Passenger Trains > Should I complain

Am in WUS after a trip from NE on the Zephyr and Capitol. Overall good trip except for an incident in Galesburg. We were running about 45 min late. Normally Galesburg is a smoke stop. I don't smoke but wanted to get off and stretch my legs. I was in Trans sleeper...went downstairs and door was closed. We were platform side so I opened upper door window to see if anyone was out on platform...no one was so I closed it. About that time young white conductor comes bounding down stairs and asks if I work for Amtrak. I was dressed in a polo and shorts so the answer was obvious. He then tells me not to open that door window. Very snarky attitude. I guess I don't like, as a paying passenger getting talked down from a crew member. I felt guy could have been more diplomatic. He knew I didn't work for Amtrak...he was being a d@#k. Should I complain?

Posted from Android

no

Regrettably, many front line Amtrak employees feel there are no boundaries on how they speak with what they see as passengers doing ill-advised things. Obviously, this guy could have/should have handled things differently. However, under current management, your complaint will merely head immediately into File 13. Six months to a year from now, things may hopefully be completely different.

Many of us who have sufffered indignity at the attitude of Amtrak employess, while we have not forgotten it, have just had to put up with it, and hope the next employee is different, which is thankfully often the case.

The most common used word in the vocabularly of an Amtrak OBS or station employee when dealing with passengers is "no." That's because out of ignorance or misplaced enthusiasm passengers often request to do something which would make safety experts and company attorneys cringe, but plaintiff attorneys smile broadly at the thought of a juicy settlement to get rid of a nuisance lawsuit.

 

Just wondering what difference the conductor's race makes? They come in all colors and can be good, bad, or indifferent in all versions. As for complaining, yes it's frustrating not to be able to do something that was common back in the day. Good grief, the train was at a station and not moving. And you were only trying to find a way out for the break. Recently on VIA, my car attendant was really rude when I had the dutch door top open at a station stop. Quote: "do you want me to lose my job?"  But I opened it. Not her!

Well, you are not supposed to touch the door windows. That's like us opening up the dutch doors - no longer tolerated. Either get out where there is a step box and a crew member or stay in all the way. I'd let it go.

Back in the 1980's a male friend of mine used a Superliner handicapped room to change clothes. The host RR conductor (Santa Fe) threw a temper tantrum and threatened to throw him off the train for non-intended use of such a facility. For something like that I would write as there is nowhere else for the male species to change. We are not Superman.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/16 12:16 by joemvcnj.

A bit of info for those wanting to pass judgement here:
All windows & doors are labeled saying only employees should open either.

Employees riding the trains are not nessarily in uniform- management, business travel, or "other". And more often than not would be riding the car mentioned here.
SR

As I write this I am boarding 14. I am traveling as "other".
Windows will be opened.

If the employee could be written up, I wouldn't pace them in danger by opening a window. Esp one marked DO NOT OPEN

Posted from Android

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> Just wondering what difference the conductor's
> race makes? They come in all colors and can be
> good, bad, or indifferent in all versions. As for
> complaining, yes it's frustrating not to be able
> to do something that was common back in the day.
> Good grief, the train was at a station and not
> moving. And you were only trying to find a way out
> for the break. Recently on VIA, my car attendant
> was really rude when I had the dutch door top open
> at a station stop. Quote: "do you want me to lose
> my job?"  But I opened it. Not her!

 You know that you placed her job in danger just by opening the door as she is responsible for all equipment being used correctly.
 

Reminds me of when I was 7 in 1947, and we were moving to NM.  My mother, grandmother, and sister were with me.  I befriended a man with a telescope and we went to the vestibul, opened the top door with the window in it, and looked out the train with his telescope. I was on the heals of that man for two days.  No one said anything and what fun I had.  Our train was pulled with a steam engine, through TX, Clovis, into Belen where we got off.  I was one dirty kid my mother said, as the soot came into the car.  We also were able to open the wondows.  Today is different, windows must be kept shut: safety and A/C I would guess.  I have opened the windows when we were in the station and no one has said anything, maybe I have been lucky.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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 Recently on VIA, my car attendant
> was really rude when I had the dutch door top open
> at a station stop. Quote: "do you want me to lose
> my job?"  But I opened it. Not her!

