Fahrscheine, bitte!

Public transportation in Europe (or at least in Austria and Germany), relies heavily on the honor system. You may either buy a ticket from the driver at the front of the bus, or go in through the back, assuming you have a long-term ticket or have already purchased a ticket from a machine. Easy enough, right? A lot of people get on without paying....

This morning I had an appointment with a Professor. Upon rising at 8am for the third day in a row, I wanted to kill myself. I did manage, however, to get out of the building at 8:30am, as planned. I got onto the bus, put my headphones in my ears, and started jamming to Monday Morning, a song that I could listen to 30 times a day. Just before my stop I hear a man say "Fahrscheine bitte!" or "Tickets please!" I look down to grab my ticket. Oh shit. I brought the wrong purse this morning.

The man controlling the tickets stares at me, unamused. I think fast, and decide it would be best to converse with him in English, rather than German. If I had spoken with him in German, I would assume that he would've thought someone fluent in German should've known better than to forget their ticket. After explaining my situation, we have arrived at my stop, and he motions for me to get off of the train. He then demands 60 Euro from me, the penalty for "Schwarz fahren," or being caught on public transportation without a ticket. I calmly tell him that I do not have 60 Euro with me, at which point he says that I need to get the money somehow or he will call the police. And that, he told me, was going to be very expensive.

Shit. What now? I was so close by. I could walk down the street to my professor. If only I had 60 Euro with me.... But I didn't, and I told him I could get the money out of the bank with my debit card. So he motions for me to get on the next bus, and we ride over to the bank. Before we get there, he asks if I have 5 Euro. I hand it to him, and he buys me a day ticket. He hands it to me and says that it is good for the whole day, and that I had better go and get a month or semester ticket. He told me how to get back to where I was meeting my professor, and that was it. I got off of the hook in away, but the experience frightened me. In the first place, it was terribly embarrassing, and in the second place, being on the bus without a ticket could end up being terribly expensive! 60 Euro is my food money for a week! Needless to say, I will not be forgetting my bus ticket anytime soon....