Where did the Hong Kong flu start? Oh, The Spanish flu. Opps, Ebola, West Nile Virus. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever,
Well, guess what. They decided not to name this one after the place of origin. It’s called COVID-19 - Corona Virus Disease that began in 2019.
Remember when the Empire Builder,Coast Starlight and the Lake Shore Ltd out of Chicago had daily Wine and Cheese Tastings?
It appears they don’t know where it originated, but most likely NOT in Spain.
The “Spanish” flu most likely did not start in Spain.
I heard it was Kansas.
Actually, the "Spanish flu" started in Kansas. In an Army camp in 1918. Which means it quickly spread to Europe, where there was a World War going on. Soon, soldiers and citizens of all the belligerents were getting it, but this was not being reported widely in the news media of the time, as the governments involved didn't want panic and worry about getting killed by the flu to get in the way of their soldiers killing lots of people in the war. The first place where news of the flu epidemic was widely reported was in Spain, because Spain was neutral during the war and the government didn't care if the new media reported on the subject. Thus, people got the mistaken idea that the epidemic started in Spain, hence the term "Spanish flu." It really should be called the "Kansas flu."
See my link above - it does mention Kansas, but they say they really don't know where it originated.
Unfortunately, with many employers, it takes a union, or the threat of being unionized to ensure that that employees are paid a proper wage. Back in the day when I was starting out, before unions were emasculated, you could work for McDonalds (and not as a manager) and make enough to live decently. I don't think McDonald's was unionized, even back then, but they knew if they were going to be able to attract decent employees, they'd need to pay at or close to the union scale.
Aha! Sounds like some foreign country to me! Perhaps we should invade it or at least blockade it.
Management creates unions. When management doesn't treat their employees well, people decide to join together to protect their rights.
Honestly I look for this to continue into 2021, and sadly, probably become permanent on the LD Trains!
Permanent is a long time, but probably at least as long as Covid is suppressing ridership. We shall see if it goes beyond that. Alternatively I could also see them playing games and only restoring traditional dining on a couple “preferred trains” and not the others. They have talked about an “experiential service plan” On select trains in the last couple five year plans - obviously Covid is changing everything but that’s one way they could Eventually move in that Direction when Covid passes by just bringing it back to a couple select trains deemed “experiential.” If they do continue flex dining for the long run some tweaks need to be made for the western trains if they are going to stick with this type of format. There aren’t enough options or variety for trips of that long duration. One possible improvement is to offer some of the cafe options (either with a cafe car voucher or to just give the flex dining LSA some of the cafe items to serve.) One thing giving me a small glimmer of hope that the suspension may not be permanent is that Acela first class has also gotten a major downgrade (from the descriptions I’ve seen - even worse than flex dining) and I have to imagine Acela dining would go back to normal eventually once demand returns. The only train you can get a proper meal right now seems to be the auto train..
