Regardless of its highs and lows, Twitter is still one of the most popular places for customers, guests, passengers, etc. to let companies know when something is wrong. Usually the company in question will ask the person with the issue to send them a direct message (DM), so they can work on the problem in private.
However Twitter also been known as a good place to let off some steam or even make a joke here and there. Such was the case of John Bickerton’s tweet the other day.
Bickerton, a resident of the UK, seems like an ordinary guy. He described himself on his Twitter feed as a “green bus wonk” (read: a a person who takes an enthusiastic or excessive interest in the specialized details of a particular subject or field. A nerd of, in this case, electric-hybrid buses.), and the past chair of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, in London.
Meanwhile, Oxford Bus Company is a bus operator that serves the city and surrounding area of Oxford, England. In business for 136 years, they offer a comprehensive network of services in Oxford, as well as an express coach service to Heathrow and Gatwick airports. They also offer some tourist-related bus subsidiaries, including Thames Travel, Carousel and the Oxford version of City Sightseeing buses.
Anyway, a few days ago Bickerton shared a photograph on Twitter of an Oxford Bus Company bus driving past an inflatable Santa Claus decoration. The inflatable Santa is designed to have its hand out. So Bickerton decided to have a little fun…
“Failure to stop! This guy was waiting patiently, hand out – he’s even illuminated internally but the @OxfordBusCo service just sailed past,” he tweeted.
Failure to stop! This guy was waiting patiently, hand out – he's even illuminated internally but the @OxfordBusCo service just sailed past 🎅🎄⛄ pic.twitter.com/E04KYT4nuA
— John Bickerton (@johnbickerton) December 6, 2022
Unfortunately, the joke was apparently taken seriously by whoever is in charge of social media for the bus company. Their reply was, “Good Afternoon John, I am sorry to hear this. In order for us to investigate further, can you please send us an email to office@thames-travel.co.uk with full details?”
(That reply was later deleted by the Tweet author)
That, of course, got even more people in on the joke…
- “Love it…congrats on the new role John”
- “Oops oh dear. Think someone at Oxford Bus Company needs to reread the post. Look at each case individually rather than post a scripted response”
- “He [Santa} does look like trouble”
But then the bus company spoke and gave their explanation – they said the original photo hadn’t loaded.
Hi there, I believe the photo was not loading originally hence the reply.
— Oxford Bus Company (@OxfordBusCo) December 7, 2022
Anyway, it was all in fun and was a good giggle for a few people that morning.
Feature Photo: Austin Kirk / flickr / CC BY 2.0
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