HELPERS ARE PEOPLE TOO!

my bitch is that too many people, especially in the maintenance dept, being represented by the union, there are some bad apples in the barrel, that spoil it for everyone. there are some fine individuals who really care about their work, and excel at what they do, in all the departments. but we do have some people who do work out in the field and are in direct contact with the public just as much as any driver out there. we at the front lines are the first ones the public sees at times and give us much grief. when i was a helper cleaning platforms, parking lots and bathrooms, we would be the ones called to clean up bio hazards, and some of that is absolutely gross. example: i was called to clean up a pile of defecation someone did on a west bound bench at quatama. many times, it's vomit we have to clean up. as a tech, there are times people pee into the change/ticket tray, guess who gets to clean that up?
enough of the gross, how about support? as a tech, we don't get a lot of support. i mean parts that actually work to replace what's not working in our tvm's. sometimes, it's a long time waiting for enough customer complaints to be generated to get parts fixed to replace the ones they are complaining about. how about lack of parts? still waiting on parts to come in so we can replace what's broken out there. example: a refrigerator light that turns on, the moment we open a tvm door, in the dark; if it is a new tvm, there are no replacements for that part. I personally researched it a few years to finally come across the part in a local store, that we can have the purchasing department aquire to stock our shelves, so we can replace the bulb! we are still working with stuff that are over 10 years old, when they have a shorter lifespan. we have to keep putting on band aid fixes until we can actually replace them with brand new parts. as soon as the tvm door is open, suddenly the people come out of the woodwork, wanting a free ride. there can be 6 working tvms at the platform, but because the one tvm i'm in happens to be open, suddenly the entire alignment's tvm's are all broken, and they all think they are entitled to a free ride. i am constantly bombarded with this type of confrontation, and attitude. then, there is the thief that sabotages our equipment, to render the tvm "broken", as they say, which means "free ride". we have to constantly deal with this on a daily basis. same thing with our validators, the sabatour purposely jams the validator, so no one can validate a ticket, one again, "free ride". there was once a time, we can work overtime. now these days to get overtime, you need to be a bus operator or train operator and sign a run that pays more than 8 hours. so, we have to keep our machines running to the best of our abilities without overtime. if it's still broke, oh well, it'll have to wait for the next shift to pick up where i left off, or wait for the part to come available to get it 100% up and running. we have to work with machines that have money alone. the money room who restocks our machines, they carry guns for protection. what do we get? a radio, and what ever tools we are carrying on us for protection. the money room they work in pairs, we work alone. we have to constantly be aware of our surrounding at all times. if the platform doesn't look safe, we avoid it until a more safe time to work on the tvm. there are some platforms on the alignment that many of us techs are very uncomfortable servicing, because of their history and popularity to gang activity, shootings, etc. 162 nd ave that separates gresham from portland on bunside is one example. how about the platforms that have hit the news where our customers have been beaten within an inch of their lives? and we work alone. i started out saying there are bad apples in the barrel, this i mean, although represented by the union, they are completely lazy, and in my opinion deserve to be fired, but are protected by the union, and it takes a mountain of papertrails to be documented to get rid of them. they only make my life miserable, and it's hard to keep a chin up and maintain that the customer is my boss, who pays me my bread and butter. we provide a service. in return for that service we are compensated a wage we agreed upon at the time of being hired. that is so hard to remember at times, when i have to work behind those who do not see things my way. earlier I mentioned i worked for other outfits that had no union representation, and literally had to worry about keeping my job. the only thing i had to worry about was my performance, without it, i had no job. so that being said, that is my bitch. there are so many people that don't do there job, it spoils it for all those who do their job, without fail. i am sure in the operator's seat, you experience the same thing. this apathy needs to stop, and as the old saying goes...."if it is to be, then it's up to me". so, i try to do my part, in this giant cog of wheels, doing my part that is a service to the public.