TTC driver’s coffee break caught on video
TTC officials promise to investigate interrupted Blue Night service
Now, this story is not just about the fact that this Driver is taking a break in the middle of a route. It’s moreso about the Driver’s Attitude and Comments towards the riders of his already late and now additionally delayed route, as well as the severely rude treatment he gave them. Some would say that this is the exact root-cause of what’s wrong with the TTC today.
"The TTC is investigating and once again apologizing after an employee was caught on video taking a lengthy, unscheduled break."--> A quick jump in here. How many "apologies" is it going to take before we realize that it's just easier to apologize, say you’ll investigate, and then move on like nothing happened. This is what I call the "Path of Least Resistance Philosophical Strategy to Life". Instead of arguing, trying to justify and trying to defend, it's sometimes just easier to apologize and say you'll investigate, and then just move on. The complainer can't say anything as you've apologized and said you'll investigate. So essentially, the discussion ends there and everyone moves on. It's a neat tactic that I like to use as well (not necessarily for apologies, but, for other things.. Watch for a future entry in regards to this philosophical strategy).
"The seven-minute video shows the driver exiting the bus and entering a doughnut shop, where he uses the restroom and then buys a drink. The bus is left idling, the door open. When a rider complains about the delay, the driver can be seen putting his finger to his lips in a gesture meant to silence her."
(Close up of Driver Shhhhhing a Rider for Complaining)
So yes, he does go for a break for seven minutes. And everyone will jump on this saying that this is his workplace, and everyone is allowed to take breaks (a very easy stance to align with, but completely untrue). Drivers are given breaks between their routes. I'm sure you see them when you're at the station, standing in the NO SMOKING area and having a smoke.. You see, it's not like they’re under pressure to NOT take breaks. They're unionized, remember?? They probably get more breaks than the average Joe worker. But then on top of their regular breaks, they decide in the middle of a route to take another break??? All the while the poor riders who've paid for a service to get them somewhere on schedule, have to sit in the cold, shivering and waiting until he decides to come back??
I’m sorry, but that’s unacceptable.
Now, aside from the actual break, can you imagine the gall this guy had gesturing to that older lady to be quiet when she complained about him taking a break for 7 mins???
Unbelievable!!
"Politi said he only posted the video early Wednesday after politely asking the driver Tuesday night not to take his accustomed break when the bus was already 15 minutes late. According to Politi, the operator replied, “This is the 21st century, kid, not the ’60s; I can do whatever I want.”"
“This is the 21st century, kid, not the ’60s; I can do whatever I want.” ???? How dare he say that to a paying customer who is completely in the right!!!
Wait, there's more.
"Politi alleges that, after the driver again left riders shivering on the bus while he went into the doughnut shop, he confronted Politi on his return and dared him to complain. Politi said the operator gave his bus and badge numbers and told him that the union would protect his job. Politi alleges that the driver swore at him and noted that the video camera in the bus was recording the whole incident."Yes yes, "the union would protect his job"... Ah, now we're starting to get to the source of the problem -of these Drivers with their sense of entitlement and total disregard for the safety of their jobs based on their performance...
And what's with that comment in regards to the camera recording the entire incident?? Was that him trying to tell the rider that he can do anything he wants, and that he doesn't even care that this camera is recording what he's doing, because nobody at the TTC would care???
As we get deeper into this story, we begin to see a common trend. The Driver doesn’t care about the riders. The TTC doesn’t care about the riders. So why should the Driver care, if the TTC itself doesn’t care about the riders?
That’s the problem. The TTC -and therefore via the transitive property- the TTC’s employees, just don’t care about the riders… And it seems that this feeling is one that goes so deep, that it may not be repairable -especially when you have someone like Adam Giambrone at the helm.
Like that car that you have that’s now requiring repairs on a weekly basis… You change the Water Pump, the Radiator, the Fuel Pump, the Carburetor, the Suspension, the Timing Belt, and eventually, the Transmission… And then the cycle begins again. You get to the point where you are spending so much on the car, that now you’re considering moving on to the next one. You know, the one that when you take it in for a trade in, the salesperson laughs.
So now you’re left with 2 options. Option 1: New Car. Option 2: Full Rehall of the Engine.
Either way, it won’t be the same car after that.
Moving on…
“It is not acceptable for a TTC operator to leave passengers on a running bus to get a coffee,” he said. “Our operators and collectors are public servants. They deal directly with customers ... in the jobs they do. They need to think about the passenger who is waiting on the bus at 3 a.m. while they’re taking seven minutes to get a coffee. To those customers, we apologize. We have a lot of work to do here,” said Ross, adding that the TTC needs to bolster the supervision of frontline staff."Yak yak yak CRAP!!!! For people who know about the “path of least resistance” strategy, that’s exactly what it is… Crap!
We need to start seeing major changes! Step 1: New Leadership who will have the guts to clean house of the management. Step 2: Get back Control of the Organization. The TTC Employees will come around. And those who don’t, they need to go, Union or not.
And most importantly, we Torontonians need to learn how to stay mad about something when we’re in the right! I mean, one second we’re mad at the TTC, and then immediately afterwards we feel bad for being mad at the TTC. And then back comes the sympathy for the TTC, and before you know it, we’re back to square one. It’s like a city-wide mental complex.. -Purely Canadian if I may say so (with our rep for being overly forgiving, overly forgetful and to easily guilt-tripped).
At least with this recent flurry of awareness, we seem to be waking up. People are utilizing technology to expose the TTC for the failure that it is. And the TTC is so shell—shocked, that they’e reacting defensively, actually trying to blame us for pointing these things out. Almost teenager-like, if you think about it..
Let’s keep it up!
Next steps..
Well, they'll probably have to take this Driver and actually do something about it, as this is like the 100th occurrence of Customer Service failure in the past few weeks, and at this point, there will have to be uproar if they try and defend this idiot.
But again, it's all just for perception. If he gets anything less than fired (such as suspension with pay), then it's just crap. It's equivalent to giving him a free vacation as a reward for sticking it to the taxpayer.
I don't know about you, but I'm fed up with TTC and their Employees.. They obviously don’t care about us, so why should we care about them?
--jackandcokewithalime
(Images taken from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZXwvV9DTJY)
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