Best and the Brightest

We applaud Metro’s announcement yesterday about stricter hiring policies. It was beginning to feel like the new no-nos were previously considered qualifications.
But kidding aside, the alleged kidnappers, stick up men, hit-man-hiring drug dealers and McGruff punchers are few and far between, and we think most passengers grimace or laugh and then rather quickly shrug off extreme cases like those.
Still, we’re glad future hires, if WMATA can find them, will be held to a higher standard.
This move, which Metro tells us was a management decision and required no input from the union, is a step in the right direction, but what’s more prevalent is the number of front line Metro employees who seem to have NO CLUE how to deal with the public. They've appeared on this blog again and again and again.
Their “crimes” are certainly less heinous, but the effect these misanthropes have on the riding public is, we'd argue, more damaging to Metro than the felons.
Yesterday, Metro informed us that the KFC hankerin’ bus driver was investigated, admitted to his error and was given a three-day suspension without pay. We welcome those kinds of updates from Metro.
But what about "Ms. Gibson," the officious attendant, the illegal parkers?
Riders constantly say their complaints go unanswered. What happened in those cases?
If a front line Metro worker is going to “front,” flip off and curse out a passenger for asking a simple question, that employee should be fired, or at LEAST demoted and quarantined to a job that requires no contact with the riding public. And we should know about it!
Same for the employee who can't answer a simple question about where the bus they're driving is going without insulting a passenger.
Like it or not, Metro, this minority of social morons is your public face and they're giving you a big black eye. Now that it seems you're weeding out the lowest of the low, we look forward to hearing what you plan to do about your employees who can't provide a baseline level of service to the people who pay part of their salaries.