The situation at the capital's railway station cannot be called calm. We have written more than once about queues, hassle, difficulties with buying tickets. Belarusian Railways took a number of measures to rectify the situation, but they did not work completely. As a result, “Minsk Courier” writes, not only passengers but also ticket office workers suffer.
“For me, such a massive desire to leave the post of cashier is a novelty,- says the head of the Moscow railway station Vladimir Grigorovich. - Even 10 years ago, this was out of the question. At that time, resignations were submitted extremely rarely. Now, the situation at the cashier's offices cannot be called complacent. Recently, passenger traffic on long-distance and local routes has increased by about a quarter. The result is long lines. And if in the morning the ticket offices are mostly not loaded, then in the afternoon the tail of the queue to each window sometimes consists of 20 passengers. More and more often I notice: our girls will run out for a break, wipe away their tears, correct their makeup - and back to work. You can't be late for a second. Otherwise, another disorder is guaranteed. Besides, who would like to look at a tear-stained face? The cashier, in any state of mind, should look as expected. "
What are Minsk residents complaining about? Almost everything.
“For example, the cashier himself is accused of the same length of queue, they say, you do not work well. And at the same time, they stubbornly do not believe in the sincerity of the proposal to take a ticket at the ticket offices located in the old station building, where even at the rush hour there are a maximum of five people standing at the coveted windows.- says the administrator Svetlana Kozel. - And further. Passengers do not even suspect that their eternal demand to issue a ticket exclusively to the lower shelf in the compartment is forcing the cashier to violate the instructions. After all, it clearly states that it is necessary to issue travel documents in strict order - one top, one bottom. True, the lower shelf is provided only to certain categories of the population. For example, people with disabilities or the elderly. In a word, such cases can be enumerated for a long time. "
“Our female workers know the rules well, but, alas, not always annoyed passengers want to listen to their explanations,- says Vladimir Grigorovich. - If clients knew not only their rights, but also their responsibilities, there would be half the reasons for conflicts. And both parties should not forget about the elementary rules of politeness in any case. "
One of the cashiers recently dared to stand up for herself - she wrote a complaint against a passenger who made derogatory remarks about the staff and the railway as a whole. The complaint was pending at the Ministry of Information (as the client turned out to be an editor of one of the print media). Recently, the cashier received a disappointing answer: the magazine whose editor insulted the ticket office employee turned out to be private, so the Ministry of Information has no right to influence the situation.
DetailsOnce upon a time, the first cashier put all the proceeds in a drawer. The point of his manipulation was the preservation of the treasury. Today the cashier has a cash desk through which cash flows.
Cashier to cashier strife. If one manages electronic account statements, another specialist serves customers in supermarkets, the third one simply sells tickets - hence the name “ticket”. We are interested in the last type of cashier service.
What does a ticket cashier do?
But the professional skills of a ticket clerk are the same as anyone else's, because he, too, has access to cash receipts, which means he must be attentive. After all, every mistake in the calculations leads to a decrease in the size of the specialist's wallet.
How to start a career as a ticket clerk?
The cashier is appointed by the director of the company, who signs the order. From the moment of signing the order, the countdown of the length of service of a specialist begins.
What does a ticket clerk do?
- A professional worker in his workplace must fill out tickets and sell them to the client.
- This is the main responsibility of the ticket clerk, but not the only one.
- The cashier issues receipts for payment for luggage, travel documents. Before issuing a ticket, the cashier checks the passenger's documents, as well as permission to purchase a ticket to a special zone.
- The cashier must provide the client with relevant information about the train departure time.
- In case of return of the train ticket, the cashier returns the cash in accordance with the established procedure.
- The specialist does not just sell tickets, he records the availability of free seats and transfers the information to the next ticket office.
- Like any cashier, the ticket office teller hands over cash.
- And also orders forms for reports.
What should a railway cashier know?
The cashier has the following information:
- About passenger fares when traveling by train;
- The layout of the seats in the carriage;
- Working hours of railway stations;
- Knows well the procedure for selling and issuing tickets, receipts;
- On the validity of concessionary travel and the rules for the sale of concessionary tickets;
- Knows what documents are required to travel to special zones, checks these documents.
