SCAs, the good and the bad

[ScottC4746]

No one wants to see your leftover, ahem, *stuff*.

There is no one to clean up after you each time and you certainly can't expect the SCA to be your own personal pooper scooper, take care of your own mess!Same goes for missing the bowl when you pee - the rude, disgusting messes are just as bad in the sleepers as in coach in my experience.

I agree with both. I have seen some public facilities, (air, bus, rail) the the sides of the bowl are ... muddy ... and the floor is wet because people will not clean up or aim. :angry2: :angry2: :angry2: :angry2: :angry2: :angry2:

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I have seen some public facilities, (air, bus, rail) the the sides of the bowl are ... muddy ... and the floor is wet because people will not clean up or aim. :angry2: :angry2: :angry2: :angry2: :angry2: :angry2:

Who's in charge of teaching people how to use the restroom properly? If I left a mess I caught hell from my parents. When was the last time you saw a parent check up on what their children leave behind today? I can't even remember the last time. I would guess that's a big part of this problem.

 

[RichardK]

Lisa (usually on the SSL/TE) is AWESOME. I've had her for 2 trips from L.A. to Tucson, once from Tucson to L.A. and once from L.A. all the way to New Orleans! She is so cool, she organizes trivia games, keeps her car VERY clean, and also runs a tight ship! She really makes it feel like a community and is ALWAYS there if anyone needs anything! I hope I get her on my next trip *fingers crossed*

Over the course of many rides I've found Lisa's cars aren't all that clean during the day and don't seem to receive any cleaning at all during the night. If you happen to board before she's decided it's time to prep your room she'll won't let you wait for a few minutes to enter. Rather, she'll instruct you to sit in the diner to wait until she's ready for you, never mind if you're actually hungry for AmChow. Lisa seems to spend much of her time in the diner so maybe that's why she assumes everyone else loves it in there as much as she does. Lisa will cheerfully agree to go get you ice, over and over again, that never actually shows up. If you keep asking she might eventually pass the request off to a coach attendant on the fourth or fifth reminder but I've never seen her get up and do it herself. Depending on Lisa's arbitrary moods she might look at you weird if you want your bed made before or after she was originally planning to do it. If you ask her for something she wasn't planning to do at all she'll inform you that it's far more work than you could possibly realize. It doesn't matter if you've seen other SCA's do it (like get some more towels) or you've done it yourself (like grab juice from another car). Should you happen to ask her for help finding something that's gone missing you can forget it. All she'll do is watch you look for it. I cannot possibly imagine this frail and lazy lady performing her necessary duties in the midst of a wreck or other catastrophe. Maybe she’ll start a happily little trivia game while other customers help drag you from the wreckage. Thanks, but no thanks. In my experience Lisa's attitude encapsulates everything that's wrong with today's Amtrak.

There must be more than one Lisa. Sounds like you are talking about two different people.

 

[VentureForth]

Sometimes your "mess" is left because of a toilet malfunction. Very irritating.

 

[SarahZ]

I was taught to close the bowl before flushing (on both train and airplane), but I always check to make sure no paper is left behind. Maybe some people don't check and just assume it's clean? Some may not realize they are a vacuum flush. I'm not defending, just tossing out another side of it.

Also, I've heard of far too many people who say, "Cleaning up is part of their job," and refuse to pick things up or sometimes even make more of a mess on purpose. It's disgusting. I see it in restaurants, movie theatres, trains, airplanes, etc. We had peanuts at Wrigley Field on Saturday, and I put the shells in an empty cup because I felt guilty throwing them on the ground. ^_^ The guy next to me said, "They sweep after the game. It's okay," and I said, "I know, but I feel like such a slob when I do that."

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Also, I've heard of far too many people who say, "Cleaning up is part of their job," and refuse to pick things up or sometimes even make more of a mess on purpose. It's disgusting. I see it in restaurants, movie theatres, trains, airplanes, etc. We had peanuts at Wrigley Field on Saturday, and I put the shells in an empty cup because I felt guilty throwing them on the ground. ^_^ The guy next to me said, "They sweep after the game. It's okay," and I said, "I know, but I feel like such a slob when I do that."

Same here. And I put shopping carts into the "corrals" or on the sidewalk (out of the way) in front of the store. Even though the store employs someone to get the carts.

