Green Maned Lion
Engineer
I recently went on a trip on your trains that demands both commendation and condemnation. Reservation # XXXXXX. Itinerary 51(3/2) NYP-CHI, 30(3/3) CHI-WAS, 166(3/4) WAS-NYP. I was in sleeper on both 51 and 30.
I also want to mention, as a total aside, that while I am speaking as myself and myself alone, I do also hold the position of Treasurer within the Lackawanna Coalition, a New Jersey rail and transit advocacy organization.
Let me start this letter out with commendation. I was onboard 51(3/2), which was the night of the terrible tornado storms. We had been held at HUN since at least 11PM, until after 5 AM. The TAS, Kay, woke us up to inform us of the situation, as it may have involved a bus transfer there. She did everything so reassuringly that (I found out later) as towns were leveled and people died very near our train, after we packed, we told her to wake us when the buses came, and turned back over and went back to sleep. She woke us again an hour later (which for most passengers, was probably a blessing) and told us we could go back to sleep as the situation would remain undecided until 6 AM or so.
She made us so assured of our situation, which we could do nothing to help, that as people died and towns got leveled around us, we slept soundly. The aura of calmness and assurance she created was very impressive. Beyond that, despite passengers very upset by the delay, and the rudeness that comes with it, plus her lengthened schedule, she remained exceedingly friendly, providing excellent service.
The food served aboard 51 was mediocre to bad. I was particularly surprised at the loss of the scrambled eggs that used to be available. Given the limitations of that train's "dining car", that is one of the best foods that could have been served.
Amtrak chose to eventually terminate the train in IND and take us the rest of the way to Chicago on buses. I appreciate that this created a good operating advantage for Amtrak, and I did like that fact that we got to Chicago with enough time to get pizza at Giordano's before boarding our next train. The bus wasn't as comfortable as I would have liked, but it was a fair trade off. Once again, though, I must speak for another passenger. An older gentlemen was using plug in portable oxygen equipment. This person made several inquiries as to whether the alternate transportation would provide power plugs for his equipment. Amtrak's total lack of response to this passenger's needs was surprising.
Onboard 30, the food was better then on 51, but not as good as my previous experiences on Amtrak, including in November of last year. I did appreciate, as in November, the glass, china, and linen service, however.
I boarded the train sober, if tired from the experience on 51. I had nothing to drink at dinner, or in Chicago. After dinner, to calm my nerves and help me sleep, I went to the lounge car. I asked the attendant, "What hard liquors do you have?" His first response was "I don't have any hard liquors." I then asked him, "Ok, what kind of wine do you have?" He answered, "Red and white." By the way, this entire time, his tone was quite hostile. "What kind of red and white?" He responded, "The red and white kinds."
I was getting pretty fed up with the conversation and the attitude. I asked him, in a polite manner, "By the way, how come you ran out of liquor so early?" He replied, with impressive rudeness, "It's not damn early, man, its 11PM." Which is not early in time, but its only 4 hours and 45 minutes into a 17 hour trip. He then proceeded to add, "I don't stock liquor on Saturday trips, Amtrak doesn't sell liquors on Sunday." This is news to me. It is news to the chairman of the Lackwanna Coalition, David Peter Alan.
He then told me, "Look, man, I have no liquor, just some Beefeaters, we don't sell liquor on Sunday." I then asked him what mixers he had. He told me he doesn't sell mixers, only drinks. I then asked him for a screwdriver with gin. He then opened a cabinet, which contained various little bottles of hard liquor, to get me the gin. His name was Greg. I am sure that at $7 a pop, Amtrak loses a lot of money from service attendants that are not only impressively rude, but refuses to sell sober passengers drinks.
I am unbelievably sick of the occasional rude, obnoxious, and stupid Amtrak employee. Greg was all three. He also directly out and out lied to me. He refused to sell me an item without any just cause to do so. I don't know if he assumed I was drunk to begin with- as I mentioned, I was pure sober, but dead tired from the trip on 51, the rushing around Chicago to get my pizza, eating nearly 5 slices of Giordano's medium stuffed crust, and eating a steak in the dining car. If that's his excuse, he needs retraining on determining drunkeness in passengers- and at what point "cutting off" is acceptable- even if my tiredness was caused by alcohol, that wasn't it.
And irrespective of that, he needs retraining on how to treat passengers in general. He was so obnoxious that if I had been drunk enough to cut off, I probably would have decked him.
I'm not saying that in general your employees are apathetic, lazy, obnoxious, rude, and stupid. Au contraire; most of your employees are very hard working, faultlessly polite, and an example of the dedicated, loving-their-work hard working person that is found rarely anywhere else these days. It just seems to be that your company consists of 80% of the good type, and 20% of the bad type. While good Amtrak employees are the best of the best, bad Amtrak employees are the worst of the worst.
Get rid of him. He is an abject example of the kind of employee your company shouldn't have. No passenger deserves the attitude he gave me, sober or drunk.
