A SCA Question

Very recently returned from Train 8, the Empire Builder, where I boarded in Seattle and left in Chicago.

I had a good impression upon meeting my SCA in Seattle. He helped with luggage upon boarding (as well as when de-training). He was visible often and answered the call button promptly. He checked to see if I needed anything. He answered my questions clearly. Coffee was available until Noon and juices were available until late in the afternoon. If I wanted ice, he said to just let him know. I de-trained with a very good opinion of his service and rewarded him appropriately.

One situation gave me a surprise, however. And, I wonder if what I observed was usual for what the SCA is supposed to do. When I returned to my Roomette for my 2nd night's snooze, I found the bed to be in the exact unmade condition as when I left the Roomette in the morning. The bed had not been re-made. Is this "normal" and to be "expected" on train journeys with 2 overnights on the train? Or, should the bed have been re-made?

A SCA should remake your berth every morning into daytime configuration (seats) and reset it every night to nighttime configuration (beds). Normally, most will reset the room automatically while you are at breakfast. You may have to ask them to do so when you see them.

The big question I can't figure out is how you did not notice that the room was not cleaned all day? :huh: Were you away from your room at all times from 7 am until 10 pm? :huh: Even if I spend a lot of time in the SSL, I usually return to my room a few times a day.

I believe Dakota 400 means that the bed was not restored to its pristine, tucked condition, not that the room had not been switched from nighttime to daytime to nighttime configuration.

Normally, I switch the room myself, so the bed is in the condition that I left it. In other words, Dakota 400, I cannot answer what I understood to be your question.

It is the norm for the bed to be re-made. On some (most?) trains, the blanket is not part of the bed making process... meaning... the blanket is supposed to be delivered wrapped in plastic from the cleaners. So on the second night... that blanket would just be placed on the bed, not tucked in like it would have been previously.

I traveled cross country on the Southwest Chief recently and I requested that the bed remain in the "night" position. I believe that if I had not made the request, the SCA would have returned the room to day position. Most rooms were in "day" as opposed to "night" position.

It sounds as if the room was never put in daytime configuration, and so was not subsequently made up for the night the second night. Usually the SCA has a routine where they set the rooms up for daytime use, but most good SCAs (and he sounds like one) won't disturb you just to do that. Unless it was clear that you were not in the room, if you had the door closed and curtain drawn, he would not disturb you (he would presume you were in the room in that case) to make up your room up into daytime configuration. It is kind the equivalent to leaving a "Do Not Disturb" sign up at a hotel.

As the day wore on, were you sitting in the room with the bed still down, visible to him, and he didn't ask if you'd like the room made up?

I have a routine where when I go to breakfast, I leave the door open and the curtain closed. If I see the attendant in the car, I let him know I am going to breakfast and would like the room made up when he has the chance.

Once I am back from breakfast and the room is not made up (and I hadn't run into him to ask), I'll ring the call button and ask for the room to be made up. While I can put the bed up and down myself, it is a pain and always have the attendant to it.

On the early morning after the first night aboard, I left the Roomette to go to Breakfast and then to the SSL. The door/curtain was open so the SCA knew I was not there. I did not return to my Roomette until after Lunch and remained there for most of the day until dinner.

Returning from dinner, the Roomette was in its night configuration (which was OK as requested), but, as I stated, the bed, including my use of the blue blanket, was in the exact unmade condition as to when I left it in the morning.

I am an "active" sleeper and on the morning prior to arriving in Chicago, the bed was a true mess with the bottom sheet pulled away from the mattress at its end.

Did this situation make my trip less enjoyable? Absolutely not! I just was surprised, as I said in my OP, that the bed had not been re-made.

Just to be clear... You are saying the room never went from night time to day time mode?

It seems Dakota is saying the room was put back in the Day configuration while at breakfast & in the SSL.

crescent-zephyr said:

Just to be clear... You are saying the room never went from night time to day time mode?

