It’s not every day that you welcome an email from the NS, but Tuesday was certainly an exception for at least 500,000 people across the Netherlands.
Why? Because their inboxes were graced with an accidental birthday present from the NS — even though it wasn’t their birthday.
An NS technical error that we can get behind
Speaking to RTL Nieuws, an NS spokesperson shed some light on the emails.
“Only three thousand customers had a birthday, but due to a mistake in the system, the email wrongly ended up with many other people.” Woopsie!
@dutchreview I’ll stick to biking 🤦♀️ #dutchlife #dutchmemes #traindelays #ns #netherlands #thenetherlands #expatlife #expats #expatsinthenetherlands #dutchreview #meme #memecut ♬ original sound – Greatest Hits
Usually, a technical error associated with the NS means a world of inconvenience for travellers, but in this case, it was actually quite a happy accident.
Those who received the very early birthday present were offered three gifts:
They could upgrade to first class (for a small fee of €2.50), buy one return ticket (for a meagre €8.95), and enjoy a whole month of free e-book reading.
READ MORE | Dutch Quirk #26: Complain about the NS
Not too bad when you consider it was never intended for the majority of recipients!
No takesies backsies
Thankfully, the NS has invoked the sacred rule of no takesies backsies.
In other words, those who received the email get to enjoy the birthday presents — regardless of whether or not it’s actually their birthday.
“Once that email was sent, we couldn’t change it anymore,” the NS spokesperson tells RTL Nieuws. “And besides, what’s given, stays given.”
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I am an American, I follow Dutch Review because my daughter moved to the Netherlands two years ago. This was an interesting article, but I have no clue what NS is. That would have been helpful for non Dutch readers.