New to the Railroad

I said it in another post. The green horn should work the rails for about 6 years, get to 100% and then complain about his fellow Brothers and Sisters working a Crossword, etc.

All I can say is this. The RR pays a fine salary and benefits. Either put up with the BS and take the side of your respective union, or find another "career" suited to your disposition. If the RR is already getting under your skin, I cannot imagine what you'll be like in 10 years.

craigdebi wrote: As far as I am concerned the compensation isn't worth what it has cost us as a family, and the tole it has taken on our marriage. I am hanging in by a thread, if he does not figure out something different to do, its not going to be nice, its come down to me saying I won't do this anymore, and him saying he won't change jobs so we are at a fork in the road, sadly both of us will lose, so will our kids that are still at home....

You obviously have no idea what it takes today to have a stable career with such excellent compensation like the railroad. Just imagine the lifestyle of going from job to job as a result of layoffs and downsizing. The loss of benefits, mounting bills, car repo's, evictions, foreclosures, working two jobs just to make the ends meet... Try that for a "quality of life"! What kind of impact would that have on you and your kids?

When other coworkers approach me with this issue (wife not happy), I tell them this: It's not the railroad, its you! If you were to find a different job tomorrow that had Mo-Fr, 8-5 schedule, she would still take off, as I witnessed this many times in my career !!!... Therefore lady, don't burden your husband any more, just pack up and leave!!!

I have seen over the short time I have been out on the rail how true your words are. Not wanting to seem like I am not mkaing an effort or caring, I started moving pretty quickly to work. The old heads wasted no time in telling me to slow down, be safe first and hurrying only leads to accidents. Having come from other jobs and a college education this went against everything I have ever known about working. However I see that they are correct- no reason to hurt yourself or others trying to hurry through a job that will have you waiting for one reason or another anyways at some point. getting paid over $400 a day for only a couple hours of actual work is pretty amazing. It goes against everything I have ever known, but in the end its pretty sweet. The country cant survive without the railroads either....