. (-: I think that before I started, she would have enthusiastically agreed with the “Santa Is A Sith Lord” hypothesis. :-) Finding positive behaviours in 4yod’s activity was an interesting little challenge, & surprisingly rewarding.