Rude Amtrak employees

[BlackDiamond]

And also on every Amtrak trip I took during the height of the pandemic, no one ever bothered me about having my mask off while I was eating. From my experience, I would think that the rude behavior cited was a one-off and not typical of most Amtrak OBS staff.

I think as is typical on Amtrak, YMMV. I was on one Downeaster trip in BC where the conductor was fairly strict about the "sips and bites" rule. Other trips not so much. But at least he wasn't rude about it, just took a narrow interpretation of the rule.

 

[Amtrak709]

Just surfing here and this thread today and can't help musing about this fact: From this thread's "RUDE AMTRAK EMPLOYEES" inception 02/15/2010 to it's resurrection on 05/15/2022 there were about 30 total posts. From May of this year to present there are about 160 and still very much active. What does this say about Amtrak's rude employees??

 

[jis]

Just surfing here and this thread today and can't help musing about this fact: From this thread's "RUDE AMTRAK EMPLOYEES" inception 02/15/2010 to it's resurrection on 05/15/2022 there were about 30 total posts. From May of this year to present there are about 160 and still very much active. What does this say about Amtrak's rude employees??

I am not sure that there has been a sudden uptick in rudeness exclusively on part of the crew. I have a strong impression that there has been a significant rise in rudeness on part of the patrons, purely based on my observation while on trains.

You see all the rudeness discussion in a single thread because we try much harder as Moderators to keep discussions on common subjects focused in a single thread rather than strewn all over the place. There were plenty of rude Amtrak employees posts before but they were spread out over many dozens of threads, often on very diverse subjects. That happens much less now.

Additionally I think it may be saying something about how generally ticked off with Amtrak the AU readership has been of late.

 

[Amtrak709]

I am not sure that there has been a sudden uptick in rudeness.

You see all the rudeness discussion in a single thread because we try much harder as Moderators to keep discussions on common subjects focused in a single thread rather than strewn all over the place. There were plenty of rude Amtrak employees posts before but they were spread out over many dozens of threads, often on very diverse subjects. That happens much less now.

Additionally I think it may be saying something about how generally ticked off with Amtrak the AU readership has been of late.

jis. Thanks for the reply and I guess I agree. Heading off soon on another "just to ride" trip ATN-WAS-ATN. Hoping for "lack of rudeness". I had really wanted to ride he Silvers from SAV or JSP or JAX, but the drive from my home in Columbus GA is so much closer to ATN and I like the non-ADA H Bedroom Viewliner 1 which was available on The Crescent. My only concern is that so many of the "rude employees" posts lately have been about the Crescent.

 

[Bob Dylan]

jis. Thanks for the reply and I guess I agree. Heading off soon on another "just to ride" trip ATN-WAS-ATN. Hoping for "lack of rudeness". I had really wanted to ride he Silvers from SAV or JSP or JAX, but the drive from my home in Columbus GA is so much closer to ATN and I like the non-ADA H Bedroom Viewliner 1 which was available on The Crescent. My only concern is that so many of the "rude employees" posts lately have been about the Crescent.

I've noticed that most of the complaints ( including mine) about Rude staff ( and other topics)have mostly been about Staff on the Texas Eaglette,Crescent and Cap Ltd.

 

[alpha3]

There were plenty of rude Amtrak employees posts before but they were spread out over many dozens of threads, often on very diverse subjects. That happens much less now.

Additionally I think it may be saying something about how generally ticked off with Amtrak the AU readership has been of late.

AU being ticked off with Amtrak wouldn't carry over to the employees though; they don't make the stupid policies and food service decisions that Amtrak as a company does. However, it may lead to disgruntled folks having to tend two cars where their job is only one, and other short-staffed problems; and, my observation also is that a lot of young people don't know how to control their tempers. The result is they say things they shouldn't, or pout, and maintain bad attitudes.

I've been in situations where I was made to board and depart a full 777, 310 pax, handling upgrades and standbys. It can't be done - in a pleasant way - with unhelpful and unreasonable managers still demanding on-time departures, so you leave people behind, get complaints and lots of unhappiness. You deal with it, as best you can.

But the other side of this is the passengers themselves. People have turned into real ass-hats these days, there are a LOT of idiots out there now. Just look at the crazy scenarios that play out on airplanes. I'm sure there are obnoxious idiots on trains that vex the crews and ruin their days, I sort of secretly enjoy that a train can stop and put someone out in the middle of nowhere for bad behavior......lol. It's up to the conductor to handle these properly, but....sometimes you can't blame the employees for being reactionary. Everyone needs to calm down and respect each other.

 

[Bonser]

I hope you made eye contact with each of them and smiled.

