'Don't want my advice? Then suffer the consequences': Newbie rail worker snubs senior employee, now has to pay for a 4.5-hour-long taxi ride for each individual team member

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Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Nov 18, 2023 1:00 PM EST

Isn't it just the best when justice gets served up on a gold platter while you're at work? We've all experienced the newbie manager coming in, thinking they're the hotshot of the company and not listening to anybody. It's not only annoying, but disrespectful. Like, my dude, you've been working here for a few months, your "subordinates" have been working here for years, maybe they don't have upper management ideas, but they know how to build the foundation to keep the company running. 

A senior rail worker of 13+ years recently shared a story where a fresh new manager decided not to take his advice. This manager was only recently given the promotion to management, and before that had only worked in the train industry for maybe a year, tops. So when they called up about an issue, the senior employee gave his best and experienced response. However, in a dumb power move, this manager decided to ignore this advice. With zero fs left to give, the senior employee just said whatever and let it play out. Eventually, the new manager called back desperate because, obviously, everything had gone down hill and now he needed his help. So, OP had all the chips now!

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  • 01
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    via Chicago Transit Authority via Flickr
  • 02
    Posted by u/TheAxioner 10 hours ago Don't want my advice? Then suffer the consequences M OC
    via u/TheAxioner
  • 03
    Hey all, So this story involves a railway, and the collective agreement that we railroaders operate under. I'll try to simplify it since some terms are industry specific. This happened a few years ago.
    via u/TheAxioner
  • 04
    My crew and I were called for work on a train leaving east from the port. While doing our paperwork at the start of the day, I noticed through our live train tracking system that a westbound train was about 30 minutes travel time out from the yard, but only had 1 hour left on their federal hours of service...
    via u/TheAxioner
  • 05
    which absolutely can not be exceeded. They also had 12,000ft of traffic to yard, which alone takes 1-2 hours to compete. As soon as I realized this, I called the local manager (called a TM). Now, I had 13 years seniority at that point. The manager had spent 6 months as a trainee railroader before switching to management...total
    via u/TheAxioner
  • 06
    seniority, maybe 1 year. I suggested that he "swing" us to a Rescue ticket in the payroll system and we would go out immediately and help that train. Normally this would entitle us to a 2hr off duty spacing between tickets, and up to 8hrs rest if we wanted it, but we offered to decline that to help the other crew. He immediately
    via u/TheAxioner
  • 07
    declined and confidently explained that the crew was just fine and they would be setting half their train out enroute at a storage track. That move takes even longer than yarding in the port, due to track clearances and stuff needed to allow the moves.
    via u/TheAxioner
  • 08
    So, I just shrugged, hung up the phone and continued with my paperwork. It turned out, that even if they had the time on their clock, that track had unreported cars in it! So the TM frantically tells them to make a run for the port. During this time, we had gone out and started working on building our own train. We talk to the inbound
    via u/TheAxioner
  • 09
    crew and agree to help them land the first cut of cars, and secure their tailed cut before their federal 12th (required. by law). So, there we sat... the inbound crew landed half their train before houring out.... and left 6000ft of train blocking the only piece of rail in or out of the entire port terminal. TM then calls us on the radio and the
    via u/TheAxioner
  • 10
    conversation went like this: TM: Hello Crew, I need you to go down and pull that second cut in to clear the rail Crew: OK, and then we taxi home? TM: No, no... you get back on your own train.
    via u/TheAxioner
  • 11
    Crew: No... we only handle 1 train per ticket, and this ticket terminates at our home terminal, so if we handle their train, we taxi home on pay. You could cancel us and put us on a Rescue Turn ticket like we originally suggested... but if we do it on this ticket we go home.
    via u/TheAxioner
  • 12
    TM: OK, you're cancelled and called on a Turn. Crew: So you're saying we're cancelled? TM: Yes Crew: OK, since we are cancelled after working we are all taking 8hrs rest, and we are the only crew in the terminal to do this work.
    via u/TheAxioner
  • 13
    TM: Wait what?!? Crew: So are we cancelled, or is there a taxi coming after we yard that train. TM: Yard the da n train.
    via u/TheAxioner
  • 14
    Funny thing is, it was a beautiful summer day. If he had just taken my suggestion, we would have yarded their train, and jumped back on ours.... making 2 tickets worth of pay, but saving the railroad a lot of headache. Instead, we yarded half a train, and got paid to play on our phones in a 4.5 hr taxi ride, for the same rate of pay as we would have gotten on the 10hr train trip home.
    via u/TheAxioner
  • 15

    (In layman's terms)

    alex_hawks 9 hr. ago ● OP noticed a train that was too far away for the time the workers had left before they were legally required to stop working. Offered to go out and take over, and in the process make a lot of paperwork for boss. Boss declined, said build your train.
    via u/alex_hawks
  • 16
    So OP did. Inbound train's team ran out of time with only half the train in the yard, and the other half blocking the only rail entrance/exit of the yard. OP now decides to be stubborn, and take the breaks or entitlements they are entitled to, which is at the boss' discretion. Both are expensive and time consuming, but boss chooses
    via u/alex_hawks
  • 17
    the one with the 4.5 hour taxi ride, but no train blocking the only rail entrance/exit for the yard.
    via u/alex_hawks
  • 18
    Sharp_Coat3797 · 6 hr. ago I was a railroader. Look at Alex Hawks' comment above. Crews are called for a 'shift' or job or call. The federal government and the collective agreements crews work under regulates exactly how long the calls can be and how they operate. It is quite complex and, again, is
    via u/Sharp_Coat3797
  • 19
    federally regulated and not easy to put into a short explanation. Suffice it to say, one crew cannot do another crew's work, and the time the crew is on duty is very strongly regulated to allow the crews to get proper rest. One crew was doing an inbound long haul train and is called a 'road' crew. The other was an outbound road crew
    via u/Sharp_Coat3797
  • 20
    that was operating on a 'mileage ticket' that only allowed them to go outbound. To fulfil the regulations, they would need a new ticket cancelling their previous job and allowed them to assist the inbound as a new assignment. Hope that helps a bit.
    via u/Sharp_Coat3797
  • 21
    I pog890 4 hr. ago Not likely, if anything he'll complain to his bosses about the crew and boast that he fixed it in the end. Maybe I'm a cynic, but after working for almost 40 years, I found that managers who apologize and a next time ask for advice are very rare indeed
    via u/pog890
  • 22
    ZeroPenguin Party - 9 hr. ago When you only have one track in and out of port, you do whatever it takes to keep it clear. And any good manager would have looked at what is coming and going, the crew requirements, and thought ahead. This guy was jusr a plain idiot.
    via u/ZeroPenguinParty
  • 23
    Geminii27 9 hr. ago ● It's a joy and a wonder when you have a rock-solid contract/union and management doesn't bother to familiarize themselves with it before making demands that they then expect you to clean up after for free.
    via u/Geminii27

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