This trip was an adventure, and I am very pleased with how Amtrak handled the tornado disaster. Safety is first priority, and you followed that. Your cleaning up the problem after it happened is all that can be expected- and you did a great job.
I also want to mention, as a total aside, that while I am speaking as myself and myself alone, I do also hold the position of Treasurer within the Lackawanna Coalition, a New Jersey rail and transit advocacy organization.
Let me start this letter out with commendation. I was onboard 51(3/2), which was the night of the terrible tornado storms. We had been held at HUN since at least 11PM, until after 5 AM. The TAS, Kay, woke us up to inform us of the situation, as it may have involved a bus transfer there. She did everything so reassuringly that (I found out later) as towns were leveled and people died very near our train, after we packed, we told her to wake us when the buses came, and turned back over and went back to sleep. She woke us again an hour later (which for most passengers, was probably a blessing) and told us we could go back to sleep as the situation would remain undecided until 6 AM or so.
She made us so assured of our situation, which we could do nothing to help, that as people died and towns got leveled around us, we slept soundly. The aura of calmness and assurance she created was very impressive. Beyond that, despite passengers very upset by the delay, and the rudeness that comes with it, plus her lengthened schedule, she remained exceedingly friendly, providing excellent service.
The food served aboard 51 was mediocre to bad. I was particularly surprised at the loss of the scrambled eggs that used to be available. Given the limitations of that train's "dining car", that is one of the best foods that could have been served.
Amtrak chose to eventually terminate the train in IND and take us the rest of the way to Chicago on buses. I appreciate that this created a good operating advantage for Amtrak, and I did like that fact that we got to Chicago with enough time to get pizza at Giordano's before boarding our next train. The bus wasn't as comfortable as I would have liked, but it was a fair trade off. Once again, though, I must speak for another passenger. An older gentlemen was using plug in portable oxygen equipment. This person made several inquiries as to whether the alternate transportation would provide power plugs for his equipment. Amtrak's total lack of response to this passenger's needs was surprising.
Onboard 30, the food was better then on 51, but not as good as my previous experiences on Amtrak, including in November of last year. I did appreciate, as in November, the glass, china, and linen service, however.
I boarded the train sober, if tired from the experience on 51. I had nothing to drink at dinner, or in Chicago. After dinner, to calm my nerves and help me sleep, I went to the lounge car. I asked the attendant, "What hard liquors do you have?" His first response was "I don't have any hard liquors." I then asked him, "Ok, what kind of wine do you have?" He answered, "Red and white." By the way, this entire time, his tone was quite hostile. "What kind of red and white?" He responded, "The red and white kinds."
I was getting pretty fed up with the conversation and the attitude. I asked him, in a polite manner, "By the way, how come you ran out of liquor so early?" He replied, with impressive rudeness, "It's not damn early, man, its 11PM." Which is not early in time, but its only 4 hours and 45 minutes into a 17 hour trip. He then proceeded to add, "I don't stock liquor on Saturday trips, Amtrak doesn't sell liquors on Sunday." This is news to me. It is news to the chairman of the Lackwanna Coalition, David Peter Alan.
He then told me, "Look, man, I have no liquor, just some Beefeaters, we don't sell liquor on Sunday." I then asked him what mixers he had. He told me he doesn't sell mixers, only drinks. I then asked him for a screwdriver with gin. He then opened a cabinet, which contained various little bottles of hard liquor, to get me the gin. His name was Greg. I am sure that at $7 a pop, Amtrak loses a lot of money from service attendants that are not only impressively rude, but refuses to sell sober passengers drinks.
I am unbelievably sick of the occasional rude, obnoxious, and stupid Amtrak employee. Greg was all three. He also directly out and out lied to me. He refused to sell me an item without any just cause to do so. I don't know if he assumed I was drunk to begin with- as I mentioned, I was pure sober, but dead tired from the trip on 51, the rushing around Chicago to get my pizza, eating nearly 5 slices of Giordano's medium stuffed crust, and eating a steak in the dining car. If that's his excuse, he needs retraining on determining drunkeness in passengers- and at what point "cutting off" is acceptable- even if my tiredness was caused by alcohol, that wasn't it.
And irrespective of that, he needs retraining on how to treat passengers in general. He was so obnoxious that if I had been drunk enough to cut off, I probably would have decked him.
I'm not saying that in general your employees are apathetic, lazy, obnoxious, rude, and stupid. Au contraire; most of your employees are very hard working, faultlessly polite, and an example of the dedicated, loving-their-work hard working person that is found rarely anywhere else these days. It just seems to be that your company consists of 80% of the good type, and 20% of the bad type. While good Amtrak employees are the best of the best, bad Amtrak employees are the worst of the worst.
Get rid of him. He is an abject example of the kind of employee your company shouldn't have. No passenger deserves the attitude he gave me, sober or drunk.
This trip was an adventure, and I am very pleased with how Amtrak handled the tornado disaster. Safety is first priority, and you followed that. Your cleaning up the problem after it happened is all that can be expected- and you did a great job.
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