Later, losers (train conductor not pictured). (Photo: skeeze/Public Domain)
Most everyone has dreamt of having that Jerry Maguire moment, when you get to just walk out of your job, but that fantasy gets a bit more complicated when you are conducting a passenger train across hundreds of miles of countryside. But according to the Telegraph, a train conductor in Spain didn’t let that stop him from walking away from his post mid-trip, stranding over a hundred riders.
The stoppage occurred Tuesday night during a trip from Santander to Madrid. Around 9:15, just two hours into their trip, the conductor stopped the train without warning, and simply walked away. At first the 109 confused passengers were told that the train had stopped for technical problems, but after not too long they got the truth: the conductor’s shift had ended, so he decided to go home. This left the riders stuck just outside the village of Osorno.
Some of the passengers were able to catch local buses to their destinations, but most of them had to wait a couple of hours before some shuttle buses could be scrambled to carry them the rest of the trip.
For the conductor’s part, according to the union, he had requested that the company schedule someone to relieve him, which apparently didn’t happen. The company, Renfe, is pursuing their own investigation into what happened. No matter who is to blame, stranding a hundred customers is a pretty solid way to stick it to your boss.