Expectation is the mother of disappointment. Right? Right? RIGHHHHT?!
I want to tell you I hated my experience at the RTA. That's the kind a fun-rant-filled kind of review you'd expect for the RTA. I was meant to make extremely witty and clever comparisons between the service level at the RTA and that of a high security prison cafeteria worker. I wanted to give you the kind of dissatisfaction that only can be expressed with a string of symbols: #$%^&*. And I have failed you. And for that, I am truly sorry.
However, what I WILL give you is a mystical tale, one full of twists and turns and unexpected endings. I don't want to call it a miracle, but I will. It was an amazing sparkly experience which left me with a smile on my face and a new e-toll tag in my hand. (By the way, how cute is the new little e-toll tag?!)
Now back to my tale...
It was a warm (slightly rainy) Sydney day I remember it well, it was yesterday. Tuesday 3 December, 2014. I was bright-eyed and sober, stone cold sober (which I thought at first might be a huge mistake). It was lunch and I hadn't eaten - which anyone who knows me, hanger is real. I braced myself as I walked in and was greeted (yes greeted) by a woman who asked me what she could help me with. I'd like to note here that she was a real human.
I took my ticket and waited a long and arduous 20 minutes. Gasp, is that really my number they are calling?! Yes, it is true - it's me!
The woman took my details and my 7 year old e-toll tag, which stopped beeping, she typed a few things into the computer and I waited. I waited with the kind of fear you feel while you sit next to your mailbox awaiting your year 9 report card.
Then, just as abruptly as it began, it ended. She handed me my e-toll tag and told me to have a great day. She smiled. The good kind of smile, like she actually cared and enjoyed her job.
I walked outside. Then I walked back inside to look around and make sure I wasn't high. But sadly I wasn't. I walked back to work and smiled at 3 people, (randoms on the street) my hand held firmly around my e-toll tag as if to keep the moment for a little bit longer.
I miss that day already. It was special and I felt special and I wish it never had to end. But I think of it fondly every time NSW transport rips me off (which is pretty much on every f#*%ing toll road.) All I have to do is hear that gentle "beep-beep" and I am back there again. read more
