Unsuck DC Metro: Twinbrook Station Manager Upset by Interrupted Phone Call Yells at Riders

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Twinbrook Station Manager Upset by Interrupted Phone Call Yells at Riders

Early reports indicate the bid to oust Jackie Jeter was a flop. So, be prepared for more of the below, and remember Jeter's famous quote: "Our members go to work every day cognizant of their responsibility to perform a job on behalf of our customers – the riding public."

From Brian:

I got off at Twinbrook the other morning at around 9:00, and neither of the faregates were working. There are only two gates to exit at Twinbrook.

It was a slow time, but there were four of us who could not get out because when you swiped your card it said "see manager" or "out of service."

I looked in the booth, and the guy there was on the phone, and we could not get his attention. I tried repeatedly for five minutes to swipe my card. I was trapped in the station.

The guy in the booth was still on the phone, ignoring the line of people asking for help.

I finally just went through the "emergency" gate as I saw about six others do, and then tried to get the guy's attention on the other side of the booth to pass him my card.

He yelled at me to get back inside!

Finally, he got off the phone and shouted obscenities at us.

We argued with him that we had been standing there for over five minutes, and he'd ignored us.

He kept yelling.

Then, finally, he clicked something on his computer and said "try now."

We were free.

Don't you think that with the gates not working so often that there should be someone available let you out? That would be a lot better than someone ignoring you and swearing at you like it's your fault Metro equipment is so crappy!

Comments (105)

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+21 Vote up Vote down

F'n JD · 734 weeks ago

This is Mr. Sarles promoting a culture of accountability and customer service. Well done Mr. Sarles.

2 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+43 Vote up Vote down

Lost · 734 weeks ago

I simply don't get why SO MANY station managers are not only rude, but aggressively so. It's one thing to hate your job and do it half assed. It's another altogether to be hostile to simple solicitations of help from the people you're ostensibly there to "serve."

34 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+18 Vote up Vote down

John · 734 weeks ago

A protest really is in order.
Enough is enough

7 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+20 Vote up Vote down

VA commuter · 734 weeks ago

It's an attitude which is perpetuated from the top downwards. The people who run metro don't actually care about the people who use it. They are just there to collect their huge check of taxpayer money.

But what's worse is that it isn't 100% their fault either. The main culpability, in my opinion, lies with the government (at all levels) which continues to underfund and underman public and other forms of transportation in this country.

So to me, it's representative of the attitude towards transportation in general by the government. It's just an afterthought to them. They take moving from point A to point B for granted because they have private jets and drivers to take them places. So who cares about the regular folks who need a subway or bus or car. Let them sit in traffic, or let them get reamed out by a station manager who doesn't want to be bothered with actual work.

+17 Vote up Vote down

Matt G · 734 weeks ago

Maybe if we start Westboro Baptist-like pickets outside the ATU Local 689 HQ we can start a Libyan revolution to end this unacceptable behavior.

2 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+15 Vote up Vote down

John · 734 weeks ago

Anyone else shocked Jeter rigged the vote?

1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

+19 Vote up Vote down

Corresponding Toads · 734 weeks ago

Hey Metro - if you're reading this, could you please provide surveillance footage of the incident? I would absolutely love to watch a station manager talk on the phone for five minutes.

+5 Vote up Vote down

Gladys · 734 weeks ago

they all suck- that sums it up

+13 Vote up Vote down

VeggieTart · 734 weeks ago

Maybe they should do something to get the damn fare gates working.

Oh, wait, I must believe in slavery.

1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

+16 Vote up Vote down

Ever and Anon · 734 weeks ago

Ya know if that ever happens to me I am calling 911 and telling them I am being assaulted and am afraid for my life. See what happens when a cop shows up. In this America now, it is logical - if someone is shouting obcenities at you they are probably near the violence stage. I have had them be rude and surly, most definitely lazy to respond, but at least they've not gone off on me. Yet.

And Metro is worried about violence from terroists. sadly funny.

8 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+22 Vote up Vote down

HurricaneDC 76p · 734 weeks ago

WMATA is truly something else. If I did this at the places I've worked, I would have been fired without a second thought. At WMATA, you can be the biggest asshole in the world and that may even get you a promotion. It's fascinating really.

+17 Vote up Vote down

One take · 734 weeks ago

The solution is simple. Fire him. This station manager feels no accountability. All he wants to do is talk on his phone and then when Friday comes it’s “Give me my paycheck”. His salary is paid for by the very riders who he is supposed to assist. Why should Metro riders pay for his lottery tickets and 3-gallon bottle of screw-cap wine if he acts like this, while on duty, and in uniform representing his employer?

