Make "THIS GUY" (Herman) in Charge of OBS - Bar

[Texan Eagle]

Looks tacky to me. As a longtime employee, I can assure you that passengers have enough difficulty reading the regular signs that are placed in front of them to find the restrooms, exits, etc., without adding all of this visual clutter.

This reminds me of Amtrak employees I encounter on five of ten Amtrak trips- the ones who want to get by by doing just bare minimal as dictated by the Blue Book and nothing else. These are the ones who seem to have the "Look how much I hate this fulltime job of mine that pays a good salary, gives paid days off and other benefits" expression on their face and body language.

And then there are some exceptional ones like Dorothy on Empire Builder sleeping car who went above and beyond throughout my trip, mixing up Mimosas using the orange juice and wine available in the sleeping car, being the tourist guide for us pointing out several nice sights to see before they come and so on. On the Portland leg of the same trip I also had this rather eccentric loudmouth SCA who set up this nice little "shop" of knickknacks in his roomette for the passengers to browse and use-

These are the kind of employees who make Amtrak trips enjoyable, not the ones who believe in sticking to the rule book set in stone and not do anything else.

 

[roomette]

I agree. But, I feel like andersone may have arranged the magazines a bit differently. :lol:

 

[SarahZ]

As people who supposedly want Amtrak to be financially successful, you might want to take a step back. Inconsistent signage is just one symptom of an unprofessional environment - and my university degree, which entailed lots of design elements, took note of this. A place with a lot of handmade/random/inconsistent elements just makes it look shabby. Do you want to see your TAs wearing flip-flops and jorts? Do you want your SAs to wear halter tops and bikini bottoms? Most people, for your information, do NOT want such things. They want to see a professional environment, with cohesive elements of design from uniforms to signage to seat coverings.

I am not "embittered", but I believe that wearing my proper uniform is as important as making sure that proper signage is in place, and that everything is consistent, system-wide. There are plenty of horror stories about LSAs "going rogue", that I needn't repeat to prove my point...

Lighten up Frances......

How do we go from "two fun signs" to "jorts and flip-flops"? Methinks you are overreacting.

 

[Dan O]

I thought I had seen this picture before. It's on Amtrak's FB page. Seems like whatever he is doing is not frowned upon too much by Amtrak.

http://blog.amtrak.com/2014/01/amtrak-cafe-car/

“CC riders rely on me to decorate for their holiday parties,” Herman says. “I always decorate the car for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I do all the decorations myself.”

District superintendent, Lou, says often passengers request Herman by name when they travel. “At one point customers thought he was leaving the route, and they were having a fit,” Lou says. “I was surprised they didn’t hire him personally.”

According to Lou, “He’s really something special.”

https://www.facebook.com/Amtrak (have to scroll down to Feb 22)

 

[Bob Dylan]

I thought I had seen this picture before. It's on Amtrak's FB page. Seems like whatever he is doing is not frowned upon too much by Amtrak.

http://blog.amtrak.com/2014/01/amtrak-cafe-car/

“CC riders rely on me to decorate for their holiday parties,” Herman says. “I always decorate the car for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I do all the decorations myself.”

District superintendent, Lou, says often passengers request Herman by name when they travel. “At one point customers thought he was leaving the route, and they were having a fit,” Lou says. “I was surprised they didn’t hire him personally.”

According to Lou, “He’s really something special.”

https://www.facebook.com/Amtrak (have to scroll down to Feb 22)

Sounds like a Good Boss also!

 

[TVRM610]

How do we go from "two fun signs" to "jorts and flip-flops"? Methinks you are overreacting.

I thought the same thing.. I was like.. the guy is clearly wearing the proper uniform, and with a smile! For that matter... he's ADDING signs to the car to ATTRACT business. As long as his manager is ok with it, what's the problem?

 

[SarahZ]

People like this can make or break a business. It's like a bank teller who passes out lollipops to kids; or, the guy at the parking garage who offered me a Hershey mini from a bowl of candy he had near the window. It made my entire day. It takes so little effort but means so very much to people.

 

[KC Ghost Rider]

Personally, I like Herman's attitude and enthusiasm. Just imagine if all Amtrak employee's went that extra mile in some fashion; we would have a better rail experience altogether. I cannot count the times I have been treated less than satisfactory by a LSA in the diner or SCA because I needed something within his/her job description. Some of the best employee's did nice things for the passengers. Examples have included helping me remove a stain from a shirt (SCA provide a tide stain removing pen), giving out welcome aboard candies, bringing me coffee in the morning, having a positive and friendly demeanor toward everyone in the dinning car, and last, the café attendant who made me the best drink ever out of the stock available (it really tasted nice). Those are service oriented employees who make the trip so much more enjoyable.

 

[the_traveler]

I very rarely even go to the café, especially on trains where I have to go to the lower level. But if I saw an invitation like Herman puts out, and then I was greeted by a smiling face, I'd be much more inclined to visit. I consider this a win-win for both sides!

 

[big perm]

On two different trips on Amtrak's pacific surfliner, we had "Nitro" as our cafe attendant. He makes funny announcement through out the trip. When you go visit the cafe when he is working, pretty much everything is sold out or running low. I told him, he needs to stop making those funny announcements so there is something left for me to buy when I board. Now on other trains I have taken, the cafe is fully stocked. Good for Amtrak bad for me.

LOVE Nitro! He needs a Facebook fan page!!!!

 

[cirdan]

Do you want to see your TAs wearing flip-flops and jorts? Do you want your SAs to wear halter tops and bikini bottoms? Most people, for your information, do NOT want such things. They want to see a professional environment, with cohesive elements of design from uniforms to signage to seat coverings.

I do not want any of that. But from the picture it looks as if Herman is wearing his uniform correctly and wearing it with pride.

It also looks as if he has a positive attitude about his work and is trying to make the customer experience a valuable one.

That's more thah good enough for me.