Unsuck DC Metro: It's Not Just the Customers they Ignore

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

It's Not Just the Customers they Ignore

From A.N. Onymous:

The other day at Bethesda, as I came down the escalator from street level and headed toward the turnstiles, I heard someone asking loudly and distinctly "What is your name?" As I got closer, I saw that it was a man with a jacket with the word "Police" on the back.

I think the jacket was blue and black, but I may be wrong about that.

Anyway, he was speaking to someone in the kiosk, and he repeated his question perhaps four or five times. He then went around to the back of the kiosk and again asked, loudly and distinctly, "What is your name?"

I had gone through the turnstile by this point, but I turned around and could see that the woman working in the kiosk was totally ignoring him, not even turning around to acknowledge his presence.

Is this standard operating procedure for Metro employees?

I would like to suggest that when someone who appears to be a police officer is addressing a Metro employee, that the employee respond. Metro employees already have a reputation for being lazy, sullen, and rude, and this incident does nothing to make anyone think otherwise.

At a time when Metro is making a show of concern about security with random bag searches, it certainly undercuts the message to have a Metro employee simply ignoring what seems to be a reasonable question from anyone, let alone someone who seems to be a police officer.

I can’t help but wonder what had happened previously that prompted the police officer to want to know the Metro employee’s name in the first place.

I have reported this incident to Metro as well.

Other items:
Will Metro get the messages on governance reform? (WaPo)
Metro still investigating body found on track over weekend (Examiner)
Can we build transit systems with our phones? (HuffPo)

Comments (26)

Logging you in...

Dashboard | Edit profile | Logout

Logged in as

+5 Vote up Vote down

Lola · 740 weeks ago

Wow. This is something. I can't believe I'm actually shocked. I really thought Metro and the police worked well together. I am so naive!!!

+5 Vote up Vote down

Lola · 740 weeks ago

Also, I just wanted to add that I no longer take metro. I had too many violent experiences on Metro, bad experiences with Metro staff, etc. Now I walk or take the occasional metro bus (which isn't as bad as Metro). I'm also planning on getting my motorcycle license so I can use a Vespa around town (when the roads are not icy.) My love affair with Metro is long over.

+17 Vote up Vote down

John · 740 weeks ago

"I have reported this incident to Metro as well."

HAHAHAHA! Good luck with THAT!

Jackie Jeter will swoop down in a cape and call you a racist, promote the malcontent station manager and drag your name through the dirt.

+9 Vote up Vote down

Guest · 740 weeks ago

This incident doesn't surprise me. I haven't witnessed the violence that others have, luckily, but I regularly saw teens squeezing through the gates without paying and run and eat on the Metro trains right in front of Metro employees who did nothing to stop them. They don't care about anything at all. If your card isn't scanned correctly and the employee needs to scan it to open the gate for you, they act like it's the biggest hassle in the world... even though it pretty much involves them moving 5 feet from where they are sitting!

So I don't take the Metro anymore either. I carpool in to a garage (monthly pass) and I am spending like $100 less than what I paid to park at a Metro stop and ride the Metro every day. If you're from MD or VA and fed up with the costs and ridiculously bad service, the monthly garage fees are definitely not as bad as I thought they'd be.

4 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+3 Vote up Vote down

bet · 740 weeks ago

Guest I heard the same. All the employees there care about is getting the high range $50,000.00 + paycheck every Wednesday. There are a few station attendants who have good customer service for some reason.

+5 Vote up Vote down

John · 740 weeks ago

If those people make more than 50K a year than I see a viable way of dealing with metro's budget issues....

+7 Vote up Vote down

Guest · 740 weeks ago

Yeah, couldn't they hire some college interns to do the same sitting around for free?

0 Vote up Vote down

jacob · 737 weeks ago

A lot of those station managers and their "supervisors" with the funny white shirts come from other departments because they got injured or fired and can't work anywhere else. They have no customer service skills or experience whatsoever. Some of them are okay, but a lot of them look at it as a crap job with a pay check.

+1 Vote up Vote down

anon · 740 weeks ago

Secondary note - if you take Metro from the Shady Grove station, you can park offsite for a monthly fee that's much lower than it'd cost you on a daily basis to park at Metro itself. I believe SG charges $4.75 a day, which would be $23.75 a week. $23.75 a week equals $95 a month for parking at Metro.

Reed Brothers Auto, right next to Metro on Frederick Ave (355), charges $50 a month.

