East vs West Crews

[Andy]

Curious about people's experiences with service on eastern versus western LD routes. Last year I took the LSL and had an absolutely wonderful sleeping car attendant but not too friendly or helpful in the dining car. On the EB my sleeping car attendant was awful and unhelpful but dining staff was superb. This year I'm going the opposite direction and find the same pattern. Lovely dining staff on EB but absent and unfriendly SCA. Right now on the LSL and our SCA is going out of the way for us. No experience with dining car until tomorrow but I did wander to the cafe car to get a spoon for medicine and the attendant yelled at me for going in since it wasn't open. Then he lied and said they had no spoons (our SCA said that was ridiculous and went and got me a spoon).

Other experiences?

 

[Bob Dylan]

As lawyers like to say, it depends! Lots of posters on here have run into some of the worst OBS that are Chicago based! Since they work trains that run in all directions you can get some of the bad apples as well as being given less than profesional service @ Union Station! We call it "the Chicago Attitude!"

Hopefully you have well let Customer Relations know about the good ones as well as the bad ones you've run into to!

I can't find it but at one time there was a Post here on AU rating OBSto the effect of:

Average OBS-(they do their job and aren't rude or bossy), 75%

Poor to Worthless- 15%

Great-(above and beyond.) 10%

These aren't exact numbers, YMMV but based on my many years and many trips on Amtrak they seem about right!

 

[choochoodood]

But does Amtrak REALLY do anything about the poor-performing employees that are reported by us customers? You would think that these employees would be completely eliminated over time if they were being reported, yet we still have to deal with the "15%" (per the previous post).

I would be interested in hearing from a knowledgeable source how this type of thing is handled inernally. Is there a corrective course of action? Three strikes and you're out?

BTW, the best overall OBS crew I ever had was on the CONO, and they were NOLA-based.

 

[Shanghai]

I hope you have either Tom or Sharon as SCA on the Lake Shore Limited. Tom is usually in the 12 car

and Sharon is usually in the 11 car, plus Sharon always has cookies in her room!! Kevin (a bit on the heavy side)

is one of the staff in the dining car and he is most pleasant. Only one experience with the Empire Builder and

it was good with the SCA and dining car staff. I hope you have a good trip.

 

[Gemuser]

On my 2012 trip on Amtrak SFO-SEA-GPK-CHI-NYP-WUS-NOLA; MCO-WUS-CHI-SFO every single SCA was ABSOLUTELY the BEST service person I have EVER come across, going above and beyond!

Dining car staff was also excellent, although not up to the SCAs standard. Interestingly the worst was probably on the EB, but still at least average.

Gemuser

 

[FormerOBS]

I can't give a lot of detail about the disciplinary process because I have so little experience with it. I could be slightly wrong on some details, but basically, a complaint means a person will be confronted by his/her supervisor & will have to account for the behavior. One problem is that many complaints have a lot to do with circumstances. A late train, for example, is something the OBS crew can't control. Same for many mechanical issues. Nevertheless, when there's an issue with these things, the OBS representative is the only face the passenger sees, so the OBS rep. often gets blamed by the passenger. Or a passenger may be upset about one of these non-OBS issues, and then a minor OBS issue crops up & the seriousness of that last issue is magnified in the passenger's mind.

If a pattern develops, or if the charge is extremely serious, the employee can be brought up on charges. This involves being taken out of service for a month or two or three while the Company prepares a case and the employee prepares a defense. Usually the employee will have someone from the Union to help in the defense. A hearing is held (very much like a trial), witnesses are called in, and the employee is subject to the decision of the Hearing Officer. Being found guilty can result in termination, or some punishment short of that such as extended time off without pay. The decision of the Hearing Officer can be appealed, but I don't know anything about that process. Going through this process can be very disruptive, so it is not entered into lightly.

 

[Ryan]

But does Amtrak REALLY do anything about the poor-performing employees that are reported by us customers?

Yes.

