Here's some back ground information. I had just been to Ikea, to get everything from my new apartment.

The train from Bern to Neuchatel....it has 2 destinations.....aka they split the train at Kerns and half goes to Neuchatel the other goes "someplace else" I know this because I've been to this "someplace else" once and didn't wish to go back.

Anyways I go to the last car in the farest corner to make SURE I'm on the right part of the train and this guy of about 55 with a handle bar mustache sits across from by me. Then he takes out his stash....proceeds to crush what I can only assume was blow...put it in nice little lines on nice little table they provide you there and snort it right there in front of me.

A few moments later a women with her six year old also took seats in the same compartment, I figured it was ok, and hoped that the guy would leave soon.

About half way thought the trip he wanted more and did the "prep" in his seat and "tried to snort it quietly" but ended up going to the bathroom.

Anyway the kicker here is he wants to smoke after the 2nd time....your not supposed to do that on the train so he cracks the window and holds it out there while he isn't inhaling.....very considerate.


Even after all this I still love the train system in Switzerland, and won't be getting a car! Has anyone else had anything like this happen to them?


Cheers!
Brie

No, I can't say anything this bizarre has occurred to me on the SBB.

But look on the bright side..at least you don't look like a cop.

1989/1990 - I was on the train from Winterthur to Zurich around 7am. Sitting in second class and the chap opposite me starts skinning up a spliff. Didn't smoke it, just stuck it in his pocket. I was fresh in from London at that point, so needless to say fairly shocked. I thought I had seen it all at that point.

I was wrong. Jump forward to around 1994 and I'm in the No. 4 tram heading towards Bellvue from Seefeld. A bloke who looked like death already, gets a bit of foil out, starts flattening the creases out of it up against the window, adds what I guess was smack and smokes it there and then. Of course nobody said a thing, and I'm just stunned and in shock. He stumbled of the tram at Bellvue weaving in and out of the assembled masses. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon so there were loads of people around

I can attest to having ridden the train and seen behaviors involving both sex and drugs (separately, not together at the same time). These are nonetheless things which are totally disrespectful and inconsiderate and should not be happening on a train in plain view of other passengers.

Same thing happened to me. This time a "lady" also looking like death on the 13 tram between Saalsporthalle and Enge. Nobody said a word so I told her that she should get off and to my surprise she did, looking very dazed and confused.

Thanks!

It's really nice to know that the experience was not unique!

Cheers,
Brie

I'm interested to know exactly what you are going to say ?

"Can you do that somewhere else" (as I am subjected to the fumes)
or
"Thats illegal and you really shouldn't be doing that"
or
"Please stop immediately, else I call the Polizei"
or
"Don't hog the roach man, pass it round"

No right answers here I think.

dave

Funny one! This was my favorite of all the answers.

Some people can be so selfish, firing up a doobie in the train and then bogarting it! (That's meant sarcastically!)

Here's one of my pet peeves:
I take a seat next to a man (when the train is crowded) and he won't close his legs to give me my fair half of the bench. ***Fighting for my half would mean having to touch his leg with mine. Ummm, no thanks, or I try to change seats if possible!

People are so rude using their bags to take up space, too, to avoid having to sit next to someone.

You guys don't feel you're being a little haughty here? Drug use is a victimless crime. Does it merely make you feel uncomfortable or is it that you need to lord yourselves over "people who look like death"? (this could apply to the fashionless, too, btw)
I laud the Swiss "do nothingers" who minded their own friggin business over the brave superhero who told that junkie.
Congratulations, you're better than some!!! Should celebrate, maybe by getting drunk on a train.

My arse. How do they pay for it?
It's well known that petty crime pays for drugs

I was on a train to Luzern at about 8pm a few weeks (about 2-3 weeks) after smoking on trains were banned. I was in a compartment with a group of 20 somethings who were noisy and drinking, and afterwards smoking joints (and God knows what else!!).