- The railway cashier, after selling the ticket, explains to the passenger so that he remembers the date and time of departure, as well as the train number;
- The cashier can make changes to the current rates by order of the relevant management.
Profession railway cashier
Meeting the cashier at the railway ticket office is the beginning of the journey by rail, because the journey requires a ticket, which will be sold by the railway cashier.
So, a railway cashier is a specialist who is in charge of selling tickets with the subsequent execution and registration of documents for reduced fare. An employee who knows his job professionally is able to serve a client quickly and competently. The cashier selling train tickets is familiar with the automated sales system. This speeds up the process of issuing a ticket and selecting a travel option.
The cashier at large train stations is familiar with the timetables of trains to various points.
A modern person who gets a job as a cashier must complete professional courses for the training of railway cashiers. His work, although it comes into contact with various options for the profession of a cashier, but at the same time has its own specifics. The cashier of the railway ticket office should not only be able to sell tickets, but also know the rules for the carriage of passengers and the technical operation of railway tracks, that is, represent the work of the railway infrastructure.
A cashier at his workplace is not just a pleasant companion for passengers. He is a professional in his field.
How can you get the profession of a railway cashier?
To become a railway cashier, you must complete professional training in courses in the specialty "ticket clerk". The training on the courses is 160 hours of practical and theoretical classes, during which the student learns to sell train tickets and issue travel documents on railway transport.
The theoretical questions studied in the courses are different. This is the tariff cost of travel, and the scheme of railways and train timetables, the study of all kinds of instructions required in the work of a cashier and the ability to draw up accounting documents. Students learn to work on personal computers and other cash register equipment.
Professional courses provide the knowledge required to work as a train station cashier.
Cashiers in the capital often apply for resignation. A common reason is the rudeness of passengers.
Regular disorders
“For me, such a massive desire to leave the post of cashier is a novelty,” says the head of the Moscow railway station, Vladimir Grigorovich. - Even 10 years ago, this was out of the question. At that time, resignations were submitted extremely rarely. Now, the situation at the cashier's offices cannot be called complacent. Recently, passenger traffic on long-distance and local routes has increased by about a quarter. The result is long lines. And if in the morning the ticket offices are mostly not loaded, then in the afternoon the tail of the queue to each window sometimes consists of 20 passengers. More and more often I notice: our girls will run out for a break, wipe away their tears, correct their makeup - and back to work. You can't be late for a second. Otherwise, another disorder is guaranteed. Plus, who likes looking at a tear-stained face? The cashier, in any state of mind, should look as expected.
What are we complaining about?
According to the Book of Remarks and Suggestions - practically everything. A weighty magazine designed for passenger grievances lasts for a maximum of six months.
“Almost every day, one or two angry entries appear in the Book of Comments and Suggestions,” says the administrator Svetlana Kozel, who, upon request, is obliged to provide the desired magazine. - And the cashier is not always to blame for the conflict. Most of the complaints are received due to the carelessness or mistrust of the passengers themselves. For example, the cashier himself is accused of the same length of the queue, they say, you do not work well. And at the same time, they stubbornly do not believe in the sincerity of the offer to take a ticket at the ticket offices located in the old station building, where even at the rush hour there are a maximum of five people standing at the coveted windows. And further. Passengers do not even suspect that their eternal demand to issue a ticket exclusively to the lower shelf in the compartment is forcing the cashier to violate the instructions. After all, it clearly states that it is necessary to issue travel documents in strict order - one top, one bottom. True, the lower shelf is provided only to certain categories of the population. For example, people with disabilities or the elderly. In a word, such cases can be enumerated for a long time.
If at one box office you were told that there were no tickets for this or that train, but in the next window after a couple of minutes they still provided you with the desired receipt, this does not mean that the first cashier held the ticket. It's just that one of your future travel companions refused to travel during this time, and a corresponding entry appeared in the database of free places.
By the way, a warning hangs at the box office far from being a catchphrase: "Ticket issuance stops 5 minutes before the train leaves." Swearing with the cashier and demanding receipts from her, swearing that she will definitely have time to jump into the carriage, is completely useless. Even if the cashier took pity and wanted to give out what was required, the computer would not allow her. The electronic program has no pity - it follows the instructions exactly, and even the most sensual entry in the complaint book will not force it to issue a ticket later than the set time.