+3 Vote up Vote down

Anonymous · 740 weeks ago

Concerning someone being run over by a train.......didn't homeland security grants pay for cameras on the station platforms? Does each and every one of these cameras work and who is in charge of their functionality checklist? If the person jumped or walked down to the tracks would you not watch the video?

If riders are pushing on the platform, why not call transit police who I was told is in charge of crowd control. Some proper procedures seem to be not followed here.

+5 Vote up Vote down

Ignored · 740 weeks ago

I had a similar problem at Grosvenor Metro. The station manager called me over. I asked him what the problem was he took my card into his turret and punched some numbers. I asked him if there was a problem, and he ignored me. He came back out and I asked him if I needed to add more money to my card? He ignored me and didnt respond. He pressed my card down to charge an exit fare, I assume it didnt register on my way out, and I asked him if I was all set to leave, and he ignored me. I guess ignoring people is the new metro policy.

1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

+1 Vote up Vote down

Sue · 740 weeks ago

This is typical. It is what I now think of as the official Metro employee personality. I'm not sure why they refuse to offer even one-word answers to simple, reasonable questions from the public. Can anyone explain this? Why isn't basic communication (or basic etiquette that most toddlers have mastered) an essential skill for Metro employees?

-5 Vote up Vote down

GDopplerXT · 740 weeks ago

Come on, anonymous letters like this are not useful. This person admits that they're pretty sure they witnessed only part of the situation, they were just passing through and can't even remember what color jacket the police person was wearing, and we're to believe that they have correctly assessed that the Metro employee was acting out of line? Maybe the Metro employee was attending to business? Maybe they were contacting a supervisor to handle a situation they did not feel comfortable with? Maybe the police employee was acting improperly, or are we now to assume that between a Metro employee and a police officer that it MUST be the Metro employee that is in the wrong? Maybe the police officer was not acting with legitimate business and the Metro employee was right to attend to their own business (isn't that what you would do in such a situation, or do you just happily do everything the police tell you to do no matter what?)

Fact is, this letter writer doesn't know what they saw, they only know what seemed to be happening as they passed through a small part of a situation. I hope Metro is ignoring complaints like this and focusing on actual solvable problems.

8 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+1 Vote up Vote down

A.N. Onymous · 740 weeks ago

@GDopplerXT:

I know what I saw, and noted what I was not sure about. A train was pulling into the station, and my first order of business was to get on the train.

I received a reply from wmata saying that they would look into the situation. They can determine the larger context and determine if the employee acted in an appropriate fashion or otherwise.

Read the reply from John, above. I'd just as soon not use my real name. Note that wmata has my name and e-mail address. Let me conclude by suggesting, Mr./Ms. GDopplerXT, that if you object to someone not putting their full name on a post, that you set an example and put your own full name and perhaps an e-mail address on your posts. Your behavior, and the tone of your reply, might lead a rational person to suspect that you are either a metro employee or in some way affiliated with the union.

0 Vote up Vote down

GDopplerXT · 740 weeks ago

@ A.N. Onymous:

First, I'm sorry if my opening sentence sounded like I had a problem with you being anonymous. I don't, and clearly that would be absurd since I don't use my legal name when I post on here.

Rather, my issue (which I have stated on this blog before) is that letters such as this which are unverifiable and depend heavily on the writer's perception of what was happening must be taken as just that. This blog depends heavily on stuff like this, and it just gives people a chance to whine and moan and have a cathartic gripe about metro, thus reinforcing what they are already feeling. Okay, but not very useful in my opinion, but I seem to be alone on this point.

As for my behavior (when did you observe my behavior?) and tone, it is intended to make a rational person consider that hey, there might be other explanations for a situation briefly witnessed. You distinctly suggested that the Metro employee was ignoring the police officer and was in the wrong for doing so - I'm suggesting that none of us know if that is what was really happening.

Finally, I would like to think that a rational person would consider that I actually have a valid point rather than assuming I must have a vested interest. I don't work for Metro or have an affiliation with a union of any kind. I ride Metrobus to and from work every day, and I use Metrorail to get around town if it's too far to walk; I'm just a customer.

