Crew numbers on Crescent

[Henry Kisor]

Posting this for a friend who isn't on the rail forums:

Do you have any idea of about how many would be on the operating crew and the service crew on such as the Crescent (or some comparable train)? I have a friend who does professional cakes - and because of my not hearing well and not seeing well (and not walking well - LOL!), and the service crew members always are extra nice to me, I'd really like to take a cake or cupcakes to them when I get on the Crescent here in Birmingham. I have no idea when the operating crew changes, but at least when I get on, I'd like each one to have either one cupcake or one slice of cake. (My friend also makes homemade mints!)

Of course I'll also tip them financially (I start with a two-dollar bill - they remember that!).

I called the Amtrak reservation number but of course the lady had no idea.

 

[AlanB]

Well the operating crew would be 2 conductors and 1 or 2 up in the engine. Mind you, there may not be a chance to get anything to those in the engine.

The OBS crew would include 2 sleeper attendants, 1 (maybe 2 cooks), 2 LSA's (1 dining, 1 cafe), 1 or 2 SA's (waiters), and 2 to 3 coach attendants.

Now whether they want to bake for everyone or not, is up to them, especially since they may get no help from the coach attendants.

 

[benjibear]

When I was on the Crescent about two years ago, the coach attendant on the northbound was very friendly and helpful. I found out that she worked the entire train for the entire trip. She was from the southern end and when she got to New York, she would have off and go back on the next train.

 

[Anderson]

I'm just going to post here and say this is why I love Amtrak...nowhere else that I can think of would this question come up.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

It's very hard to say exactly how many crew there will be, and I don't know of a sure way to get something to every engine crew that comes in. Overall, how much you take is your decision.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I'm just going to post here and say this is why I love Amtrak...nowhere else that I can think of would this question come up.

Really? I've seen this sort of question on many other forums that have absolutely nothing to do with Amtrak. That is not meant to imply that Amtrak staff are any less deserving of baked treats than any other transportation company or other business. I have no specific knowledge of how Amtrak handles these sorts of issues, but in the case of front line staff for major companies it's generally advised that they not consume anything provided by customers, especially if it's not preprocessed and prepackaged. Even if it's accepted it may end up being tossed as a precaution. Maybe Amtrak handles this sort of thing differently. Or maybe Henry Kisor is well known to the crew. In any case it should be interesting to see what he has to say afterward.

 

[greatcats]

Some years ago I recall a conductor on Christmas Day who passed out muffins to his passengers.

 

[Blackwolf]

Completely unrelated in professional tract, but similar in context....

Firefighting personnel for the State of California (of which I am one) are the common recipient of gifts for services rendered. We are instructed, as a guarantee of not receiving any gratuity for our professional jobs, to kindly decline any offering for which a member of the general public may provide for service. Of course, Amtrak is already different as tips are a common (and expected among OBS crew) reward for providing better services to the passengers. But it is incumbent on our own personal judgement, and the judgement of our immediate superiors, on how to accept an offering that is exceptional to the circumstance. In many cases, we may outright accept with some grievance the object offered, and then surrender or dispose of said object out of sight of the giver in order to maintain both our safety and our integrity. In the case of baked goods or any other homemade commodity, I personally will not consume the gift. Nor would I allow any of my crew to do the same. Not to be disrespectful or in any way insulting, but in today's environment we simply cannot risk the chance of food borne illness.

I am rather confident that the same holds true for Amtrak. Unless I knew the individual personally and even then at a very close level, anything less than sealed commercially-available items would be accepted and then immediately disposed of. Physical tips in this scenario would be my suggestion, and if you wanted to go above and beyond, something less consumable but no less personal would be advised. Are you, or anyone you are aware of, crafty with a physical medium other than food? What about a keepsake of some sort? Something not to be eaten, but to be cherished like a card; a drawing; a picture... You get the idea, yes?

Just my $0.02.

 

[Anderson]

I'm just going to post here and say this is why I love Amtrak...nowhere else that I can think of would this question come up.

Really? I've seen this sort of question on many other forums that have absolutely nothing to do with Amtrak. That is not meant to imply that Amtrak staff are any less deserving of baked treats than any other transportation company or other business. I have no specific knowledge of how Amtrak handles these sorts of issues, but in the case of front line staff for major companies it's generally advised that they not consume anything provided by customers, especially if it's not preprocessed and prepackaged. Even if it's accepted it may end up being tossed as a precaution. Maybe Amtrak handles this sort of thing differently. Or maybe Henry Kisor is well known to the crew. In any case it should be interesting to see what he has to say afterward.