Click to expand...

No, this is not what I am saying.

After the first night, the room was returned to its day time mode while I was at breakfast.

While at dinner prior to the second night, the SCA returned the room to its night time mode as I had previously requested. Arriving back to the room after dinner for that second night aboard the train, I found the bed to be in exactly the same unmade condition as I left it that morning. I was surprised that the bed had not been re-made.

That is my question. Is it the current SOP to not re-make the bed after the first night?

Gotcha! Sorry for the confusion.

The standard is to remake the bed. As I mentioned, The blanket is not part of that anymore on many trains (including the builder I think) but the sheets should have been remade and it should look "fresh."

crescent-zephyr said:

Gotcha! Sorry for the confusion.

The standard is to remake the bed. As I mentioned, The blanket is not part of that anymore on many trains (including the builder I think) but the sheets should have been remade and it should look "fresh."

Click to expand...

I was using the blue blanket that first night. Because I had done so, could that have been the reason the bed was not re-made?

Well... It used to be the blanket was tucked into the bedding with the sheets. Now the blanket is supposed to be delivered wrapped in plastic from the cleaners (the idea being, to ensure it has been cleaned). So now the blanket really isn't part of the bed making process.

crescent-zephyr said:

Well... It used to be the blanket was tucked into the bedding with the sheets. Now the blanket is supposed to be delivered wrapped in plastic from the cleaners (the idea being, to ensure it has been cleaned). So now the blanket really isn't part of the bed making process.

Click to expand...

He's talking about the 2nd night. He used the, presumably wrapped in plastic, blanket the first night. They don't give you a new blanket every night.

Yes I know. That's what I was saying, before I specifically remember the blanket and the sheets being re-made on the second night. Now, the blanket is either tossed on the bed as is (like what the OP described) or sometimes it's refolded.

On my recent trip, I always told the SCA we were going to breakfast, so when we returned the room was in Day position. On both two night trains, the SCA had the blanket tucked in just like they used to do when the bed was made down (Both SCA's had 15 plus years in the Sleeper). The first night all the blankets were in plastic, though all five SCA asked if we wanted the blanket tucked in.

AmtrakBlue and crescent-zephyr,

On the first night, I needed to open the plastic pouch containing the blanket in order to use it. I did not or would not expect a new blanket to be provided for night #2.

What was most surprising to me for my second night's sleep was that the bed, sheets and blanket, were in the exact same condition as I left them during the morning. It appeared to me that the SCA simply left all of the bedding as he found it and returned the Roomette to its day time mode without doing anything about re-making the bed.

Then, in preparation for night #2, the SCA changed the Roomette from the day time mode to the night time mode exactly as he found the bedding during the morning.

Since my SCA fulfilled all of his other responsibilities well and as expected, I find my situation at the start of night #2 to be odd with regard to his service. Maybe he got called away from finishing my Roomette's preparation for the night (because he had many calls during my trip) and forgot to return to finish the bed preparation?

Many SCAs on a 2-3 night trip occupied by the same passenger just fold up the mattress from the lower berth and put it in the top berth. Then the following night when setting the bed, it appears to look just like it was left in the morning.

I will say that my SCA on the SL was a trainer. He was instructing his trainee to make the room look as nice as possible. We were in room 2, so we heard many of the coaching sessions. He had the trainee the first night asking if the passengers wanted the blanket put out or if the passenger wanted to do it. The second night, the bed was made like it was the first day, though I could tell it was the same sheets. This trainer had his trainee always doing something, actually, neither sat down much. Every few hours they would check on everyone, or bring around water, etc. something different was that the trainer had the trainee offer to assist with bags as we boarded and before our destination. They did ask everyone about converting their beds around 10 if they hadn't done so yet. Said they were to minimize noise after 10pm, and no matter how quiet one tried to be, making the beds is noisy.

Must of been a case where somebody got in got in your bed by mistake, realized the mistake and left before you got there.