*UPDATE*

Traction has been garnered on the official side of this experience. I had a phone call with Tony Ward, the Manager of OBS at the New York crew base this evening. He related that the office of Doug Varn, Director of Long-Distance Services in Chicago, was also involved. A testimony was requested of the experiences had aboard the Cardinal under SCA Paulette and emailed to him. And no, we were not the only passengers to voice concerns over her service ability. Undisclosed disciplinary action is being taken.

You didn't hear it from me (LOL), but, It appears that the aforementioned SCA is no longer working in that position, since the job has been posted as available for bid.

 

[Andy]

Sharon is now a dining car attendant (server). So friendly! I told her that I've heard good things about me. She's no longer a SCA but she did say that she used to have cookies. Mike, who is our SCA is stellar. I watched him going back and forth between the dining car (7 cars away) and the sleeper brining breakfast to his passengers.

 

[D.P. Roberts]

Strangely enough, my experiences on the EB have been the opposite of Andy's - I've generally had some of the best SCAs on the EB, and some of the worst dining crews. Two of the best SCAs in my experiences on the EB are Jana and Charles. With all the recent cuts to the EB's service, I'd really like to have Charles as an SCA this trip - he really goes out of his way to provide amenities for his passengers.

We've also had some of the worst dining crews. In some cases, it's the chefs themselves, but many of the dining car attendants have been unwilling or unable to help fix any mistakes. I generally don't care who the dining car attendant is, but last year we had Tanner, and he was the only really GOOD one. We often found oursleves at the entrance of the dining car, trying to finagle ourselves into Tanner's section!

As jimhudson said, it's the luck of the draw with Chicago-based crews.

 

[Andy]

The Boston section had Chicago based crew today on the 448 and the NY section (48) including the diner is NY based. I'm realizing that the stereotypes of where the crew is based are not true. A lot depends on the personalities of who you get. And most crews seem to be out on various routes, not keeping to east or west.

But wow, Sharon, Joyce, Ada, and Shawn were a great dining crew. Joyful, even singing at one point. They clearly love their jobs. Not like Michelle the SCA on the EB!

 

[Bob Dylan]

Sounds like your karma is good and you drew good OBS! Please let Customer Relations know about these good folks,mostly they only hear complaints all day long!

 

[greatcats]

I raved about the Seattle dining car crew on #8 last October with Timmy, Cherie, Jenny, and Dennis. The Seattle sections are based out of that city- the Portland section out of Chicago. Must be a tougher than usual job with all these horrendous delays. And yes, Jim, I certainly did write that crew up in a good way. ( this being written during a concert intermission in Venice, Italy. )

 

[neroden]

There are three regular dining car "teams" on the LSL. When I last travelled, one of them was FANTASTIC (though they do make some jokes which can occasionally be offputting), one of them was sort of average and business like (I like them too), and one of them was below average. They seemed to have been this way for a long time.

OBS crews seem to like to stick together and take the same shifts as their "buddies". Makes sense to me. It means that you develop a different "culture" in each individual crew, however.

 

[ronkstevens]

As lawyers like to say, it depends! Lots of posters on here have run into some of the worst OBS that are Chicago based! Since they work trains that run in all directions you can get some of the bad apples as well as being given less than profesional service @ Union Station! We call it "the Chicago Attitude!"

Hopefully you have well let Customer Relations know about the good ones as well as the bad ones you've run into to!

I can't find it but at one time there was a Post here on AU rating OBSto the effect of:

Average OBS-(they do their job and aren't rude or bossy), 75%

Poor to Worthless- 15%

Great-(above and beyond.) 10%

These aren't exact numbers, YMMV but based on my many years and many trips on Amtrak they seem about right!

"Bell-curve science" applies everywhere

 

[jis]

"Bell-curve science" applies everywhere

It is a characteristic of random processes.

 

[OBS]

Neroden-

Actually, there are five crews. The rest of what you said is correct, regarding crews.