“Our workers know the rules well, but, alas, annoyed passengers do not always want to listen to their explanations,” says Vladimir Grigorovich. - If clients knew not only their rights, but also responsibilities, there would be half the reasons for conflicts. And both parties should not forget about the elementary rules of politeness in any case. Now cashiers are placed in a very strict framework. A simple example. If earlier a cashier could accidentally give you a ticket to Vorkuta instead of St. Petersburg and this mistake was difficult to prove, now the cashier is increasingly responsible for the correctness of his actions with his wallet.
The errors of the ticket clerk are now helping to identify the wiretapping of the recording of the negotiations. The passenger himself, receiving a ticket, does not always notice the data indicated in the travel document incorrectly on time, although he must thoroughly check this information. It was found that the incorrect departure date indicated on the ticket, in 75 percent of cases, is the result of an error by the passengers themselves.
Silence in response?
If passengers express their dissatisfaction in writing almost every day, then the cashiers prefer to experience their grievances on their own.
- What can we do? To file a lawsuit? - the workers of ticket offices shrug their shoulders. - Well this is how long it will take! And it is not known yet whether you will win. So you have to silently endure unfair grievances. You will not use foul language in return!
One of the cashiers recently dared to stand up for herself - she wrote a complaint against a passenger who made derogatory remarks about the staff and the railway as a whole. The complaint was pending at the Ministry of Information (as the client turned out to be an editor of one of the print media). Recently, the cashier received a disappointing answer: the magazine whose editor insulted the ticket office employee turned out to be private, so the Ministry of Information has no right to influence the situation.
Who, then, will be able to protect cashiers from rudeness and rudeness of passengers?
An experienced specialist in a relaxed atmosphere can process one travel document per minute. Focused gaze, restrained movements, endless faces on the other side of the glass. There is no place for emotions in precise work. Dear passengers, why mix buckets of negativity into the well-established system, wouldn't it be better to support the workers with a drop of gratitude?
The cashier at the railway station ticket offices draws up up to 600 travel documents for a 12-hour shift, with the norm not exceeding 300.
Railroad workers spend a lot of money and energy to get rid of free riders. Turnstiles are installed on the platforms. Along the edges of the platform, security guards prevent people from jumping in the path and leaving without paying. Station fences are covered with barbed wire to prevent hares from escaping over the fence. But they cut the barbed wire with wire cutters, run away from the guards, make holes in the fences, make tunnels.
Here I am, sitting at the Kursk railway station in a green carriage, which will take me to Vladimir, looking at the free riders. Well-dressed men and women sit on the tracks. The security service in bright green vests does not even try to catch the jumpers.
Although I have become a controller, I'm not really fussing either. My business is freeloaders on the train.
Your ticket!
My mentor is a cashier-controller of the Gorky direction Irina Skryabina... Checking tickets is a rather dreary and monotonous business. Each travel card must be attached to a hand-held reader (similar to a bank card terminal). Information is displayed on the screen. If something is wrong, the computer will highlight it in black. If you do not allocate it, you can return the travel card and move on.
There are no free riders in our carriage. They all fled when we arrived.
Passengers provoke us
Recently, there was a video on the Web where the controllers wring the hands of a stowaway and take away his tablet. Did you happen to see it?
Happened - Irina answers. - There was a story in our direction. I even personally know a guy who fell under the hot hand. He travels by train almost every day, plays the pipe. Either he doesn't buy a ticket at all, or he takes the cheapest one, for 20 rubles, to get through the turnstile. He always starts to be rude to the inspectors. I never had to apologize and quietly buy a ticket or get off at the next stop.
But why was the tablet taken away?
Here ours were stupid. A person takes pictures and removes - it does not bother anyone. But people are different, it happens, someone reacts to the camera normally, and someone starts to get nervous. I think all this could have been a provocation. The video in the carriage was filmed by a woman who is not the first time she has witnessed various scandals. She then merges the video for money. Where is the guarantee that the controllers were not deliberately provoked to make money on the hot video?
And no rights
Oddly enough, the controller on the train has almost no rights! For example, I cannot plant free rider even if I find it. I am not allowed to use force. And how do you order to convince a boorish passenger who simply sends everyone around and does not react to words?
