@jon as a previous train manager, I second that! Where I worked, there wasn't any bonus involved for fining people, however, it helped heaps when people presented their situation to me before I found out about it through a check-up. The degree of flexibility I could afford also varied according to my awareness of the situation early on. I could re-seat people, sell additional tickets in case of a no-show, even offer free food or beverage in some situations, etc. However, if you find out about it too late, sometimes it could mean choosing between generosity and your job. If a train comes to a standstill and you can't offer every passenger a bottle of water, you better pray no one has a heart attack or simply writes a complaint about not getting one. Or if a passenger control unit randomly enters and finds out you allowed someone to travel with a discounted ticket even though they failed to present you a valid document. So it's not only about having/feeling the "power", it's also about calculating the risk or being able to get a green light from your superiors before something like that happens.