I was keeping my fingers crossed that a ticket checker would come to save my day. When he finally did, he just did nothing and said nothing.. as if everything was normal. I asked later on about the prohibition of smoking on trains, he just shrugged his shoulders & said "the group was just having fun".
So, am I the corny spinster now?

It must have been really bad when they pulled out the salmon and mackerel.

Seriously though, the approach of the train guard to turn a blind eye is quite unusual in this country. Even if he didnt know what they were smoking, with a smoking ban in force, I am surprised he did nothing...

dave

As DaveA pointed out, drug use or not he was smoking on the train, which whether you agree with or not was not permitted. And if drug use is a victimless crime why is it illegal?

What if he had exposed himself and masturbated? Would that also have been victimless?

Next time you "laud the Swiss 'do nothingers'" will it be in a case while everybody stands around and watches someone getting their head kicked in a train station? How about that case last year of the guy who was stabbed by druggie waiting for a train. Everybody stood around and did nothing, even after the attacker ran away and the guy lay bleeding on the ground. The victim even had to struggle to call the ambulance himself from his own mobile phone because nobody else did. But I guess you would say they "minded their own friggin business" which is a good thing right?

People do this kind of thing because they know nobody will stand up to them, and they'll probably get away with it.

Brownie - you should have reported that guard for not doing his job!

I have been told by my cousin who works for SBB, that a lot of guards don't say anything or do anything due to the fact that they are afraid. There are cases where guards have been violently attacked and again, everyone just watched. Thus they have been told to rather not do anything then get hurt.
Also from what I understand they don't have the jurisdiction to do much about it, if a SBB customer does not "keep the rules" (pay for a ticket, smoke etc), they cannot do much legally, but have to wait for the police etc, thus they often think it ain't worth to bother about it.

We once complained to SBB about people smoking in the non-smoking train section (was before all trains became non-smoking) and an SBB official told us, that they cannot do anything about it and also they will not do anything about it.
Thus they actually enforce the mentality of "just watch - don't do anything about it". Sad, but true.

I am not an antismoker, but on this occasion the presence of smoking would have directly affected me and I would have complained.
Several years ago (in London) I intervened in such a fracas, and although quite proud, and would do it again, I still have the scars...

Its a dilemma, but I agree, that there is no excuse for not helping an injured person - in fact as we discussed on another thread in Switzerland because of the Good Samaritan rules, it could be an offence not to help....

dave

PS: Coming in between a domestic disputes require extra care - getting attacked by one party in the fight is one thing, but if they both turn on you...

That's a real shame. Despite their excuses they could actually ASK someone to stop their behaviour - even if they can't force them to do it they could simply say the words. Most people will comply if asked to do so by someone in authority.

If the guard is unwilling to even ask someone politely to comply with the rules, then I think that guard should be reported to his management. To be blatantly told by a guard that they won't do anything is beyond the pale.

So I don't need to buy a ticket at all, just ignore the inspectors?
No consequences, no comeback?

Seems like it. My other half who travels by train everyday has seen several occasions where people do not have a ticket or the wrong one (2nd class but blatantly try to get away with sitting in 1st class) and the guard either lets them get away with it (having the wrong ticket) and/or just tells them to pay an additional CHF 5.00 and if they don't have a ticket, then they just buy one on the train. OR they pretend to be a sleep and hope the guard will not check them (some do, some don't).

My experience once to which I was quite surprised was that I saw soldiers (youngsters in the military) on the train presumabley going back home for the weekend or vice vers to their base, HOLDING GUNS. I was quite shocked. And not only that but some f them stored their gun on the overhead compartment. Quite scary.

Welcome to Switzerland, where direct democracy goes hand in hand with armed neutrality.

The gun goes where the soldier goes, else it's not much use, is it now?
Or does YOUR country not trust its own soldiers/citizens?

Putting it in overhead storage OTOH is a no-no, as they have to keep it secure at all times.