Riding that Train

Some things we do better in the US and some thing they do better on the other side of the pond. We are better at making hot-dogs, defending freedom and gluttony while they have us beat in low sperm count because of all those tight jeans. Obviously the Euro Currency kind of sucks, not only has it not allowed countries like Greece to control their currency to avoid major meltdown but one of the beauties of traveling in Europe a decade ago was all the different monies you would encounter. Now this was a major logistical nightmare but as a kid I loved seeing all the different colored bills as I traveled the vaunted Euroline. See the European rail-system is far superior to the Amtrak and commuter lines with more on-time trains, cleaner stations and a lady who comes around with a beverage cart so you don't starve or die of caffeine withdrawal. Although so far superior than the US trains, it is not perfect. My issues are as follows

The conductors and ticket collectors may as well be MTA employees with their terrible attitudes and rude service. Nowhere do people realize that it's the riders of your train that keep you employed and some basic courtesy would be appreciated.
Secondly for all the crap customer service the trains are far from cheap. A train within Holland costs €30per head and although there are cost-saving cards which you could buy to get discounts, most tourists are stuck with crazy sticker-shock. But what is more unbelievable is the fact that nowhere on the Dutch rail-system do they take credit cards. Explain to me how on a continent where I was first able to use my visa to buy a soda, there are still major industries which refuse to bow to common sense. As Americans we expect to be able to throw anything on a Visa card so whenever we are denied this it seems akin to being asked to storm the shores of a country and 60 years later feeling no gratitude.
It's not that they don't have the capabilities cause they already have the ATM type ticket machines which just happened to be rigged so they cannot take a US Bank issued card unless you know the pin-code number. Now this sounds simple except we don't need pin-code numbers when we use our cards and even when I get one sent to me along with all the other junk-mail I usually shred it immediately. And before you ask this is not the same # as your ATM pin-code cause that won't work either.. So basically because you don't have a pin based credit-card you are forced to stand on an endless line with all the other schmucks to let you know that you'll have to come back with cash to board this train.

Now where is that drink lady
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