On some lucky mornings we stop on the bridge. Suspended there above the river, our view is exclusive to transit commuters and to the legions of cyclists who now pass us in our moment of stasis. I wonder some days whether our train operator is just exercising his prerogative, remembering the days of childhood when piloting a train over a bridge and then sweeping into a bustling city must have sounded like the best job in the world. As the train starts to descend into Old Town, I hope my operator is still finding some joy in his job. I hope that amidst all the schedule pressures and time-points he gets just a moment to realize that he’s the one who got to grow up and drive a train.
TriMet Diaries
Okay, since I wrote that, you've got to tell me whether it happens or not. :)
ReplyDelete-jeff
It's not a yes or no answer.
ReplyDeleteI can say for sure that most employees here do indeed enjoy their jobs most of the time.
If you end up with a bad run then your attitude goes down the drain.
If you get disciplined, especially for something you think is unjustified, your attitude goes down the drain.
If there is some sort of preventable event, it affects attitude.
This company can be very hard to work for. It is basically a faceless huge bureaucracy that treats operators much like it treats its equipment. Equipment doesn't have emotions however.
They leave us alone mostly but occasionally they will develop a bug up their ass and ruin our morale.
Things have gotten worse for us the past several years, there is a lot of discontent.
But that doesn't mean we don't like our jobs, at least most of the time.