I've never witnessed the behavior you describe on Amtrak and I've been riding it since its inception. Yes, I have seen riders kicked off the train but only after displaying very bad behavior. And I've seen gruff staff but never over the line. The biggest failing among some staff is laziness.

 

[mgkeihl]

I agree, most people are quite helpful. I did have a diner car guy who at 6:28 make me stand between cars till 6:30 for coffee! I think he was running late himself and a generous tip helped for the rest of the trip!

 

[Bonser]

Just surfing here and this thread today and can't help musing about this fact: From this thread's "RUDE AMTRAK EMPLOYEES" inception 02/15/2010 to it's resurrection on 05/15/2022 there were about 30 total posts. From May of this year to present there are about 160 and still very much active. What does this say about Amtrak's rude employees??

It might mean that all of us are quicker to take offense at what we perceive to be rudeness now. Maybe it's a consequence of having less interaction with people because of Covid restrictions and Covid isolation.

 

[railiner]

AU being ticked off with Amtrak wouldn't carry over to the employees though; they don't make the stupid policies and food service decisions that Amtrak as a company does. However, it may lead to disgruntled folks having to tend two cars where their job is only one, and other short-staffed problems; and, my observation also is that a lot of young people don't know how to control their tempers. The result is they say things they shouldn't, or pout, and maintain bad attitudes.

I've been in situations where I was made to board and depart a full 777, 310 pax, handling upgrades and standbys. It can't be done - in a pleasant way - with unhelpful and unreasonable managers still demanding on-time departures, so you leave people behind, get complaints and lots of unhappiness. You deal with it, as best you can.

But the other side of this is the passengers themselves. People have turned into real ass-hats these days, there are a LOT of idiots out there now. Just look at the crazy scenarios that play out on airplanes. I'm sure there are obnoxious idiots on trains that vex the crews and ruin their days, I sort of secretly enjoy that a train can stop and put someone out in the middle of nowhere for bad behavior......lol. It's up to the conductor to handle these properly, but....sometimes you can't blame the employees for being reactionary. Everyone needs to calm down and respect each other.

I have to agree with a lot of your observations.

Some people feel that when they are dealing with an employee, they are 'entitled' to treat them like 'servants', and are 'safe' in dishing out poor treatment of them, and speak to them in a manner that they wouldn't dare, if they just met them off duty on the street, somewhere...

On the other hand, I also agree that the long interned corporate culture at Amtrak in particular, gives some employees the attitude that they are 'entitled' to their job, that the passenger is an imposition on their day, that they are not paid by the passenger's, but rather by 'the government', and that they can get away with rude behaviour that would not be tolerated in better managed companies.

Again, this is not true for every employee, some of whom still take great pride in their occupation, despite often peer pressure to do otherwise...

 

[TheCrescent]

Some people feel that when they are dealing with an employee, they are 'entitled' to treat them like 'servants', and are 'safe' in dishing out poor treatment of them, and speak to them in a manner that they wouldn't dare, if they just met them off duty on the street, somewhere...

On the other hand, I also agree that the long interned corporate culture at Amtrak in particular, gives some employees the attitude that they are 'entitled' to their job, that the passenger is an imposition on their day, that they are not paid by the passenger's, but rather by 'the government', and that they can get away with rude behaviour that would not be tolerated in better managed companies.

Again, this is not true for every employee, some of whom still take great pride in their occupation, despite often peer pressure to do otherwise...

Agreed.

If Amtrak corporate culture and bad passengers “made” Amtrak employees be nasty (and I’ve dealt with very nasty service on Amtrak), then there wouldn’t be any nice employees at all.

I just took the Crescent again and the sleeping car attendant was absolutely wonderful. She smiled the whole time, made it clear that she valued me and my business, and put me at ease. The only cash that I had was $10, which I gave her as I got off, but I will gladly give more next time (she is from Mississippi and I have ridden with her before). She is a spectacular person and spectacular employee, and would be spectacular in any job with any company.

 

[33Nicolas]

For the most part, Amtrak employees are great from train conductors to operators. I did find a few conductors and ticket folks who had a serious attitude. We can blame it on tough times, COVID pressure. Every time I feel like reminding them that it's tough on everyone, riders included.

 

[alpha3]

She is a spectacular person and spectacular employee, and would be spectacular in any job with any company.

Heh......you're not married to her, are you......! (kidding)

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

There is one fact I think we perhaps are overlooking:

People either take pride in their work or they don’t, regardless of their circumstances.

For example, when I was working in my career as an editor, I did my best to do an excellent job and took pride in doing so.

