Not that I have anything against the train crews or the other blue-collar folks the UP employs (they’re great guys), but as far as their management goes, I’m now a proud member of the UP Dislikers Club.
Not going to drop any names here - no need for that.
I was over by one of the several UP yards in the Twin Cities area late this past Sat. afternoon (I was early for a dinner engagement and thought I’d snap a few photos from the public access road). I took a few shots and on the way back to the car I noticed a couple old UP property signs along with some other junk tossed in the ditch near the ROW, and close enough to the tracks for them to still legally be on UP property. It was obvious the junk had been discarded and from the looks of the signs they’d been there a while. Nevertheless I let them be - I’m no thief (I’m sure security cameras were watching even if I were).
Instead I sent an e-mail to a UP manager for the area from their corporate web-site, explaining exactly where the signs were and I made an offer to buy them, not really expecting the offer would be accepted. I figured it’d cost nothing to ask - heck it’s only junk, right? I framed the inquiry in friendly and courteous terms.
The e-mail answer I got back this morning was terse, blunt and rude, and left me with the impression that just about every comment I’ve ever heard from people about UP management bein’ a buncha jerks were dead on the money.
I don’t see how you can make a statement like your headline and still feel that even some of the nice folks who work there are “ok”, or that one single terse reply should colour your opinion of the railroad. It doesn’t make sense that you could like the losers who work there (this is my terminology meant only for illustrative purposes…I don’t feel that anyone who works for any organization is necessarily a “loser”…I’ll get on with my point…) but still hate where they work. In other words, how can they be “ok” and still want to work for such a hateful organization. That makes them losers, doesn’t it? It would for me.
My point is that one disgruntled, truculent, P.O.'d, hungry, angry, passed-over middle manager who replied in any way not meeting your favour should not reflect on the entire organization…or if I am wrong, then they all should…'cuz they work for this very loser organization that he works for. All for one, one for all.
If I were in your position, and I am not able to agree or disagree with your reaction or to the tone of the response, I would contact his VP superior and ask him/her if he/she feels that this was an appropriate response to the question you asked…which you will foward as well. Once you begin to get a feel for the “management” in general, then you can feel justified in feeling uneasy about the leadership at the organization. Maybe, just maybe, the person who replied to you needs to have his/her leash jerked. It happens. I had it happen to me once or twice. [:D]
The only interaction with UP staff was when I was in Adams shooting the CNW 8646. I don’t know if the crew assumes they’ll get more attention or if they were just plain nice but they waved, talked, and answered questions. I even got invited to stand where others couldn’t so I could get a better picture. One or two ‘bad apples’ does not a rotten barrel make.
what part of UP do you hate? UP railroad or UP corporation? i only hate the latter. Omahaha is the main reason behind almost everything UP has done to ruin any chance i had at reliving my beloved CNW past
Hm. I received no response to similar request to the BNSF Community Relations person. But at least he wasn’t terse, blunt, and rude.
I would expect a polite “no” answer to be something like, “I’m sorry, but we have to put all unused items through a materials reclamation and disposal process. However, thank you for your interest in the Union Pacific Railroad.”
The last time I looked, clocks did not run backwards and time travel is physically impossible. The absorbtion of C&NW by UP may not have been inevitable but a lot of prior events definitely led up to it.
Erie Lackawanna and Monon vanished as separate entities many years ago and Alco/MLW stopped building locomotives some time back but I don’t take anybody to task for it.
I think we have to see the text of both communications to make any decision.
However, if the situation is as you believe it is, posting the exchange here would be a sure-fire way of bringing it to the attention of a wide variety of people at the UP. I would not want to be in the shoes of the UP manager should that occur.
Despite my best efforts, I’ve not been able to find info on how to build a time-travel machine OR a matter-transporter. Asking “Yahoo Answers” sure didn’t help.
As a final note, perhaps I should’ve titled my posting as “Add me to the UP middle-manager haters club”. I don’t have the e-mail reply anymore, but suffice it to say it was as I described. I’ve blown the steam-off I needed to release. I’d rather not post both messages anyway, since my original inquiry would identify the precise location of that junk and if it winds-up missing, I’d be the first person they’d want to investigate. As a collective, corporate entity, yes, I’ve disliked the UP for a long time after their celebrated trademark-licensing snit-fit with the model railroad manufacturers and their persecution of a railroad photographer for publishing a calendar with a photo of some UP equipment depicted. The response I received on Mon. morning further degraded my low opinion of UP management. It wasn’t, however, something that I want to pursue further in terms of getting the attention of the person’s supervisor or other railroad management. It’s past history at this point and it’s an issue that’s not worth affecting someone’s job over (nowhere near that kind of problem).
In reply to Eolafan, I don’t expect UP would care whether I hate/love/dislike/like them or not. Like all of us, however, I am in a position to vote in local, state and federal elections, and that’s the one time that a person who isn’t interested in shipping 500 tons of wheat can have an influence on railroad issues.
I can dislike management and still respect the rank & file because in a railroad, just like any other business, it’s management (mostly upper-management) who set the tone for corporate relations with the general public, and it’s the workers who make the operation a success. I work in a white-collar, non-managerial position myself as an engineer, and rest assured my opinion of mid-to-upper-management in my own workplace isn’t much better.
No offense, man, but have you ever made a post on this board where you weren’t complaining about how the CNW is gone forever? I miss them too, but if you are so bent on not seeing them, you’re not going to see what’s around now.
I wuld say it’s kind of like when steam departed and a good chunk of the railfans missed some really cool first generation diesels because they weren’t steam.
Just my [2c] to help you make the most of your hobby.
I think you got this one nailed, Chris… Such negativity[Atmo’s] can do no good, and is far from being able to find a constructive solution to any issue. The CNW was an interesting study of a company that had many problems and many fine points. The problem was that they seemed to be constantly having problems which they could not resolve, and so were wide open to being either picked up for their assets or abandoned[a la MILW]. Even the corporate sale to its employees was not a salvation.
The historical battle between coproprate rail management, and the practical , boots on the ballast employees, was indicative of some of the labor-management problems voiced by WIAR, who also seems to have continuing issues with his own co-workers. It has got to be really problematic for someone to go to work everyday, and do a job that outwardly he seems to espouse such latent negativity about his work environment. [2c]
Dude… ya gotta get over it, okay? I used to love watching the CNW work at Proviso Yard (I grew up a mile from there), and watching the slow freights through Elmhurst… The BN, ICG, and CNW are some of my earliest railroad memories…but they’re gone. And there isn’t anything I can do about it. The UP didn’t buy the CNW to spite you.
From a customer service standpoint, a courteous reply would have been the norm, but perhaps, WIAR you probably caught the one guy who was having a bad day for whatever reason.
Unfortunately, from a customer, or even public standpoint, one employee’s attitude can make or break a relationship with a customer, or alter the public’s perception of a company. You know how it goes: we are more likely, as consumers, to spread the word about bad service, then we are about good service, that’s just the way it goes.
Join me up for the UP haters, haters club, I never understood why there is such hatred, against one company, what exactly did they do to you, run over your cat with theie train!