Permit me to clarify: I've never heard of this happening with respect to a Greyhound Bus or an airplane.

I don't know if the OBS manual covers this, but I did gather from chatting with staff on one of the Regionals in VA that they will accept and consume given gifts of food, at least from some of the more frequent passengers.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

In many cases, we may outright accept with some grievance the object offered, and then surrender or dispose of said object out of sight of the giver in order to maintain both our safety and our integrity. In the case of baked goods or any other homemade commodity, I personally will not consume the gift. Nor would I allow any of my crew to do the same. Not to be disrespectful or in any way insulting, but in today's environment we simply cannot risk the chance of food borne illness.

^This.

It has been many years since I worked for a public facing operation, but this is how it worked when I did. I don't think today's environment is any different in a qualitative sense. However, from a protocol standpoint it is strongly advised not to take the risk. The gift could be from a disgruntled customer pretending to be a thankful party and even if the gift is perfectly legitimate it could have been handled in an unclean or unsafe manner. Personally I think the risk of actual harm is probably overestimated. I mean, so far as I am aware, all of those boogeyman stories about poisonous candies and blade-filled chocolate bars handed over by strangers at Halloween never turned out to be true. There were some incidents involving family members of the intended victims, but that's it. Nevertheless, in a strictly objective sense, one of the easiest ways to harm or even kill someone you don't like is to poison them through food. By the time anyone realizes what has happened the person who harmed you would be long gone, assuming they could be traced at all.

I've never heard of this happening with respect to a Greyhound Bus or an airplane. I don't know if the OBS manual covers this, but I did gather from chatting with staff on one of the Regionals in VA that they will accept and consume given gifts of food, at least from some of the more frequent passengers.

I don't ride many buses and I don't follow any bus forums, so I couldn't comment on them. However, I've flown just about every major domestic airline over the last thirty years at one time or another. I've also followed several aviation forums and blogs and I've seen people go just as gaga for airlines as they do for Amtrak.

I've met a few really good folks on Amtrak. The amazing extra board SCA on the Texas Eagle to Chicago. The excellent station agent in Austin. The top-notch SCA on the Coast Starlight from LAX to PDX.

All of them were fine folks, but rather than wonder about what they would do with a homemade style treat I simply gave them a nice tip. That seemed to work just fine for all of us. As for personal gifts, I would follow the advice already given and hand over something that is not meant to be consumed internally along with a tip.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Being the season, one time a bought a king cake at a small bakery in NOL. They boxed it for me and I brought it aboard and shared it with the obs - notably the conductors gracefully declined. It was a big hit and I got treated rather 'royally' the rest of the trip!

 

[benjibear]

The OP stated that her friend does cakes professionally. If however, they were packed professionally with a name of the bakery or business name, I wouldn't see a problem. If they are packed and it looks like a church bake sale, then maybe it should go in the trash. It still maybe not as good as something prepackaged, but it is better than something that came out of who knows kitchen.

As far as something like a card or picture, I am sure they will appreciate the gesture but I would bet that it would end up in the trash.

How about something the crew can use?

 

[afigg]

The OP stated that her friend does cakes professionally. If however, they were packed professionally with a name of the bakery or business name, I wouldn't see a problem. If they are packed and it looks like a church bake sale, then maybe it should go in the trash. It still maybe not as good as something prepackaged, but it is better than something that came out of who knows kitchen.

Whether the cakes looked like they were from a bakery or not would be irrelevant. Someone looking to make the entire crew sick or poison them could easily make the cakes look like they were from a commercial bakery. We live in a paranoid age, have to accept that. The odds of a terrorist trying to poison the crew of a passenger train are beyond extremely remote, but someone who is a kook, disgruntled or upset at Amtrak could conceivably try something like this. Even if the person looks and acts like a sweet 80 year old grandmother, she could be a 80 year old grandmother with murder on her mind! :blink:

Better to forget spending the time and money to provide cakes to the entire crew.

