If there are no other problems, you make one yourself.
One of these topics that came to our table in the form of inquiries (in the figurative sense, in reality it ended up in our email inbox) is the question about Greta Thunberg and her train journey on a Deutsche Bahn ICE train. Because the DB reacted to a photo of her a little “stroppy”, you could say, and we received questions as to whether it was really from Greta and whether the railway really reacted like that and what the truth of the explanations was.
Inquiries that, viewed in this way, have no real added value, simply because you can easily see them yourself on Twitter (many articles even link directly to the tweets).
[mk_ad]
What happened?
Greta Thunberg made her way home from the climate conference and, among other things, took Deutsche Bahn.
Since she documents a lot via Twitter, a photo was also taken:
Traveling on overcrowded trains through Germany. And I'm finally on my way home! pic.twitter.com/ssfLCPsR8o
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 14, 2019
So far, so calm. A girl sits on a train and looks dreamily/thoughtfully out of the window. She is sitting on the floor with a pile of luggage next to her.
Actually like a picture from an advertising brochure. With a recognizable filter, this is certainly not a simple snapshot, but also a bit of PR. You could just scroll past that now, if not...
It would have been even nicer if you had also reported how friendly and competent you were looked after by our team at your seat in first class. #Greta 2/2
— Deutsche Bahn AG (@DB_Presse) December 15, 2019
…..the Deutsche Bahn (which also responds to the English tweet in German, for whatever reason) reacted a little snippy, since this wasn't an advertisement for the railway at all, after all, they spend most of their time in first class sat.
“It would have been even nicer if you had also reported how friendly and competent you were looked after by our team at your seat in first class.”
By the way, it's true that she sat in first class. But it is also true that the photo is not completely “posed”. But it was probably a better opportunity to take a good photo that would document the journey home, so that less crowded trains could be denounced.
Our train from Basel was taken out of traffic. So we sat on the floor on 2 different trains. After Göttingen I got a seat.This is no problem of course and I never said it was. Overcrowded trains is a great sign because it means the demand for train travel is high!
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 15, 2019
In German:
“Our train from Basel has been canceled. So we sat on the floor in 2 different trains. I got a place in Göttingen, that's of course no problem and I never claimed that. Crowded trains are a good sign because they mean demand for train travel is high!”
Greta Thunberg wasn't concerned about a crowded train. There was no problem at all. So she actually sees this as a good sign. So what's the problem?
[mk_ad]
And now?
So what do we end up with?
- Greta Thunberg traveling on the floor of an ICE train.
- A DB that missed transforming what it saw as a negative image into something positive.
Now it's the case that a lot of people (including the author, who always sat near 1st class to have WiFi) are more familiar with this travel situation than with the 1st class service on an ICE train. The photographer took a really good picture: a touch of travel and railway romance, a situation that many travelers are familiar with, a view into the distance through the window.
Of course, Deutsche Bahn could have reacted better (or not at all). Instead, they were angry that it didn't result in direct advertising for Deutsche Bahn (but it did indirectly!).
And why are we asked about it?
We do not know it.
As already said in the title, it is a storm in a teapot, a thunderstorm in a chamber pot, hot air, much ado about nothing. It generated more attention than was necessary. And everyone writes about it. Even us now. Because the hot air blew towards us through the inquiries.
But it was just a canceled train, which meant that Greta Thunberg had to sit on another train, as a possible seat ticket is of course not valid there. Any train traveler can understand it, and it's no big deal.
Sometimes you can get artificially upset about even the most inconspicuous things….
Also interesting:
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