Tonight my mom was arrested by the Metro police! Well, maybe not actually arrested, but stopped and fined for breaking the law! She said she wanted adventures and new experiences and she got 'em! This is what she gets for going out and leaving me home alone.
Mom and her friends went to dinner and afterward decided to take the Metro to Tour Montparnasse, the only skyscraper in the 20 arrondissements, to watch the sun set and the lights of Paris come on. There's a great view of the Eiffel Tower which is all lit up at night and every hour it twinkles for about ten minutes. When they went down into the Metro, Mom's ticket wouldn't work and she couldn't pass through the stile. Her friend Sue's ticket wouldn't work either. Virginia's ticket worked so Mom told her to open the exit gate and they would come through there. (Kids are always jumping the turnstiles or entering when someone goes out the exit to save the price of a ticket. Mom had bought her ticket but it didn't work, and it was a problem she had had before.) As soon as all three of them were inside, four uniformed Metro police came up and asked to see their tickets. Mom told them their tickets were paid for but didn't work. The officer checked them with a device and saw that they had been de-magnetized (turned out to be the fault of the magnetic clasp on her purse) and told her that she should have taken the ticket to the ticket window and asked to have it replaced. Mom said there was no ticket window in that particular entry. The officer told her she should have gone out and gone to a larger Metro station that had a window, because there was a law against entering the way she did and there was a 50 euro fine that had to be paid immediately; it would go up to an 88 euro fine if she chose to pay it at the police station the next day. For Mom's convenience, she told her, she would accept credit cards. She had her credit card reader with her. Mom was kind of stunned, but there wasn't anything she could do, so she gave the officer 50 euros and the officer gave her a receipt. Mom's friend Sue also had to pay 50 euros, but Virginia did not, because she had used her ticket to get in. I guess the fact that she was the one who had let Mom and Sue in didn't matter.
Well, the law's the law and when you break it you pay, but it sure was an expensive new experience.
BOL, BOL!
Wow Patch, Looks like you can't leave your mom alone in Paris! One night without your guidance and she ends up on the wrong side of the law! Good thing you weren't banned from the Metro. BOL, Teddy
ReplyDeleteOMD - I just left you a message on your last post regarding the possibility of YOUR mug shot being plastered on the Internet, but the way things are going, it looks like it is really going to be your MOMMA who is going to have that "honor" - BOL, BOL
ReplyDeletePS - How much is 50 euros in US currency and what would have happened had the humans not had credit cards or funds to pay the fine right away?
re: euros in US currency
ReplyDelete50 euros is about $75.00 which is the approximate cost of ten taxi rides :(
The officer showed Mom a schedule that stated the fine would go up to 88 euros if it could not be paid immediately, and she would have had to go to the police station to pay it. Justice is harsh.