| from: | xxxxx@bell.net | ||
| to: cj@thiscrazytrain.com | |||
| date: | Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 10:32 PM | ||
| subject: | Transit Jobs |
Dear Ms. Smith
First of all, you don't know shit about what it's like dealing with a public that spits at you, shoves you, screams in your face, throws change at you, kicks the doors of your bus, slams the window of your collector booth and calls you names.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA. Being kind and polite doesn't make anyone do anything. People need to be told. The only way to get a reaction is to order people around. very few people are kind to people who work in transit. About 80% are rude, condescending and ignorant. Why should anyone working in transit have to put up with that? So that's why many transit workers have stopped caring. What's the point? What that transit worker said to you was justified. He's doing his job and your job is to listen. It is not your job to challenge him or call him out on anything. He's being paid to move the people. You're being paid to do shit.
Just get your ass on the subway and shut up.
- Mover of the people
CJ, you should send this on the TTC. Chris Upfold is making HUGE inroads into service, and this douche needs to be put on bus cleaning duty.
ReplyDeleteBeing polite and kind makes people be polite and kind back! Strange how that works!
Honestly. Tweet me if you want his email address. @dmjross
This person doesn't claim to work for the TTC.
ReplyDeleteHere's the big difference between customers and TTC workers: TTC workers are being paid to do a job, and that should include being polite by default.
ReplyDeleteCourtesy is a two way street. Both workers and commuters need to realise we're all in this together and that a little kindness for all goes a long way.
ReplyDeleteAlso fellow commuters, there is a train/bus behind this one. Do feckin charge the doors like it's the last lifeboat on the Titanic.
Well, having worked in retail to put myself through university, I have dealt with all of this (though the spit landed on the counter) plus actually being hit. There is no excuse for the behaviour I have seen exhibited from the TTC. Meanwhile, I will admit that I have not ridden it very often in the last couple of years, each time I have, I have dealt with rude people - customers and operators.
ReplyDeleteBut, I have noticed a disturbing trend. I take Durham transit. All of the drivers I have met are all extremely nice and at least one woman is way too perky at 6.15am. But I did encounter a rude driver the other day. So rude that even after the supervisor came on the bus to explain things to the riders, he continued to argue.
All I could think of was that he must have worked at the TTC. Don't know if it is true, but perception is everything and there are enough bad operators at the TTC that the perception carries through to other regions.
Something for this person to think about.
80%? I don’t fucking think so. I do not recall 4 out of 5 commuters I encounter in Union Station (or at any other point of contact on public transit) being rude and condescending. In fact, I challenge the author to justify this claim. Rudeness is never justified, be it from the commuter, or transit staff. The world must look quite different from that high horse the author sits on.
ReplyDeleteWhat the transit worker said was NOT justified. He’s in customer service; it’s his job to provide information. It’s not his job to be a cocksucker. This is unequivocal. When I worked in customer service, I almost got fired for telling a customer “too bad” because they were upset about something and there was no real remedy for their complaint. Furthermore, passengers on public transit do NOT have a duty to listen (ie: it’s not “their job” to listen); if they did, headphones would be banned so that they could hear every syllable of infinite wisdom from the kind, caring souls manning the PA systems.
WOAH. Woahwoahwoah...waitaminute. Someone gets paid to “do shit” on the TTC? I want to get paid to “do shit” on the TTC. Where do I sign up? Where do I get more info on this gig? Is this “do shit” like, “do stuff”, or is it “do nothing”? Or, is it actually shitting ON the TTC? I’m not sure I want to be taking a dump on a bus or a crowded subway, but I’m willing to review the entire job description in any event, to the extent that the compensation is worth the uhm, “exposure”.
I think the author of the above email is a jaded, needs-to-get-laid, stuck-in-a-unionized-rut type of person. The email reeks of arrogance, which he/she would have us believe is quite the prerogative, if not a virtue, of a public transit employee.
Just some perspective here but if I were to speak to a paying client in the tone displayed in this note, as difficult and ignorant as said client may be behaving, I would be fired pretty much on the spot....
ReplyDeleteIf that is a TTC employee (which I doubt since he/she could spell), he/she needs to find a new job.
ReplyDeleteIf it isn't a TTC employee, I really don't see the point of the email...
Don't be a line zombie.
ReplyDeleteWell said mover of the people.
ReplyDeleteAs a GO employee I too feel exactly the same way. People think we are rude, that's because they dont know what is like to put up with assholes passengers on a daily basis. no matter what we try we are not going to please everyone. Helloooo!! just look at this site!! an image putting up with these jerks live..on a daily basis...please take the train and shut up.!
At the end of the day we all make choices to be exactly where we are. No one forces anyone to do a customer service job. If you are not suited, or if you just plain don't like people the answer is simple - find another job.
ReplyDeleteRudeness seems to surround us everywhere, but fortunately we also have a choice about that. WE decide how we respond. CJ I applaud you for confronting the TTC Employee. But, when it was over - it was over. Nothing you say to someone who won't listen will change things.
Now having said all that -- thank you for continuing to provide the utmost in entertaining updates on the transit in Toronto. I still laugh to tears at the events and behaviours!