Allen Dee
Lead Service Attendant
On the Friday before Hallowe'en, we had a costume contest at my place of employment. Most of my co-workers wore their costumes all day. The contest was held at 4:00 PM, and I put the costume on just 15 minutes before, so no one knew about it in advance.
We paraded through the entire building in our outfits. All of the employees, including the top executives, had a good laugh when they saw me. Virtually all of them had the same comment, "That's you!"
I won second place, a dishonorable mention!
I wore the costume home that night. Just before I boarded the bus home, I walked around the Transit Center, swinging my lantern, yelling, "ALL ABOARD!" All of the bus drivers and most of the passengers rolled on the floor laughing.
Later, I got to thinking that if I got that kind of a response at a bus station, imagine the response I would get at the train station..
Saturday night I wore the costume to meet Amtrak Pacific Surfliner # 775 when it arrived at Santa Barbara from San Diego. I went into the station and asked for permission to walk on the platform wearing the outfit.
All of the passengers and visitors thought I was for real. I even had people coming up to me asking questions. They seemed disappointed when I told them that this was just a Hallowe'en prank.
After the train arrived, I walked the entire platform. None of the detraining passengers even noticed me. As I approached the conductor, who standing on the platform beside the Pacific Business Class car, he said, " That's classic! The only thing you could have done better was to have a gas lantern instead of a battery-powered one!"
We paraded through the entire building in our outfits. All of the employees, including the top executives, had a good laugh when they saw me. Virtually all of them had the same comment, "That's you!"
I won second place, a dishonorable mention!
I wore the costume home that night. Just before I boarded the bus home, I walked around the Transit Center, swinging my lantern, yelling, "ALL ABOARD!" All of the bus drivers and most of the passengers rolled on the floor laughing.
Later, I got to thinking that if I got that kind of a response at a bus station, imagine the response I would get at the train station..
Saturday night I wore the costume to meet Amtrak Pacific Surfliner # 775 when it arrived at Santa Barbara from San Diego. I went into the station and asked for permission to walk on the platform wearing the outfit.
All of the passengers and visitors thought I was for real. I even had people coming up to me asking questions. They seemed disappointed when I told them that this was just a Hallowe'en prank.
After the train arrived, I walked the entire platform. None of the detraining passengers even noticed me. As I approached the conductor, who standing on the platform beside the Pacific Business Class car, he said, " That's classic! The only thing you could have done better was to have a gas lantern instead of a battery-powered one!"
