OlympianHiawatha
Engineer
I have actually had a time or 2 where a Conductor has asked if he could sit at my lounge table! Of course he can. And we usually had good conversation as he did his paperwork and called signals.
Staff hogging space in the cafe
- Thread starter williamn
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cpotisch
Engineer
Both Trans-Dorms I was in last week had the crew area with tables and an office.
This has been my experience in the Trans-dorm, as well. Save the conductor on one or two occasions, I have ever seen any other crew member, baggage, supplies, etc. I any of that fairly large space.
tricia
Conductor
On the Crescent earlier this week, we went to the (new! hooray!) dining car for lunch, found two tables occupied by staff and stored supplies, and were told to wait in the lounge/cafe car. Where three tables were occupied by staff--in addition to the little staff office at the end of the lounge car.
The new dining cars have a fairly generous space at one end for stored supplies, BTW.
Edited to add: Oh, and the dining car didn't start seating for breakfast until well over an hour out of NOL--geez, if your schedule requires folks to arrive at the station around 6:30AM, you ought to be able to start feeding them before 8:30. And, in the other direction, the last seating for dinner was 5PM, even though the train was running more than two hours late--we arrived NOL past 9:30PM. The dining cars would be considerably more profitable if they were open more of the time the train is rolling.
The new dining cars have a fairly generous space at one end for stored supplies, BTW.
Edited to add: Oh, and the dining car didn't start seating for breakfast until well over an hour out of NOL--geez, if your schedule requires folks to arrive at the station around 6:30AM, you ought to be able to start feeding them before 8:30. And, in the other direction, the last seating for dinner was 5PM, even though the train was running more than two hours late--we arrived NOL past 9:30PM. The dining cars would be considerably more profitable if they were open more of the time the train is rolling.
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Seaboard92
Engineer
I've always wondered what would happen if we shifted to an all day diner. We're still paying the same people the same wage. Just allowing pax to come in as they wish.
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I imagine the kitchen area is geared toward making and plating food quickly and efficiently during finite meal hours. Leaving food out for final cooking within a short time is SOP. Leaving food out all day is inviting food poisoning.
Also, much prep time for each meal is necessary between breakfast, lunch, and dinner service. In the tight confines of a train kitchen, doing that while actually cooking meals might not be wise or even possible.
There are only a few "hands on deck" in the kitchen these days no matter what method of cooking is used. They earn their $$$.
Devil's Advocate
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In the case of Superliners (like on the SL) much of the available kitchen area was originally geared toward making meals from scratch and goes largely unused today. For many Amtrak meals it's simply heat and eat preparation of precooked freezer and pantry food. Those few items that are at risk of quick spoilage can be prepped and put away in a fridge. Minimum wage cooks figured out all day dining with limited cooking space over a half-century ago but apparently some of us still struggle to accept it today.
Most of the prep work is done in a commercial kitchen or commissary. Only the most minimal cooking is done on the train. Beaten eggs, baked potatoes, boiled rice, and frozen steak are still cooked on board but that's about it. Which is probably why they're retiring relatively expensive chef positions that in reality are doing a lot of generic fast food style prep work.
If the dining car can't come close to breaking even then are they really earning their money? Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's the chef's fault that they're in an unwinnable position, I just find your choice of words rather curious. Especially in the context of responding to a post trying to find ways for the dining car to recover more of their wages and other expenses.
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Who (other than Congress) says food service should make money, or even break even. Look at the the DownEaster, with a high customer satisfaction rating food service, and which has a private contractor with lower wage workers handling its food, but loses a considerable amount of money. But if you read their reports, they understand that not having food service would likely result in less passengers, and a lower price point that would be achievable on the route, thereby resulting in greater losses to the agency than they incur having good food service.
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The Food Service service staff is paid while on the train, so the pay doesn't differ if they start at 8:30 or 9:30 except for tips. Now I know some of the teams work hard to make their customers happy, but I have also experienced teams that are more concerned about their own happiness than the customers. I have been on the TE several times where Breakfast is being served within 30 minutes of departure from SAS. I have also had dinner out of Austin when the TE arrived SAS at 8:45 PM. Now the crew did the full menu and they did deliver dessert with the meal, but it was about an hour before arrival in SAS when the last of us left the DC. So like I said some crews work for their customers, but they also get the tips.