Dakota 400 said:

AmtrakBlue and crescent-zephyr,

On the first night, I needed to open the plastic pouch containing the blanket in order to use it. I did not or would not expect a new blanket to be provided for night #2.

What was most surprising to me for my second night's sleep was that the bed, sheets and blanket, were in the exact same condition as I left them during the morning. It appeared to me that the SCA simply left all of the bedding as he found it and returned the Roomette to its day time mode without doing anything about re-making the bed.

Then, in preparation for night #2, the SCA changed the Roomette from the day time mode to the night time mode exactly as he found the bedding during the morning.

Since my SCA fulfilled all of his other responsibilities well and as expected, I find my situation at the start of night #2 to be odd with regard to his service. Maybe he got called away from finishing my Roomette's preparation for the night (because he had many calls during my trip) and forgot to return to finish the bed preparation?

Click to expand...

The thought that he got distracted/called away also crossed my mind.
I always straighten up my bed in the morning, so I probably don't notice if the bed is "made up" the 2nd night.

Perhaps Amtrak should send its new hire attendants to Carnival or one of the other cruise lines to learn how to service a room....

Their stewards make up your room while you are at breakfast, and "turn down" your room while you are at dinner, or an evening show, each time returning it (and the bathroom) to "ship-shape", pristine condition...

Perhaps even leaving a "towel-animal" on the bed to greet you at night....

railiner said:

Perhaps Amtrak should send its new hire attendants to Carnival or one of the other cruise lines to learn how to service a room....

Their stewards make up your room while you are at breakfast, and "turn down" your room while you are at dinner, or an evening show, each time returning it (and the bathroom) to "ship-shape", pristine condition...

Perhaps even leaving a "towel-animal" on the bed to greet you at night....

Click to expand...

That is exactly what came to my mind too.

I would swear that Carnival had some sort of occupancy detector (or the lack-of-occupancy detector) in our cabin, because if we had an early breakfast, or a late breakfast, our cabin was always serviced by the time we returned from eating.

Many hotels have motion detectors that know if a person is in the room. They use this feature to control the AC/Heating, saving money when no one is in the room. The cruise lines could have a similar sensor so the Steward knows there is activity in the room. Having a sensor that knows if someone is in the room could be used in an Emergency to know if all rooms have been vacated.

the_traveler said:

Many SCAs on a 2-3 night trip occupied by the same passenger just fold up the mattress from the lower berth and put it in the top berth. Then the following night when setting the bed, it appears to look just like it was left in the morning.

Click to expand...

AmtrakBlue said:

Dakota 400 said:

AmtrakBlue and crescent-zephyr,

On the first night, I needed to open the plastic pouch containing the blanket in order to use it. I did not or would not expect a new blanket to be provided for night #2.

What was most surprising to me for my second night's sleep was that the bed, sheets and blanket, were in the exact same condition as I left them during the morning. It appeared to me that the SCA simply left all of the bedding as he found it and returned the Roomette to its day time mode without doing anything about re-making the bed.

Then, in preparation for night #2, the SCA changed the Roomette from the day time mode to the night time mode exactly as he found the bedding during the morning.

Since my SCA fulfilled all of his other responsibilities well and as expected, I find my situation at the start of night #2 to be odd with regard to his service. Maybe he got called away from finishing my Roomette's preparation for the night (because he had many calls during my trip) and forgot to return to finish the bed preparation?

Click to expand...

The thought that he got distracted/called away also crossed my mind.
I always straighten up my bed in the morning, so I probably don't notice if the bed is "made up" the 2nd night.

Click to expand...

Many thanks for nearly all of the replies to my question. I am of the opinion that one of these two replies probably best explains my experience.

Considering many comments on this web site about SCAs being "missing in action" or failing to fulfill passengers' expectations, I wanted to send a positive comment about my SCA's performance to Amtrak, if it was deserved. Based on the replies posted, I think Yonis does deserve a "pat on the back".