Here is a true story.
I recently came in contact with the online ticket shop of SBB. The online price is the same as the one at the counter, but you could say you do not have to queue for the ticket (although you never actually need to queue due to the automated machines). When you buy the electronic ticket, you get an email with a registration number and a link to the pdf that you have to download. Here is a test ticket. The ticket is checked in the train by scanning the pictogram on the right. If you pay it with a half-tax reduction card, you have to show the card, otherwise you just need to show an ID.
On March 3, I took a train from Bern at 14:06 to go to Geneva. The controller, Mr. E Ludin, came to check the tickets just after we went past Fribourg. When I wanted to show Mr. Ludin my ticket, I realized I forgot the printout at home. However, I still had the ticket on my laptop. Mr. Ludin nodded in disapproval, while scanning my screen. It did not work. He tried again. It still did not work.
I told him that I asked at the SBB counter previously and I was told the ticket is valid if shown electronically. At that moment, he told me that I will need to buy a ticket. I told him that I already payed for a ticket. He told me that if I cannot show the printout, it means I do not have a ticket. I told him that I payed and that I am willing to give him any evidence he would want, including my original mail, the serial number and any other data he would need. He said that he does not know if I payed unless I show him a ticket. When I pointed him to the screen, he said that is not a ticket because the machine does not recognize it.
I said that the ticket should be easily checkable given that the ticket has a unique serial number. He kept on repeating that I have to buy a ticket. I told him that I actually payed, and I asked him to offer me a solution for the case in which I actually payed. He again said that he does not know if I payed. I pointed out that I had much more evidence that I actually did pay, then he had that I did not pay, and that in this case, it is sensible to ask for a solution in which I can later provide the printout. I also pointed out that such a solution is possible when, for example, one forgets the half-tax reduction card at home. In such a case, a 5 CHF fee is payed, and the checking is done online or later at the counter. I concluded a similar solution should be possible with this ticket too. Again, the only solution I could get was to pay a ticket.
At that point I tried another reasoning path. I showed him the mail I got from SBB, and pointed that in that mail it is not said I have to print the ticket. I then showed the ticket, and nowhere on is it said I have to print it (take a look for yourself at the test ticket). Given that this is the only thing I received from SBB, I concluded it must be a valid ticket. He clearly did not understand the arguments line, because he again told me I had to pay a ticket.
I told him I will not pay the ticket. He then told me it will cost 30 CHF more because I will have to pay it later. He started to fill the fine. He already had my half-tax card. He filled in my name and the card serial number. At that point he asked me for an ID to get my address. I told him that he should not need my address, given that I already gave my address to SBB when they issued the card. He again could not get it, and he showed me that the form on his machine requires the address. In the end I gave him my address.
It was the machine that took the decision, not Mr. Ludin. Mr. Ludin was simply the carrier of the machine, and when the machine told him it is not a valid ticket it meant I did not have a ticket. Whether or not I had already payed, was never considered a relevant issue, because the machine only cared for a valid presentation, not for the fact behind.
Out of all options at his disposal, the only one he considered was the one provided by the machine. Perhaps, he could have tried to look it up in the database. And if he was not sure, he could just let it be.
The bottom line is this: When presentation is the only thing that matters, reasoning about meaning has little effect. When presentation is the only thing that matters, we turn into machines.
p.s. After clicking a bit around, I eventually get to the OnlineTicket sales conditions. In there I could find the following paragraph:
OnlineTickets must be printed with a size of 100% (unscaled), on white, previously unwritten paper of the A4 portrait (upright) format.
However, I am certain Mr. Ludin never looked at this, because if he did, he could have told me. He also did not know that I can only deal with the mentioned problem by contacting directly the Fahrausweiskontrolle office. In any case I find it disturbing that I have to print the ticket, because printing costs too, and that means the final ticket costs more than at the counter.
p.p.s. One more thing. From the same SBB online ticket shop you can also get the ticket on the cell phone, and that can be scanned from the cell phone screen by the same machine that refused to scan it from the laptop screen. I tested this solution, on the way back and it worked without any problem.
p.p.p.s. I finally settled the issue with SBB Fahrausweiskontrolle. They looked into it and found no problem with my ticket. However, they advised me to have a printed copy. After this experience, I will advocate against using the printable ticket because of several reasons:
On the other hand, I find the mobile ticket better, because it does not suffer from the first two problems.