Unfortunately, Meg, it does not surprise me. From their point of view, they "attempted pickup".
Sometimes you get some "heroes" willing to go above and beyond what they are obliged to do, like that one team in the UK who ignored orders to go on their break, but unfortunately more typical are the ones who were reputedly sitting down having tea while a car accident victim was drowning in the drainage ditch because it was "too dangerous" to rescue him.
For this reason, I always appreciate heroes.
Never take initiative (and sometimes even personal risk) for granted. Often, inexplicably, the rewards go the other way--to people who give "stupid obedience".
I'll tell you about an unpleasant incident I was involved in. I saw an old man who slipped and fell into the ice trying to get into the elder-transport van (a welfare service to some elderly here...probably the ones designated "handicapped").
The driver probably would not have been able to help him even if it was considered part of her job.
I picked him up and helped him get to the van...while he swore and verbally abused me.
Didn't like the service. He DID want into the van--that wasn't the problem. He literally did not like the quality of the service.
The van driver was more courteous, and thanked me for getting him in. But it is a good example of the counter-intuitive way that people think. The old man had a strong sense of entitlement. I don't know if he realized that I do not work for Metro and do not get paid for rescuing people. It might not have mattered. The driver was more courteous, and to her defense could not be expected to get a grouchy old man who's bigger than she is into the van, but I doubt it would have mattered. "It's not their job".
I've seen numerous incidents between drivers and handicapped passengers. Sorry to say, but it is almost always the handicapped passengers being belligerent, abusive (often verbally, and sometimes even physically), and unreasonable with the drivers.
