Monday, November 12, 2007

the company strickes back by amargul309

When we last heard from Callie he was battling the evil forces of
the
> road supervisors. Who it turned out were not evil at all but rather
> so efficient in their endeavors that Callie became confused and
> disoriented and thought he was under personal attack.
>
> The resulting tumultuous events following the encounter were very
> enlightening and completely unexpected and actually the entire
> episode had a happy ending.
>
> This day has been a lovely day. Its 8:45pm, the sky is clear, the
> temperature is mild, and the passenger loads are lighter than
usual.
> It was brought to my attention that this is partly due to the
> recent "bust" of illegal Mexican workers in Portland, which has
> caused many Mexicans to keep out of the public eye right now. The
48
> bus serves Hillsboro and has a large Mexican patronage.
>
> It seems that the station manager will not make it today as
expected.
> Oh well, Callie assumes that he will see him another time, probably
> next week.
>
> He bears to the left over the max tracks into the transit center.
He
> gets off his bus and heads to the drivers room. As he heads over he
> see's off to his right a man in one of those neon yellow vests. It
> says on the back of it ASSISTANT STATION MANAGER. Whoa, this must
be
> the guy thinks Callie. Callie goes into the break room and the
> manager does not follow. He probably figures that he doesn't want
to
> bother me during my break. Very considerate thing to do, although
> unnecessary in my case, thinks Callie.
>
> The break is over and Callie heads to the bus. At the front door
> stands a smiling friendly looking gentlemen and he introduces
himself
> as Lyle the assistant station manager. Callie gets on the bus asks
> the passenger in the co-pilot's seat to make room for the manager
and
> starts up his bus. The manager says to Callie, "I would like to
> address your passengers."
> Callie is a little taken aback by this but of course says go ahead.
>
> "May I have a moment of your attention everybody, I'm Lyle a
manager
> of Trimet, and on behalf of Trimet and the citizens of Portland I
> would like to present this perfect attendance award to our operator
> with our congratulations". A baby starts crying in the back of the
> bus.
>
> Callie is shocked and taken aback! He doesn't even know how to
react?
> A couple of the passengers clap.
>
> Its all very embarrassing.
>
> Callie says "Uh, ok, well, haha," laughs nervously at this
unexpected
> development. "That's very unusual, I have never seen anything like
> that before" Lyle laughs.
>
> Lyle goes on and engages Callie in some pleasant small talk.
>
> "What are you doing out here at this hour?" says Callie. "I thought
> you would be home by now."
>
> "No actually we are working a flexible schedule" says Lyle. "I'm
not
> a desk person, I think it works out better we can go out and visit
> with the operators more."
>
> Callie goes on to say, "Well I hope there is no problem with
> communications between the management and me".
>
> Lyle responds, "don't get the wrong idea, no no no, I am not here
to
> make trouble, it's the only way I can truly understand you guys is
to
> ride along with you".
>
> Callie wonders "What are you trying to understand?"
>
> "Well the different reasons why an operator runs early or late,
> customer service issues, stuff like that."
>
>
> "I see my role is to help you if there is any way possible to do
> that," says Lyle. "if there are scheduling issues I can do
something
> about that for you." "We can move schedules around up to three
> minutes without much problem, I am here to help you do the best job
> possible, that's why I am here".
>
>
> Callie and Lyle go on to have a one hour very friendly conversation
> about bus driving with Lyle being quite complementary towards
Callie,
> somewhat surprising poor Callie who once again thought he was in
some
> sort of "trouble" over that 8% figure. Callie did assure Lyle that
if
> management is having a issue with something I am doing and can
> communicate it to him they can rest assured that he will comply if
> it's at all possible.
>
> Callie does want to do the right thing and actually does care about
> TRIMET and how it is perceived in the public eye. Nobody in their
> right mind would want to be part of an organization that has a
> negative public perception.
>
> Callie walks away from work and feels pretty good about TRIMET. He
> has always known that "institutionally" TRIMET can be a very cruel
> place to work. But when dealing with upper management on a personal
> level, there is a sense of real ethical behavior and the intent to
do
> the right thing. That means a lot.
>

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