- Tout ça mon pote, ils ont réussi à le caser dans un smartphone

Exposition Geluck expose Le Chat (Paris, musée Maillol)

Just had an extremely distressing experience on the Paris metro. We were stopped by ticket inspectors, who claimed I did not have a validated ticket. And as far as I can tell they were correct: my ticket had not been validated.

However:
- I bought a ticket on their app
- I scanned my phone at the barrier
- It opened the barrier

I also actually bought a bunch of tickets and had already successfully validated several, so I had no reason to suspect it had not validated this time, especially because:

- I scanned my phone
- It opened the barrier

They wanted me to pay €50. I refused. I refused to provide ID. They claimed to have called the police. After some time without the police arriving I asked if they had the right to arrest me themselves. They claimed they did. I tried to leave anyway, but they physically prevented me from leaving. I insisted I would not pay as it was a failure of their system. They said I could claim it back if I paid. I told them where they could get off. They reduced the price to €35 for some reason. I still would not pay. I was more than a little agitated at this point, and insisting they ask the police to hurry the fuck up.

And then they let me go...

There were 6 of them, they were all in uniform, one had an RATP badge which she kept showing me whenever I tried to leave. I believe they were RATP employees, but that was a fucking scam. I don't know what their game was. Wouldn't be surprised to discover it was just bureaucracy and perverse incentive schemes, but that was a fucking scam and it left an extremely sour taste.