+3 Vote up Vote down

ANONY · 740 weeks ago

I"m getting sick of this line that this is merely a gripe blog. sure, there's that element, and i like it! but this blog has broken more news in the past few months than all of the dc mainstream media combined.

you need to adjust your thinking here, guy

+2 Vote up Vote down

GDopplerXT · 740 weeks ago

I believe I've said it's mostly a gripe blog. Absolutely it has broken some big Metro stories. And if you like the griping, then by all means, carry on. But the fact is, we all know that Metro is broken; I just don't think it's productive to simply repeat that over and over while working myself up into a lather.

As I mentioned before, I realize that I seem to be alone on this point. So be it.

+2 Vote up Vote down

SoBa · 740 weeks ago

Yeah, there are a lot of gripes because Metro is the ne plus ultra of fuckups. The blog dedicated to all the things Metro does right would be a blank page.

0 Vote up Vote down

GDopplerXT · 740 weeks ago

This is precisely what I'm talking about.

0 Vote up Vote down

MSB · 739 weeks ago

GDopplerXT, this is my first visit to Unsuck Metro, and I must say that I totally agree with you. I read the post about the "six armed robbers on the Orange Line train"! It was quite obvious that this was a made-up story, and if anyone had taken the time to read the article, it was full of contradictions. But then, people on this blog are not looking for the truth, they are just here to bash Metro.

0 Vote up Vote down

anon · 740 weeks ago

Onymous I agree that this blogger works for the union and is blinded by the paycheck and fails to see the purpose of great customer service.

No one should be ignored. Just say, "I will be right with you".

How about retrain the employee or move them out of the customer service venue.

I think it becomes a habit with certain employees and just maybe their numerous complaints get squashed.

+5 Vote up Vote down

Mike · 740 weeks ago

"Metro employees already have a reputation for being lazy, sullen, and rude, ....."
A pre-employment requirement for Metro employees and management :-(

0 Vote up Vote down

anon · 740 weeks ago

Although this blog does a great job of highlighting endlessly awful service and attitude from Metro and its surly underlings, it's nigh impossible to post a comment on here that even tangentially seems Metro-positive. Too many people here are abandoning all sense of logic. If your mental capacity prohibits you from going beyond "Metro=BAD," then maybe you shouldn't even bother commenting, huh?

Look, there's nothing wrong with not accepting the word of someone you don't know as the unvarnished, complete truth. And the mere fact that one doesn't wholly accept that doesn't mean they're saying the event didn't happen precisely as stated!

2 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

0 Vote up Vote down

UnSuck Fan · 740 weeks ago

Seriously?? Again, you must be one of the newbies here. What you have said and what was incorrectly cited in the Express article is that there ARE positive things being said about Metro. If you take the time to look at ALL of UnSuck’s website, you would see that there is a link right above his Twitter column (on the right hand side of this blog). I’ve posted to the Metro Employees Who Shine. I’d post more often, but I’m just afraid that the person I’d like to write about in that column would get in big, fat trouble of (1) doing his job and (2) doing a good job of it.

Just open your eyes and be a little more observant, okay??

+2 Vote up Vote down

anon · 740 weeks ago

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Obviously comprehension isn't your strong suit. Let's count the ways where you fail:

Logical fallacy #1:I criticized some posters, therefore I'm not a fan of the website. Really weak logic. Doesn't even begin to make sense.

Logical fallacy #2: I criticized some posters, therefore I'm new to this site. It couldn't be that the posts themselves are unhelpful; it simply must be that I'm new.I'm not.I've been reading and posting here for years.

Irrelevancy:One doesn't need to "look at ALL of UnSuck's website" to see that there's a link "right above his Twitter column" (feed, actually; maybe you're new, if you don't know what a feed is). The reason it's irrelevant is that, again, the problem is not with UnSuck and his posts, it's with some people who can't think past "Metro=bad." Not only do these people scream and yell and even the tiniest Metro transgression, they scream and yell if someone dares to suggest, I don't know, that maybe they need to recalibrate their anger just a tad.

Blatant ass-kissing: Come on. "UnSuck Fan"? Are you his mom? Have a little backbone, will you? Or at least learn to respond to criticism.

Overuse of question marks:You need only one, dude. If you think you need more, you might not belong online. Next time you're ready to post something that's seething with anger and self-righteousness, I want you to read your text to yourself. Out loud. If you don't sound like a jackass who has no idea what he's talking about, click on that Submit Comment button and have at it.

0 Vote up Vote down

Anon · 736 weeks ago

Strangely, nobody seems to see this:

One is simply NOT required to talk to the police. and can choose to ignore them if not being detained.

While it may look like laziness, the employee is actually doing him/herself a favour.