I’m Sorry, I Was Wrong

If you are not a frequent user of regional rail, the fare options can at times be confusing. There are regular fares, peak-time fares, daily passes, weekly passes, monthly passes, and more. Some passes have time restrictions, others do not. So, when I recently found myself needing to regularly take regional rail to a client’s location, I inquired with the ticket agent as to what type of ticket made the most sense. After a brief yet thoughtful question and answer session with the agent, it was decided that one particular pass would best suit my needs.

The agent was correct. I used this pass every time I traveled to the client’s location, and had no trouble whatsoever…until one particular morning. On that fateful morning, the conductor on-duty looked at my pass and told me that it was not valid for the time I was traveling, and that I would have to pay an additional fare. I told the conductor that I’ve been using this pass for the last several weeks and that it had always been honored. The conductor told me the other conductors were wrong in accepting my pass, and that again I had to pay an additional fare. I firmly but politely told him I was not going to pay any additional fare, and our back and forth brought the attention of our fellow passengers, so that was a bit uncomfortable. After another round, he very calmly told me he would be right back.

This was disconcerting. Was I perhaps wrong? Were the other conductors wrong? Would I have to pay more on top of what I had already paid? Doubts began to come into my mind even thought I knew I was right, and all I really wanted to do was have a quiet and uneventful ride to work. Now I was distracted and a bit upset, which was the last thing I needed. I wondered what the conductor was going to come back with.

After a few minutes, the conductor came back and immediately apologized to me, said that it was, “My bad” (meaning his bad), that my pass was valid, and sorry for the inconvenience. He then went on to say he just started working this particular shift and was still getting familiar with the different fare and hour restrictions. The main point here is that he owned up to his error and apologized, and all was fine after that. I felt a sense of relief for myself, that we wouldn’t have to continue down this uncomfortable road.  I felt compassion for him, as to err is human. And that was cool, because many times things do not go as expected or planned, because that is how life goes and how business goes. Too often we have trouble saying “I was wrong” because, well, we don’t like being wrong. But with some things we cannot be right until we’ve been wrong. Saying “I’m sorry, I was wrong” can begin to help make it all good again, or at least get things moving in the right direction, and there’s nothing wrong with that.