Yes, though maybe the responsibility would fall on her because she would be labeled as providing 'inadequate passenger supervision' or something like that.
We had a similar situation on the Skeena where we weren't allowed to open the rear door of the observation car even though we were all adults.  It's all about potential liability...
 

The man told you not to open the window! Why can't you accept that and move on with your life??

Lulz at the entitled snowflakes who think rules are for everyone else but themselves and then whine bloody murder (or in this case, imply racism) when told to stop breaking the rules.

I guess it's OK then, when the Chicago conductor fails to close the trans dorm door when the train departs union station.
This has happened twice, with revenue customers, not just employees, in the car.  Incredibly dangerous!
And yes, I closed the door before the conductor came back.
Also, it helps to close the window slowly and then squeeze the handle down. 
The air pressure from the A/C system causes the door to make a clunk sound that you can here upstairs.
Maybe that's what caught his attention.  Times have changed.  Heck, sometimes they don't even want you
standing "by" the door.  He could have been a little more tactful though.

 

I'm going to assume that you're African American, as the conductor's race wouldn't matter otherwise.  I think that the answer is that you shouldn't complain because you got treated just about the same as a white passenger doing the same would have been treated.  Opening the window was a no-no; some conductors might have been more pleasant about it, but I've seen plenty of Amtrak conductors (and car attendants) act pretty much as you've described with passengers of all descriptions.  The fact that someone should have opened the door so passengers could get out and stretch doesn't seem to make any difference.

I'm glad that you had a good trip otherwise and hope that you keep riding.

CSX_ENG Wrote:
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> The man told you not to open the window! Why can't
> you accept that and move on with your life??

Exactly.

I opened that window once in CUS - the idiots forgot to open the coach door to let us off #6. I waved them over, and they did. No problem.

My reason for stating the conductors race was because there was another conductor who was black and a good guy. The guy who talked w me was a d$@k...he had been snarky on the intercom. I felt I had not done much out of line and if I run into this guy again I will let him know he was a jerk. That is probably wrong but to many people act like jerks and sometimes they need to be called out.

Posted from Android

You mentioned he was white because the other guy wasn't?!
What?
SR

I vote no.  But you might, alternatively, complain that the door(s) were not opened for the scheduled smoking stop, or that the crew failed to announce that the smoking stop was being curtailed to recover lost time.

fulham Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My reason for stating the conductors race was
> because there was another conductor who was black
> and a good guy. The guy who talked w me was a
> d$@k...he had been snarky on the intercom. I felt
> I had not done much out of line and if I run into
> this guy again I will let him know he was a jerk.
> That is probably wrong but to many people act like
> jerks and sometimes they need to be called out.
>

Regardless of race, some people are more anal than others.

I had a "Do you work for Amtrak?" question today, when I went to the station platform to try to take a picture of a Herzog MPM doing work. The Amtrak employee saw me and asked that question, and I simply said "no." He instructed me to go back into the building, which I did without complaining. Most of the time, I have a thick skin, so I don't take things personally. There was no point in trying to "read into" his attitude just because I was denied something I wanted to do. He was simply doing his job.

It might be a standard response taught to new Amtrak employees who haven't mastered the art of diplomacy yet. On one of my jobs, I was taught to challenge a stranger on company property with the standard, "May I help you?"

Your frustrations should be directed elsewhere, that we have too many rules, and we are no longer trusted to do things on our own. It's difficult to say whether America is becoming more reckless, or becoming more authoritarian, but if you've travelled to other countries and compared behaviors recently, things are NOT looking good for us.