It didn’t matter if I was editing a report for one of the many people I enjoyed working with or one of the few annoying ones. I tried to give each document careful and thoughtful attention, because doing excellent work was important to me.

I think there are many Amtrak employees with a similar attitude—they do their best in all situations. There are also a few who are miserable in their work and show it—but they would be miserable in any other job as well.

 

[alpha3]

For example, when I was working in my career as an editor, I did my best to do an excellent job and took pride in doing so.

It didn’t matter if I was editing a report for one of the many people I enjoyed working with or one of the few annoying ones. I tried to give each document careful and thoughtful attention, because doing excellent work was important to me.

I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment, Mystic. But I question whether today's workers even possess that type of work ethic anymore.

 

[TheCrescent]

I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment, Mystic. But I question whether today's workers even possess that type of work ethic anymore.

Yes, plenty do. But plenty don’t. That’s how it has been for my entire career.

 

[VKurtB]

Yes, plenty do. But plenty don’t. That’s how it has been for my entire career.

Never fail to account for the recent rail union negotiations and the ill will created by them.

 

[TheCrescent]

Never fail to account for the recent rail union negotiations and the ill will created by them.

The crew members on the Crescent were griping about those as I was standing next to the vestibule, waiting to get off. But they remained perfectly nice to me.

EDITED TO ADD: they mentioned “the freight railroads” and paid sick days.

 

[zephyr17]

Never fail to account for the recent rail union negotiations and the ill will created by them.

Amtrak and its unions were not parties in the recent freight rail labor negotiations. Amtrak and their unions were entirely uninvolved.

Amtrak and its unions last signed their contracts a couple of years ago, IIRC, and they remain in force.

 

[VKurtB]

Amtrak and its unions were not parties in the recent freight rail labor negotiations. Amtrak and their unions were entirely uninvolved.

Amtrak and its unions last signed their contracts a couple of years ago, IIRC, and they remain in force.

The television news stories indicated Amtrak was part of it.

 

[zephyr17]

The television news stories indicated Amtrak was part of it.

Amtrak would have been affected, as they would not have been able to access host railroad trackage if the freight railroads were struck. So most Amtrak trains outside the NEC and the NY Empire Service south of Albany would have been cancelled.

But neither Amtrak nor Amtrak's unions were a parties in that labor dispute between the Big 7 freight railroads and 12 of their unions. Amtrak and their unions were not involved and Amtrak has current, unexpired, contracts in force with all their bargaining units, AFAIK. Amtrak would not have been the target of that strike and Amtrak union membership would not have been striking.

The Congressionally mandated forced settlement also does not apply to Amtrak's union membership. They will continue to work under the contracts that were negotiated solely between the unions and Amtrak management.

I never said Amtrak would not have been affected. They clearly would have been. But it would have been "collateral damage" of a strike they had no involvement in. Amtrak personnel would not have been involved, other than losing work because Amtrak would not have been able to run trains outside the NEC and Hudson Line.

So I doubt that the recent labor dispute added to any "ill will" towards Amtrak management by their union membership, because it has absolutely nothing to do with their lives. That is not to say there is no ill will. There may be. But it would be for other reasons than the issues between the freight railroads and their unions.

 

[LMC]

I've never witnessed the behavior you describe on Amtrak and I've been riding it since its inception. Yes, I have seen riders kicked off the train but only after displaying very bad behavior. And I've seen gruff staff but never over the line. The biggest failing among some staff is laziness.

I dunno. All of us can have bad days. I will say that every car attendant I had was wonderful. Problem .solvers. Engaging. Kind. The only really rude people I encountered over my last trip 3 days travel each way) were two of the several dining car attendants. Those two were extremely rude, almost hostile as I inquired about gluten free options for dining and making fun of my request to the other dining attendants. So two people out of many and I have just not eaten dining food again.

 

[TheCrescent]

I tried to send praise for the terrific SCA on the Crescent to Amtrak. There is an “employee praise” part of the Amtrak website and so I filled out the form to send praise to Amtrak.

The website doesn’t work.

 

[Seaboard92]

I had a real winner on 22 once between STL and Chicago. 22 arrived 6 hours late that day. GF and I were in the sleeper. We took the elevator down and walked over to the first sleeper in the consist. There were two that day behind the engine and baggage car, and the diner was behind the second sleeper. The SCA at are sleeper had the door open but no stool out.

