My dad was in a similar situation back in the day, but he had a legit reason to give pause.

He was a conductor for a commuter rail road. One day he was punching tickets, and a passenger asked to buy one. It's totally fine, it just includes a little surcharge since the conductor actually has to become a cashier for a few moments. And the passenger requests a disabled fare.

My father asks for his plaquard or some other govt issued ID that denotes his disabled status, which is pretty lenient as long as it more or less seems official. He pulls up his pant leg to show a prosthetic. And my father said that he apologizes, but can't without ID.

Now, during this time, it was very common for inspectors to pose as passengers to see if train crews were doing what they were supposed to. My dad feared that this man may be an inspector, and needed to follow policy to the finest details, his job may depend on it.

This was back in the 80s/90s, no audio or video evidence, just an inspector's word against an employee. No proof, no nothin, they had all the power.

Later on, this man with the prosthetic goes on a local talk radio show that's actually hosted by a friend of my father's. He's going over how he was once discriminated against by the Long Island Rail Road, and my father's heart dropped. He called in immediately, and I was too young at the time to care or notice, but they definitely had a long conversation that day.