So I planned to drop in Montreal for a quick one-day jaunt this weekend. I bought my tickets online, and presented myself at the Greyhound bus station at about 6:40am (departure: 7:00am).
Ideally, I’d pick up the tickets, be on my way, and that’s that. Unfortunately, the poor decision process of one employee did not make it so. I went into the line to pick up my tickets. The one employee working the desk was on the phone, while the person that she was attending waited. From what I could understand, this guy had American tickets that weren’t valid to go out east.
He wouldn’t take no for an answer, and she kept trying to call new numbers. At this point, she should have perhaps quickly processed a few people before returning to him. But she didn’t. So I waited. At 6:57am she was still on the phone. I said fuck it – and went and bought a one way ticket at an electronic station there. So not only did I buy the return trip tickets online, but now I had bought an extra ticket to get to Montreal. Sucks, but shit happens I thought.
The day in Montreal was nice. The person I went there to meet was a no-show due to a mishap, but I hooked up with a good friend of mine and had some excellent dim sum.
When it came time to go back I went to the bus terminal in Montreal, and presented them my papers to get the ticket. They refused them, stating I needed to have picked up the tickets from Ottawa. They said the paperwork stated so. I checked – it didn’t. It said I could pick it up at a Greyhound station, and I assumed that since it was online, it meant any station – just like airline tickets. I explained to them the situation, but they didn’t care. They told me that I had to buy the ticket to get back a second time. Oh and no, I could not speak to a manager.
This really pissed me off. On the way there – okay – it sucks that I had to buy a ticket a second time, but I could deal with that. But that they refused my ticket back – and told me to buy it again – that really upset me.
This was a no-win situation. Even had I waited for that worker in Ottawa to finish her business, and miss my bus in the process, then that initial ticket to go there would have been invalidated (only good for that one time according to staff.)
So thank you Greyhound, for telling me to buy my tickets twice.