2 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+20 Vote up Vote down

KWM · 734 weeks ago

Once I tried to get help from a station manager at a kiosk at Metro Center. The woman snapped at me, so I snapped back, and she proceeded ot follow me to my train, asking me what MY problem was. She was very threatening. There is obviously no standards for the kind of people WMATA hires -- gutter trash is still a warm body after all.

3 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+11 Vote up Vote down

abc · 734 weeks ago

I got yelled at by a skanky bus driver on the 29 bus-the skinny one with the long fake ugly nails who never shuts up. After she nearly missed my stop she got mad because I stepped towards the road and flagged her down where she could see me. Some reason that provoked a tirade from her where she told me to never do it again to her. And I have to say I never did it again-because after that I started driving instead of taking the bus at that time of the day when I have to go out that way.

By the way the only other time I wrote the bus when she was driving she was 10 minutes late which she explained to her friends riding the bus as being because normally she goes 90+ miles per hour on her way to work and there was a cop so she had to slow down.

Seriously where does metro get some of their employees from crackheads-r-us.

It is sad to the good ones don't get rewarded for being nice and being good to people-because we know if they are it is because they are good people, not because anyone in metro is actually requiring it.

+19 Vote up Vote down

hrh king friday 13 · 734 weeks ago

People need to start video recording these incidents using thier cell phones. Maybe one way to get Metro employees to do thier jobs is to start posting video of thier lazy asses on the net.

3 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+1 Vote up Vote down

John · 734 weeks ago

Just for clarification, was the station manager using the metro phone (possibly on a work related call) or his cell phone? Not trying to defend him, but that could be a huge difference.

5 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+4 Vote up Vote down

Guest · 734 weeks ago

The New York Subway system doesn't have station managers. They have clerks in booths that sell Metrocards, but even those are being phased out of most of the system. Many, if not a majority, of stations are now totally unstaffed.

Just an idea....

6 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+17 Vote up Vote down

Metrobitesit · 734 weeks ago

I hope you got the man's name, the exact date and time of the incident, the metro station, the guy's ID #, his date or birth, mother maiden name and a urine sample, or Metro won't do sh*tall about it. I nearly got run over a few weeks ago by a Metro bus that ran a red light, and when I reported it to Metro, they said despite me having the having the exact location, date and time and bus line, they won't do anything because I failed to get the 4 digit bus number. Sorry, I was trying not to get hit by a bus - I had other things on my mind! Asshats.

+8 Vote up Vote down

dddddda · 734 weeks ago

I think I've told this story here before, but it's worth repeating because something has become seriously screwy with Metro really fast...

The first time I visited DC, way back in 1999 (I changed schools right around the time of the elementary/jr. high trip, so I was a young adult before I made it), we walked into the Vienna station during rush hour, walked up to the farecard machines, and started studying the fare charts and maps. After what may have been a minute of this, a station manager walked up to our group, asked where we were going, what we were doing (one trip or several was the gist), and promptly instructed us on how much fare to buy and how to do it. While our medium-sized group was buying farecards, he went to the kiosk and got maps for all of us, and then told us where to go and get off, and warned us to keep the farecards handy because we would need them to exit. It left a fantastic impression of DC and Metro on me.

I came back to intern here a few years later, and Metro employees were still friendly and helpful, and I always felt safe in the system despite travelling the green line home (almost 10 years ago this was not a fantastic idea).

WTF happened Metro? I have run into some awesome employees, but have stories to tell like the one in this article/email, as well. The unemployment rate is HIGHER now...you're telling me there aren't great people out there looking for a job?

2 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+6 Vote up Vote down

Jacob · 734 weeks ago

Well before the economy tanked a couple of years ago, Metro went on a frantic hiring spree because employees who came to Metro when it was created 30 years prior were starting to retire by the dozens. That's why you have a lot of trash working there now because they were able to slip through the hiring flood gates.

+8 Vote up Vote down

Kathryn · 734 weeks ago

This reminds me of my wonderful experience a couple of years ago in dealing with a station manager at one of the Maryland stations. A fare gate slammed shut on my hips, and I kept falling down as I tried to walk away. Not only did the station manager refuse to call for help, he told the other staff that I was 'faking it". I had to call 911 froma cell phone as I lay on the cold tiling. The paramedics and my friend arrived and proceeded to inform the station manager that I was indeed not faking. The station manager tried to get me to sign paperwork and I told him to go to h**l.

1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

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guest · 734 weeks ago

this is typical of the guy at twinbrook....i could go on and on about him. but the funniest thing is that he apparently won some customer service award a while ago. what a hoot!

1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

0 Vote up Vote down