She is a director. He tells about the “difficult travelers” during the holidays

– During this year’s holidays, I am especially looking at complaints about “expensive” and passengers avoiding to buy tickets – says Zuzanna Majewska, director. In the conversation, he also points out the “difficult passengers”.

Holiday train trips are certainly one of the most popular forms of travel for Poles. This is confirmed by official PKP statistics from last year, according to which from the beginning of June to the end of August 2023, more than 20 million passengers used the carrier’s services. As the data shows, this is 1.8 million more passengers than at the same time in 2022 and 7.9 million more than in 2021.

– The number of people using PKP services increases every year. Especially during the holiday season. We see a lot of interest in it. So much so that train tickets are sold out on the first day of sale – says Zuzanna Majewska, director, in an interview with Wirtualna Polska.

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Zuzanna Majewska loves her job. However, he does not hide that there are times when he has a “crisis”. These occur mainly during the summer and holidays, when passengers are more interested in PKP services.

– I will not find America here if I say that the situation is difficult then – both for us as leaders and workers of PKP, and for the passengers – he says.

Her words about a “difficult situation” mask at least a few issues.

– During this year’s holidays, I am especially looking at complaints about “expensive” and passengers avoiding to buy tickets. It often happens that people can no longer get tickets at the ticket offices due to the lack of seats, including standing ones, on board the train anyway. Instead of approaching the leader or leader immediately, they wait. Usually with the hope that they will avoid buying them – he said.

When travelers meet a conductor or a passing conductor, they are surprised by much higher ticket prices.

– When you buy a ticket from a conductor, you always pay more. Unfortunately, not everyone knows about this yet, which is why in such situations we often encounter complaints, disputes or aggressive behavior. A ticket bought only from the conductor can be up to PLN 100 more expensive – notes by Zuzanna Majewska.

Zuzanna Majewska says that there are more and more situations where passengers without tickets hide in the train toilets to avoid buying them. Recently, a director spent almost an hour waiting for one of the passengers who locked himself in the toilet and did not want to open the door.

– This is not a surprise to us anymore, but it is uncomfortable. really, anyone traveling on the train cannot simply enter and travel without a ticket. In the past, some people may have been successful in doing this, but today the number of conductors is so large and we know the tricks of the travelers so well. good that these tricks do not end successfully – he says.

The director also says that she and her colleagues are more likely to be disrespected than the directors: – It is obvious that passengers, often men unfortunately, have more respect for conductors than they do for female conductors. There is still a common belief that one can pay more when talking to a director.

– I’m not just talking about flirting or compliments, but obscene suggestions, which I’m not willing to do anymore. However, new leaders don’t always know how to approach it and worry about certain words. In such situations, you can report it, for example, to the train manager, who will politely warn you and usually won’t bother anyone, he said.

According to Zuzanna Majewska, the most difficult passengers – as it seems – are not families with small children, but people who are under the influence of alcohol.

– There are more people like that than usual during the holiday months. Often, they are already under the influence of alcohol before they board the train. What catches the eye the most, however, are situations when the affected person is a man, a father who takes care of his children in such a situation, he notices near

Her words are confirmed by Dagmara, an employee of one of the cafes at the central station in Warsaw. The student openly says that people she meets at the station during the holidays are under the influence of alcohol and sometimes even other substances.

– It is understandable that it is the holidays and that people are having fun. However, for me – as a woman who finishes work late – it is not comfortable. When I finish work, I literally run away from the station at high speed just so I don’t like a guy – said Dagmara.

Since she works in a place that is visited by a large number of travelers during the holiday season, she does not hide that this is a much more difficult time for her as well.

– A few days ago, I heard from an impatient client, a man about 50 years old, a question: “Do I think with my brain or my ass?” According to him, the reason for this was my questions about his order, which, I admit, I may have repeated several times. We had a terrible queue back then and it was difficult for me to remember all the orders – explained Dagmara.

But, as he emphasizes, fortunately these questions are very rare. Nice customers usually visit cafes at the station to see what it’s like to work there.

– What are they complaining about? The first thing that comes to mind is prices. I have to admit that they are right, because coffee in the city now costs about PLN 20, sometimes even more. When, for example, a family of four, including two children, comes, they pay PLN 200 for coffee, tea, sandwiches and cakes at the station, before the trip, taking – near the cafe worker.

What else worries travelers? – Bad smells and heat. I agree with them here too. The temperature in Warsaw is terrible this holiday season. Not only is it 30 degrees Celsius almost every day, but people sweat. So, sometimes at 12 already stops the whole station – he says.

Aleksandra Lewandowska, journalist of Wirtualna Polska

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