 

[rusty spike]

We had peanuts at Wrigley Field on Saturday, and I put the shells in an empty cup because I felt guilty throwing them on the ground. ^_^ The guy next to me said, "They sweep after the game. It's okay," and I said, "I know, but I feel like such a slob when I do that."

Okay. What soaks up all the spilled beer if there are no peanut shells on the ground?

 

[oldtimer]

We had peanuts at Wrigley Field on Saturday, and I put the shells in an empty cup because I felt guilty throwing them on the ground. ^_^ The guy next to me said, "They sweep after the game. It's okay," and I said, "I know, but I feel like such a slob when I do that."

Okay. What soaks up all the spilled beer if there are no peanut shells on the ground?

As a 64 year resident of the Chicagoland area I will tell you one Chicago truism, The peanut shells in Wrigley Field as not just for the beers, but also the tears!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

One thing I like about Wrigley Field is that it's casual and carefree. Nobody is expecting to eat off the floor like it's a fine dining restaurant. Even though I couldn't care less about baseball in general I'll happily visit Wrigley Field again. Now, as for Fenway Park those over-caffeinated fans would probably burst a vein and blow a gasket if you accidentally dropped something where it didn't belong. They're absolutely militant about the rules and quiet as church on a Saturday night unless their holy rollers are winning. Maybe they're so serious because the rows of seats are compacted to the point that they give your poor legs deep vein thrombosis.

 

[SarahZ]

Back on-topic:

We had Anna Maria as our SCA on the SWC last November, and Julio was our SCA on the way home. They were both excellent.

Anna Maria had two sleeper cars to watch over, and pretty much everyone was new to sleepers, so she had a lot of questions and requests. I don't think she slept, though I'm sure she did per regulations. We had fun talking with her, and she brought me an extra pillow (without being asked) when she saw I was propped up on one pillow reading a book. She heard me and my boyfriend talking about maybe getting a bedroom next time, and she popped her head in the door to say, "Hey. I just cleaned one. Nobody's getting on for another half-hour. You can go take a look at it if you want."

Julio was absolutely amazing. I've never seen a room turned so quickly, and he was one of the most polite and gracious people I've ever met in my life. My boyfriend's dad asked if he could see the sleeper while it was stopped in ABQ, and Julio gave him a tour and explained all of the amenities. When Pops came off the train, he looked like a little kid who'd just been given a candy bar. We pushed our call button when we noticed a leak, and Julio was there in about two minutes. He pulled the top bunk down and saw it was a bottle of OJ someone had left behind. It had cracked and leaked in the top bunk. Julio grabbed the bedding, grabbed some towels/water/soap, washed the bunk down, grabbed new bedding, and got it all back together in (I swear) about 20 seconds. It was crazy.

 

[sambdking]

Julio was absolutely amazing. I've never seen a room turned so quickly, and he was one of the most polite and gracious people I've ever met in my life. My boyfriend's dad asked if he could see the sleeper while it was stopped in ABQ, and Julio gave him a tour and explained all of the amenities. When Pops came off the train, he looked like a little kid who'd just been given a candy bar. We pushed our call button when we noticed a leak, and Julio was there in about two minutes. He pulled the top bunk down and saw it was a bottle of OJ someone had left behind. It had cracked and leaked in the top bunk. Julio grabbed the bedding, grabbed some towels/water/soap, washed the bunk down, grabbed new bedding, and got it all back together in (I swear) about 20 seconds. It was crazy.

I forgot about Julio, he's awesome! Had him once on the CS and once on the SWC.

 

[Eric308]

Anybody taken the EB to PDX west, and the EB from SEA east lately? Just wondering if you had any exemplary SCA's.

 

[the Other Mike]

Several years back there was a site that was an Amtrak Employee type forum / who's who and what they do. This was at least 2 computers ago and lost the link with one of those computers. This was BEFORE Facebook. Does anyone have a link to that site ?

 

[I always rode the Southern]

In the past 5 yrs, besides the Silvers and auto train. I have taken a number of Amtrak trains including the Cap(twice), SWC, CS(twice),and EB. On all these trips, I have had no really bad experiences, but only 4 outstanding and memorable SCA's, 2 on the Silvers and 2 on the Auto Train. I really regret, and am embarassed to admit that I can't remember the names of the 2 on the silvers,(my memory is not great any more and I forgot to write them down) because I would have liked to have called or written to praise them.