Chicago, Illinois smoke ban notice has R-rated twist
A conductor paid a high price Friday for a moment of unvarnished candor on a morning rush-hour train when he expressed his thoughts about a new city ordinance that will ban smoking on downtown train platforms starting Monday.
Veering from his script notifying riders about the ban, the conductor used a vulgar sexual epithet over the Metra train’s public address system to describe the city officials who enacted the ordinance.
Passengers on the Union Pacific Northwest Line train No. 630 from Harvard let out a collective gasp. One rider said he thought he was dreaming until other passengers said they couldn’t believe the conductor had just used off-color language.
The conductor confessed his misdeed to Union Pacific Railroad managers after he finished the run, which arrived at Ogilvie Transportation Center at 08:41, railroad spokesman Mark Davis said. The conductor was suspended without pay, pending a hearing, Davis said.
Davis apologized to anyone who was offended by the conductor’s language and said the man will be disciplined. - The Chicago Tribune, courtesy Larry W. Grant
Suspended without pay??? Man, I’m glad my ex-employer never got on my case that hard for swearing. Those of us in the construction industry have been known to use the occasional vulgar sexual epithet.
Maybe. Construction is a bit heavy on profanity at times. Still, I kind of doubt you did it knowingly over a Public Address system where potentially lots of little kids and such could hear it and ask right away, “Mommy, what does that mean?”
The specific problem here is not so much what he said but where he said it. Had he said it in passing or through a radio to the engineer, it might have ruffled a few feathers, but he announced clearly (well, as clearly as the speakers allow. If you’ve ridden METRA you’ll know what I mean![:D])over the PA system.
Homer Simpson Voice: D’OH!
The smoking ban is a big deal in Cook County (Chicago) right now and there is a lot of grumbling. This guy just wasn’t very tactful about his grumbling.
Gabe-Yep, technically UP does have passenger service still, it is just that to most people it goes under the pen name of METRA. ON the UP-NW and UP-N lines the bank drop bags the conductors use have the UP logo on them and as the article states the managers and train personnel are UP employees, part of their agreement with METRA. I agree though, it does sound weird to say they have passenger service.[:o)]
This is a **#%$ing railroad for christs sake not a church…
Railroad men are real railroad men…Metras crews often come from the freight side they are NOT prissy airline stewarts
TerminalTower expresses the point succinctly .One assumes that those managers holding the hearing would probably use much the same language themselves i.e. hypocrisy. Surely a word from his supervisor (not the same word that he used !) would probably be enough, or do Metra passengers have such delicate ears and sensitivity ?
I understand what you are saying but I disagree. There is a time and place for everything, but this wasn’t it. Regardless of where the crews come from they are still serving the public passengers. Therefore they should act in a manner fitting of the public eye. Personally, I swear like a sailor, but I have a job that doesn’t require a lot of contact with the public. Conductors on METRA trains are ina almost constant contact with the general public. If the cab doors had slammed on the conductors hand while he was making the announcement the passengers might have been more understanding. Unfortunately for him, that wasn’t the case.
Would you feel the same way if the guy at McDonalds asked if you wanted fing fries with your sty burger?
Does it warrant unpaid suspension? Probably not. Just my view on the topic.
Hehehehe. Funny I bet Chicago does what NYC does and raise the tax on smokes then complain “Why is our tax revenue not going up?” Oh yeah we banned it downtown everywhere but in your home ( for now) He said something sexual ,I bet its ***cat dont ask me why or truckheads or hmmmm I wonder.
All I know is that it was SO nice to go to a concert in Chicago last weekend and not come out of the club reeking like smoke. One of the free local weekly papers I picked up while I was there printed what was said, but it’s assuredly not something I can slip through here. Hehehe.
The controversy over the smoking bans comes down to one thing. Personal freedom. If you are a smoker these days, you have been relegated to 3rd class citizenship status. Everything is about non-smokers rights. No one seems to care about the rights of the smoker, or the business owner. It is with smoking the same as it has been from the beginning for any minority. If you are a minority, your rights don’t count.
I have no argument with smoking bans inside public buildings. My biggest problem is when government bans smoking in privately owned business. Let the owners of the business decide whether to allow, or ban, smoking.
I quit flying when they banned smoking. Have been taking the train. I’ll be driving from now on since they banned smoking on the train.
It’s gotten so bad in some places that they are trying to ban smoking in your own home or out in the open air.
Granted, smoking annoys some people. Ugly people annoy and offend me. If it’s fine to ban smoking in public, then I think ugly, in public, should be banned also. Ugly people should have to wear a bag over their heads when in public. And fat people should be banned from public places, too ,while we are at it! They really offend me! That ought to really stir it up! While we are at it, let’s ban “everything”!! Then “no one” would be annoyed, or offended.