 

[reefgeek]

The OP stated that her friend does cakes professionally. If however, they were packed professionally with a name of the bakery or business name, I wouldn't see a problem. If they are packed and it looks like a church bake sale, then maybe it should go in the trash. It still maybe not as good as something prepackaged, but it is better than something that came out of who knows kitchen.

Whether the cakes looked like they were from a bakery or not would be irrelevant. Someone looking to make the entire crew sick or poison them could easily make the cakes look like they were from a commercial bakery. We live in a paranoid age, have to accept that. The odds of a terrorist trying to poison the crew of a passenger train are beyond extremely remote, but someone who is a kook, disgruntled or upset at Amtrak could conceivably try something like this. Even if the person looks and acts like a sweet 80 year old grandmother, she could be a 80 year old grandmother with murder on her mind! :blink:

Better to forget spending the time and money to provide cakes to the entire crew.

Or it could be frosted with chocolate Ex-Lax. Honestly, it's a curse to have a good imagination sometimes.

 

[Blackwolf]

Or it could be frosted with chocolate Ex-Lax. Honestly, it's a curse to have a good imagination sometimes.

You're not imagining things; I've experienced just that same thing as part of a 'prank' at work several years ago. Chocolate brownies, with nice 'chocolate chips' baked right on in, and a rich sticky frosting. The chips were Ex-Lax pieces, and the frosting was about 50% of the same stuff. It was funny for all of the first five minutes, but the next 36 hours were anything butt (pun intended!) :help:

And this was just joking around and having a laugh at work, at least for one member of the crew. It is not a far leap at all to become malicious in your intent all the way through.

 

[me_little_me]

The OP stated that her friend does cakes professionally. If however, they were packed professionally with a name of the bakery or business name, I wouldn't see a problem. If they are packed and it looks like a church bake sale, then maybe it should go in the trash. It still maybe not as good as something prepackaged, but it is better than something that came out of who knows kitchen.

Whether the cakes looked like they were from a bakery or not would be irrelevant. Someone looking to make the entire crew sick or poison them could easily make the cakes look like they were from a commercial bakery. We live in a paranoid age, have to accept that. The odds of a terrorist trying to poison the crew of a passenger train are beyond extremely remote, but someone who is a kook, disgruntled or upset at Amtrak could conceivably try something like this. Even if the person looks and acts like a sweet 80 year old grandmother, she could be a 80 year old grandmother with murder on her mind! :blink:

Better to forget spending the time and money to provide cakes to the entire crew.

You need to watch less TV.

 

[jis]

Call me paranoid if you wish, but I would start getting very worried if operating personnel of public transportation, in safety critical positions, started accepting food from random people, and actually consuming it while on duty.

 

[Guest]

To the original poster: your thought is incredibly sweet (no pun intended) and I'm sure in the context of your gesture, it is the thought that counts.

Keep in mind that today so many people are on restricted diets: vegetarian, gluten-free, low-sugar, organic, vegan, kosher, to name a few.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the crew is not lacking in their ability to consume free sweets, if they like, with their meals the diner.

While I'm sure the crew would appreciate your gesture of kindness, the actual gift may not be consumed as you intended and would most likely go to waste in most cases.

 

[benjibear]

Some people are extremly paranoid. Even if it was something prepackaged, the 80 year old grandma with murder on her mind could have poisoned that as well. You better watch out, her cane may really be a gun. Actually, she may not be an old lady at all but a master of disguise trying to take over the world.

My point was, that coming from a bakery it would be packaged in a way that is verifyable of the source and you uare at least ensured that the maker at least had one time passed health inspections.

As far as people being on restricted diets, group common allergies with this. I am alergic to peanuts and nut products. Don't let this discourage you from doing something nice. Many times at work, I just gracefully decline if I am not sure of the ingrediants.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

Just give em money, they will appreciate that more.

 

[Trogdor]

The cake is a lie.

 

[Henry Kisor]

Hey, everybody: I may be the OP, but I ain't the one who wanted to give the crew cupcakes. I just posted for a friend of mine who likes Amtrak and its crew members. I told her what you all said and she decided cupcakes weren't the way to go and instead is going to sweeten the cash tips.

Doesn't mean *I* won't accept a cupcake or two from her.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

The cake is a lie.

No, the cake is not a lie.

Edit: I probably ate the first piece, but I'm not sure about that.

 

[reefgeek]

The cake is a lie.

I'm making a note here: "Huge Success." :lol:

Sorry, can't help myself.