We’ll just have to disagree without being disagreeable, I’ve seen plenty of the opposite.
And I’ll agree, sometimes it is more about the person than the job, but not always.
I’m secure in my job, maybe I should try less. They certainly don’t appreciate me, like everyone else I’m just a warm body in a chair.
Seriously though, ever had a bad experience at an airline, restaurant, car dealership, or any other private business?
It depends on the person and corporate culture, not the business or position.
From what I’ve heard Amtrak management isn’t exactly easy on their employees either.
I get it, bashing lazy union and/or government employees feels very satisfying and is an easy target, especially if you fall on the political right. But that doesn’t make it true.
In the freight Class I world competence has nothing to do with
Zugman and SD70 guy are right. Private sector, non-union, job security culture does not correlate highly with better service nor does the converse correlate with bad service. It depends more on the individual and the outfit and how managers on various levels treat subordinates.
So Shrike Arghast, What was going on outside of your train, and how late was your arrival? UP got Amtrak to Emeryville I presume. Asmtransitdocs indicates its arrival at Emeryville at 9:30. All in all, it was NOT your worst trip I hope?
In the olden days, my wife and I would go on cruises, occasionally. The cruise lines were Crystal and Silversea. We had really good accomodations.
The staff was great. Absolutely professional, appropriately friendly, with a good attitude. This included everyone, including the people who made up our room every day. On one line (I forget which), we even had a butler.
As far as I saw, our fellow passengers were pretty well behaved. I expect the crew was well trained on how to deal with bad attitudes.
Not once did I notice the crew being “jerky”. Nor, for that matter, the passengers. A little clueless sometimes, but they’re paying customers and get to be.
Wonderful lines; we had a GREAT time. Always.
I get the feeling that management on those lines valued their workers greatly, and tried to support them doing their jobs.
I talked my wife into going on Amtrak from Oakland to Chicago. She says she’ll never do THAT again.
Ed
I noticed a significant difference in the performance of the ‘blue water’ toilets on the the LSL, and the airliner clones on the Zephyr. Suffice it to say, many of the cans were clogged on the eastern train after barely 15 hours, whereas I never noticed any issues in the Superliners, in spite of the latter’s advanced age. It’s silly as hell that Amtrak can’t get this right in the low-level equipment.
Not much was happening outside. Our two short stops due to natural causes were once west of Granby for a frozen switch, and once in Glenwood Springs Canyon for a cooler-sized rock. Together, they slowed us maybe 30 minutes total. As far as I could tell, every single other delay was in some way associated with UP and their insistence on siding us for a freight to either pass against or overtake us. At least one of these stops was over 90 minutes. Another was due to (according to Amtrak personnel) a UP crew-change winding up a man short.
When I was a IBM Consultant, I had a conversation with the CEO of a major food Distributing Company. I asked him about his IT network and if he thought he was set for future needs. His response back to me which still brings a smirk to my face today…“We got a lot of stuff”…“Some of it is good stuff too”. Prior to the meeting I had various employees asking me to convince him of this or that because they all thought the company was far behind in technology and they had issues keeping it working.
Then in walks the head of IT in what looked like a $200 Sears and Roebuck suit, who bragged about being a former Sears employee that worked in the Sears Tower in Chicago (a long time ago). He told us he was responsible for what the company had and that he worked closely with the CEO to make sure they had everything they needed.
In the car on the way back to the airport the Senior Consultant with me was saying…there is no way in hell IBM is going to sell them anything within their budget constraints and if IBM was able to…there was no way in hell they would understand what they were buying.
…And no I am not partly responsible for the pandemic food shortages…[}:)][:D]
Right now Amtrak may have to worry about the great resignation? There IMO needs a restoration of good employee performance on both sides of the employment fence. That includes getting along with all persons when working.