I encourage any of you who think you understand the job of an LSA or other OBS to PM me as I can get you experience so you can truly understand our struggles. As many of you know I am majorly involved in the PV community and have been employed by multiple owners and operators to do various tasks.
One year I worked a dining car on a very large excursion train that served 300 passengers with fresh prepared meals for both breakfast and dinner service. We had a 56 seat table car and a 48 seat diner making it roughly three services for each meal. Each passenger when purchasing their ticket also stated which meal they wanted.
The train departed at eight am however I reported to work at four am in order to have my eight fifteen service prepared. As one of the senior more experienced crew members I was the equivalent of an LSA. My first job at four am was to start making up the place seatings and assembling the forks, spoons, knifes and wrapping them in the cloth napkin. However we only have 120 pieces of silver so between the first and third seatings we had to wash them in the dishwasher. But that's getting ahead of the point.
The cooks started prepping the kitchen also at four am, and started actually around 5:30 am. But back to my job at six am I made a final check to make sure I had enough provisions for the day, ensuring that the water tanks were full, and that we had all the paper products we needed. At seven am passengers board the train but because of the extreme length they must pass the dining car meaning all of our supplies must be clear and the car must be presentable.
So by seven all of the tables must be prepared, the windows and surfaces are scrubbed, and the walkway clear of obstruction and clean. While passengers are boarding we continue to prepare for the next seating and assisting the food specialists as requested. If we are lucky between when the passengers board and the first service we will get five minutes off of our legs.
As the LSA my job starting at departure was to sit people at various tables trying to keep groups together. With groups of two and four being most common and the easiest. One also has to deal with odd numbered groups which are more difficult to seat. Of course you have people who want to save seats for other people "still coming" who are trying to avoid community seating, or people who request a new table for the scenery, or don't like the people they've been sat with often in a full car when it's next to impossible. As the LSA you get to hear the complaints first hand.
However the regular servers are on the front line and get these complaints before the LSA and they have to deal with it. Our diner (table car) had three servers one for roughly four tables. Each server has to rapidly greet each table and get a drink order. However different people talk differently with different accents, and lisps which oftentimes can be hard to comprehend on a busy and loud dining car over passenger and train noise.
Before you head to the kitchen to fill drinks you usually hit at least two to all of your tables. Once you fill your drinks and place them on the tray to carry out you need to be very careful with how you place them on a tray. Remember on a train it's more of a balancing game than a stationary restaurant so plan wisely. Or else you are spilling it all over you or worse a passenger.
After the drinks have been served its time to bring the main course out because we had one option only for the breakfast service made it very easy to serve. But remember if you have four plates on the tray how to balance the tray so it doesn't topple meanwhile people are shuffling behind you on the aisle. Also don't forget try to serve from the right and clear from the left.
Make sure to watch the passengers drink to keep them full, as a full glass is a happy passenger. After a passenger has finished their meal clear from the left and load the tray in a way to keep it stable. And try not to look judging when you see the many disgusting ways passengers eat.
Eventually if passengers remain sitting long after their meal has been finished it becomes the LSA's job to nicely force them out because other passengers need to be fed. So after the passengers are gone there is a small window of time to completely flip the table which requires cleaning the table, and resetting the place settings. Repeat this process as many times as needed to serve all of the passengers.
Our servers do everything from fix drinks, take orders, serve food, clear tables, and bus tables. Me as the LSA I do whatever it takes to help the team if it's filling drinks, or taking orders out. On top of doing paperwork for what supplies we've used.
At the end of the last breakfast service we then have time to turn the entire car. So we take the vacuum out clean the carpet (like I said people eat nasty), clean the tables, chairs, sanitize surfaces. All while someone else is having to be the dishwasher. Luckily on our car we have a mechanical dishwasher so someone just loads it and takes it out.
Once the car is completely clean we try to prepare for the next service which in our case is dinner beginning at five keep in mind this is now about 11 am. We do this a bit early in order to get a break midday when the passengers are off the train. Between eight am and the 12 pm layover we generally get ten minutes of time for a break. I am fairly strict I prefer my crew not to be on their phone in places where passengers can walk by and see them.
Our chef starts preparing for the four pm dinner at one pm with again 300 meals expected of him this time a prime rib, and a pasta dish for main courses, salads, dinner rolls, and various sides.
My service crew starts prepping the diner for passengers at three because after cleaning we do not put place seatings out because they get messed up over time. For dinner we repeat the same morning practice except we have to take orders.
And we also have people who complain they got the wrong dish, or don't like the food and want the other option, among several other things. All of these complaints have to be addressed all the while handling 56 passengers. It's incredibly hard to provide great and equal service for all 56 passengers under your care.
The last passenger is served out of the car hopefully by eight for a nine pm arrival. However after the passengers are gone our job isn't over. The servers will clean the car while me as the LSA I have to do inventory. While the food specialists are busy tearing down the kitchen and cleaning. Often times this process is still going on after arrival for us but talking o Amtrak LSA's I hear the company wants it done prior to arrival.
A difference between us and Amtrak the servers, food specialists, and me the LSA have to restock the car. Luckily someone usually had a golf cart and we are able to get supplies from the office subbing as a commissary fairly easy. But one still has to lift multiple boxes over ones head and place on the floor of the train for someone else to move rapidly to get it out of the way.
Usually the amount coming on can not be stored right away so the priority is to get stuff on then sort. This is so other cars can use the golf cart for their own stocking needs. After supplies are loaded out it can take up to an hour to be stowed. Especially because trains have limited storage space you oftentimes have to be creative. I've kept fruit parfaits stowed in five different nearby cars refrigerators because I didn't have space once.
So on average we go off duty around 11:30 pm to 12:00 am. And guess what we do if all again the next day starting at four. And even though you are tired, and groggy you must show your best self to passengers. After all they do pay our checks, so have to keep smiling, and moving.
Now we are lucky compared to the Amtrak diner crews in this case as we don't serve lunch which gives us a slight advantage to them. So while I'm not apologizing for the bad crew members out there. I'm hoping maybe you can appreciate them a little more. It's a much harder, more tiring job than that of a traditional server. And that's why they deserve to be compensated well.
The difference between me and a lot of you guys is that I've actually done the jobs were talking about in excursions and PV world. I've probably worked in every on board craft from a coach/sleeper attendant to diner LSA, and in up to an assistant service manager (to borrow the VIA term). And I am more than happy to help anyone get experience or answer questions about the on board services. I however will defer to people who do it for Amtrak because they have different service standards, and regulations that they must follow.
Now I am not an Amtrak OBS person being a PV OBS person but I stand in solidarity with my Amtrak colleagues.
Now tell me how many of you could do this day after day for up to six and seven days year round?
And how many of you would remain bright and cheery?
#istandinsolidarity #obsisaskill