I usually start teasing people sitting next to me - said Irina. - Here, everyone paid, and this one goes at someone else's expense. Let me remind you that the free rider is sitting, while other honest passengers are standing. Sometimes it helps.
Believe it or not, a train controller cannot even issue a fine! Instead, a protocol is drawn up. And then the lawyers of the Central Suburban Passenger Company will collect money from the hare through the courts.
And how many minutes do you manage to draw up in a day?
Three or four, it happens, and not a single one. You have to indicate your passport data, but I have no right to demand documents from a passenger - I am not the police. If a person voluntarily shows his passport, I will draw up a protocol. If she doesn't show it, I won't.
In Soviet times, controllers could drop free riders from the train. Now the main thing in work cashier-controller- not to catch hares, but to sell them tickets. The more he sold, the higher the monthly premium. But need to bargain for 120 thousand rubles so that the increase in salary becomes significant.
I go hunting
At the Fryazevo station, a crowd pours into the train. Someone, at the sight of the controllers, immediately jumped into the next car.
Your ticket, please, - I appeal to my aunt.
Irina allowed me to promote the passenger for a fine or a ticket. A woman, shyly covering her face, stands in the vestibule. Like a hare.
Shame on you? We will show your face throughout the country - we have to threaten.
The danger of becoming famous, although it worked, did not work as it wanted. Aunt just ran off to another part of the train. Well, okay, there are other free riders.
And I have no money, - the passenger declared on the move, sparkling with gold teeth in her mouth.
Do you understand that other passengers have to pay for you?
What will I do? My salary is small, there is no way to pay for the train. I will continue to travel without a ticket.
At the next station, a passenger with gold teeth got out on her own.
How to explain to such people why traveling without a ticket is bad? All losses of suburban railway companies are compensated from the regional budget. The money, of course, comes from taxes that you and I pay. Nothing happens for free - the rest of the passengers are calculated for each hare.
Riding the train and not paying, because the salary is small, is the same as stealing sausage from the store, since there is not enough money to buy it.
Strength won't always help
It is difficult to fight against a convinced free rider, there is not enough authority. What to do?
Earlier - 15 - 20 years ago - we were all called auditors, - said Irina. - They had the authority to check documents of free riders. The controllers had real power. Now the cashier-controller is just a hired employee of the Central Suburban Passenger Company (TsPPK).
They say they want to recruit strong athletic guys as supervisors. So you can save on security, and free riders will be more afraid.
I don't think this is a panacea. Now I can just persuade a free rider, even if he is big and strong. A strong man in my place could only provoke a conflict. Sheer strength is not needed everywhere.
What about trade?
It is officially prohibited to trade on electric trains - the fine is from 500 to 2000 rubles. But the hawkers walk around the carriages without encountering any resistance. - Shouldn't we do something? - I ask my mentor when an aunt with a bag of socks walked past us.
The police are fighting illegal trade - says Irina. - But there are no duty squads on the trains now. They sit down at some stations, walk through the entire train and leave after 20 minutes. And the controller can only make a remark.
The train from Moscow to Vladimir takes about three hours. The security forces carry out one raid for 20 minutes in the middle of the route. For the first hour and a half, the hawkers may not be afraid that someone will grab them.
How much do we lose to free riders?
In the first 3 months of 2016, electric trains of the Gorky direction alone transported more than 19 million people who paid for travel. Nobody counted free riders, but about 20% of them - that is, another 3.8 million people. The total cost of tickets sold at the CPPK is not called, it is a commercial secret. Let's assume that the average cost of a single trip is 100 rubles. Then the carrier missed 380 million rubles for the quarter! As the annual budget of a small town - and all this money was compensated by residents of Moscow and the region.
Why are there so many of them on the trains?
On suburban trains, we do not have the most wealthy public, - said Mikhail Blinkin, director of the Institute for Transport Economics and Transport Policy of the Higher School of Economics. - As soon as the tariff is raised, the number of free riders only increases.
But there are different technical means ...
Almost everything that was invented in the world to control passengers on electric trains is already in use in Moscow and the region. Turnstiles cannot be installed in the cars themselves. The time for boarding and disembarking will increase, the schedule will creep. And our paths are already congested.