I Didn’t Do It!

It’s a rough life for those of us who spend a lot of our efforts attempting to “get it right.” Just as soon as I think I have beaten off this monkey riding on my back, the little critter pops up again to either blame me, shame me or send me running into that dark hole of perfectionism. Mostly the monkey walks alone these days.

Recently I traveled to Berlin, Germany for a long-awaited street photography workshop with the wonderful Valerie Jardin and Martin U Waltz. I arrived a day early to do some shooting on my own and thought I would easily navigate the transit system (which, by the way, is fantastic.) Without knowing a word of German, I purchased my tickets for travel on the railway ticket machine and jumped aboard. Little did I know that there was an extra step-punching your ticket in yet another little gadget on the platform prior to boarding.

I learned quickly that the undercover transit authorities ride the trains looking for dastardly offenders such as me. I was approached by one such menacing looking gent, asked for my ticket (that was my guess as he spoke in German) and then promptly escorted from the train at the next stop and brought before the station master. The trail commenced and I was found guilty for violating the rigid code of ticket fraud. Welcome to Berlin!

Immediately, I sunk to that dark place of being shamed and feeling guilty for not getting it right. The transit agent and the station master had nary a smile on their faces and mostly certainly didn’t respond to my explanation that I didn’t understand the system. GUILTY! Pay the 60 Euro fine.

Fairly quickly I had the internal heated discussion with myself…..would I let this destroy my visit to this beautiful city or could I laugh it off as one of my faux pas as an innocent abroad and consider it an experience to be savored. Yep, the latter.

Since returning home I have navigated a German language website to argue my case in fighting the ticket (along with a photocopy of my purchased ticket minus the requisite stamp.) We will see what transpires. But the result? A silly story for me and another monkey slayed successfully!