RSG
OBS Chief
Well, not everyone, but most would, if they had the opportunity.Pretty much anyone working at Applebees or Dennys would LOVE to work on Amtrak,, even without tips.
Probably because they don't live near an Amtrak station, for one thing. That's the first requirement (and near a hub, if one doesn't want to commute to work). My all-time favorite employee from my local Denny's would make an excellent AMTK employee. But aside from the fact that the nearest station is 250+ miles away, he's a single dad. Such a situation makes traveling for work difficult, if not impossible.So why don’t they all apply?
That said, there are plenty of footloose-and-fancy-free persons who would make good employees for the food & beverage portion of Amtrak. But that's not who they seem to hire. The new hires over the past couple of years seem to be washouts from the flight attendant programs at the airlines. Or people who've never eaten at a sit-down restaurant themselves. Thus I've concluded that the what gets one hired for a diner position is the Amtrak equivalent of an Old Boy Network. The people who know someone who know someone are those who get the job, qualified or not.
Working as a service professional on a moving train isn't like working at McDonald's (and I can say that as a onetime former McD's employee); but it's not as complicated as writing the launch software for a SpaceX rocket, either. In fact, it's probably easier than working in a restaurant with 50+ menu items with a layer or two of management breathing down your neck at most times, particularly when the restaurant is in a busy location. Either situation should allow for their customers to have basic needs met, and simple requests granted, both without having to ask multiple times or flag down someone else to get the job done.