I walked up to the open door and said hello. He told me, "I don't have anyone getting on here." We had booked two or three weeks earlier. I told him, "Then you can't read your manifest. We booked weeks ago and you should have known once you got it in San Antonio. That was over 24 hours ago." He said, "You can't board here because they are refueling the engines. Go back to the other sleeper and board." This was a lie because we had boarded the same sleeper several times in St. Louis while the engines were being fueled. I said, "There is no way I am hauling all this damn luggage up and down two flights of stairs." I slung our bags through the door onto the floor. I walked GF back to the other sleeper and we boarded. I heard the last call for lunch as we boarded so I took her to the diner, got her seated, and explained to the LSA I would be right back after stowing our luggage. The LSA was professional and helpful.

I walked back and put our luggage on the rack. The SCA was not visible. We had an enjoyable lunch in the dining car. We got back to our room and had been napping when the SCA made an appearance. He started off by reiterating the rules about not boarding when fueling is going on and suggested that we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. I told him, "You definitely got off on the wrong foot with me, and right now your best bet is to disappear and hope that I forget that you exist so I forget to write a letter to Amtrak about you". We had a peaceful ride to Chicago after that.

Well I can tell you I hate made up rules in little fiefdoms. But it could have been handled better on both parts, as someone who has worked on trains, and now planes if someone talks to me like that I'm not going to be hostile because I'm professional but I'm not going to be as friendly and helpful as I could be. I've had plenty of times where if someones nice to me I'll upgrade them. But that's how I work, and if I can't do that I'll try and do something else nice if they are friendly. Bark at me and I won't serve alcohol to that person.

That sounds like a made-up rule. If refueling the engines was really a hazard (hard to understand since I can stand next to my car and refuel it with much more flammable gasoline but can't be 100 or so feet away from a refueling with a less flammable Diesel fuel?) then why did he have the door open? That was apparently his fallback once the "you are not on my manifest" gambit failed.

I think the prevalence of rules made up on the spot by various crews is one of the most annoying aspects of Amtrak travel.

I agree with you 100 percent the made up rules on the spot by the various people in any industry that go against the standard rules is the bane of all of our existence. And I really think anyone who is in charge of managing the train, or really anything should not be in trusted with writing the rules as that can very easily lead to abuse of authority and power. And it can turn many good environments into toxic environments. For instance when i'm at work I enforce the rules that are federally mandated such as FARS, or company mandated. If it isn't in there then I'm not going to enforce things that might make my life easier or better. I am a firm believer that the people enforcing rules should not be the ones writing them. Now they should have input in the rules that are written because there is no one that knows the job better than the people doing it. But they shouldn't be allowed to write the rules as again it leads to abuse of authority. And I really think we as advocates for Amtrak, and for ourselves should stand up to these abuses of authority and work to make things better for all of us as a whole.

I worked for Amtrak for 10years, I used to cringe at some of the staff how rude they are to passenger, but for some reason they never ever get fired for being rude, I am so sorry to hear this I worked in the cafe or diner and loved my job, even though I met some really mean people, please write a complaint letter sometimes it does help with a paper trail.
A big thank you for everyone you help.
Regards
Jane

I worked in a diner a few times and I loved that job more than anything. It was amazing.

There is one fact I think we perhaps are overlooking:

People either take pride in their work or they don’t, regardless of their circumstances.

For example, when I was working in my career as an editor, I did my best to do an excellent job and took pride in doing so.

It didn’t matter if I was editing a report for one of the many people I enjoyed working with or one of the few annoying ones. I tried to give each document careful and thoughtful attention, because doing excellent work was important to me.

I think there are many Amtrak employees with a similar attitude—they do their best in all situations. There are also a few who are miserable in their work and show it—but they would be miserable in any other job as well.

Pride definitely helps in a job I think. I take a lot of pride in my job as a PV attendant. I can tell you my regular clients drink orders from memory. I know who wants what and when. And in my actual day job as a flight attendant I am always taking pride in what I do and trying to go one step above and treat people with the same respect and honor as I would my PV clients. In my opinion everyone deserves respect rich or poor it doesn't matter. And on my plane you pay to ride and you deserve the best treatment. We are instructed to use people's names in first class but no one says anything about the main cabin. Well I'm a firm believer in it so I have my manifest on the beverage cart in front of me so I can use everyone's name. My passengers are usually shocked at first then incredibly impressed that I take the time to do it. Sometimes I mispronounce the last names but sometimes it's not the fact that you might mispronounce it, it is the thought and effort it takes in making it personal. I believe in personal service. I want everyone to feel special that is my mission in life. If you are happy then I am happy and that shows in almost all of my actions.

 

[Steve4031]

Note that I walked up to the guy and said hello. Imho the “professional move” at that point is for him to assume I went to the wrong sleeper and ask to see my ticket or ask my car number so he could direct me to the correct car. Once he started he had no one getting on here set the tone that he wasn't being helpful. I'm not asking for upgrades or drinks or anything else. Just do the job correctly.