ESL Blogs

During my stay in Europe in 2003,  I used to travel a lot between cities. Once, I was standing in front of a ticket window waiting for my turn to get a ticket to travel by bus to another city which was about two hundred kilometers. Between me and the window, a lady in her sixties was arguing for a long time with the employee. At last, the woman behind the window raised her voice, "Please, people are waiting, would you step aside?"

The lady moved one step away to make a room for me.  I asked the employee at the ticket window what was the problem with the old lady. She told me that she paid for the bus ticket but she did not pay for the entry of the hall." The employee went to say, "It is forbidden to wait outside the hall for the bus."

It was about a dollar. I took one dollar from my pocket and gave it to her saying, "here is a dollar for the lady." Then I stepped aside for the lady to come back once again after the employee had hailed for her. The old lady took her ticket and stepped aside waiting for me. I was expecting that she wanted to thank me but she did not do that.

Instead, she wanted to make sure that I bought my ticket and I was going to the station to take the bus. Then she said in an imperative tone, "carry this." She pointed to her bag. It was very strange to me, those people treat others tactfully and carefully. How could that lady do that to me?

to be continued