Many don't understand. They just take for granted their 9-5, Mon-Fri job with holidays off who are so quick to criticize the perks some railroads have to offer such as pay and pensions. They don't realize railroaders hours can change without notice. Our rest days can change with out notice. There are no holidays unless it happens to fall on a rest day. We miss countless birthdays, anniversaries and children opening up their presents on Christmas Day.
Most wouldn't even begin to comprehend what it's about until they live through it (or at least lives with someone who does). This is the very reason that the divorce rate amongst railroaders is high.[/quote]
I honestly did not understand until I read what you had to say. For us who have set jobs and schedules we do take things for granted. I think it is important that you are paid well for the job you do, clearly it is not easy at all. I don't think I could handle being so unsettled. I never even thought of the divorce rate in your field. It is actally really interesting because I work in the legal field where divorce rate is also very high. Unless people have a clear understanding of what goes on no one should critize the perks or pay rate, that is my opnion of course.[/quote]
Thanks for the response.. I never would have thought that life on the railroad was so unsettled. I guess I am just blinded by working my normal 8am to 4pm job. I think sometimes we (commuters) don't realize that your jobs on the rail are much harder than they look. Between safety, crazy hours, and dealing with commuters (which we all know is not an easy task haha, I have a blog I write every day about the people I encounter) I commend all of you and the work you do. I deal with law students and lawyers all day, I thought that was bad but clearly you all need gold metals for what you put up with! Thank you for all you do..[/quote]
This is very true. There is this assumption that EVERYBODY on the railroad "drives" trains (I never understood, nor do I like the term; HOW do you "drive" a train? There's no steering wheel!) There's also the "100 days" rule where one had to get in 100 days each year to qualify for vacation, personal leave, etc. If you got cut off (which happened almost every Christmas) and didn't get called back in time to qualify for your vacation (didn't get in a minimum of 100 days, you would LOSE your vacation for that year. If you qualified for your vacation the following year, you could take it. You didn't "lose" it, you just couldn't take it for THAT year in which you didn't get 100 days. I knew some people who DIDN'T get their 100 days and got no vacation for that year. It also affects your retirement date, too since you must have 360 calender months in order to retire. Then there's wild hours, the fear of getting put out of service (disciplinary time)---which occurred all too often. Its staying UP 24 hours on Thanksgiving Day so you can eat a meal with your family, then reporting to work at 8 PM to load baggage on the passenger trains, clean toilets, run crews, and keep paper in the printer shanties. But most of the trains were "annulled", the yard was quiet, and there were only a few of us around. I had one holiday like that where I made $360 for ONE night counting my regular pay and working at time and a half for holidays! Kinda made up for it.
The clerks didn't run trains, but they were out there [handling[/i] trains, cutting waybills, walking the yards and doing a variety of jobs the public doesn't imagine. It is a very disruptive life and takes a certain kind of person to put up with it. Railroad people are not automatically "railfans" as some of us think! We are mostly professional people, mostly blue collar, doing a very precise, dangerous job to move freight and passengers. There are a myriad of jobs on the railroad that doesn't necessarily mean that they are directly involved with the trains themselves. Many times the work, while not always "hard" in the strictest sense, is difficult, complex and dangerous. It is the lifestyle the employees endure that the public doesn't understand; they cling to this notion of 9-5, with Sat-Sun off, and going to Gram's on Sunday for dinner. Many people (and that includes many so-called "foamers") could not stand it, and quickly become dissolutioned with it, even bitter.
It's easier to look BACK, than it is to experience the railroad life! But I am thankful that I did it, sometimes wonder where it went, and even, at times, dream about being in some Yard office shuffling waybills or handing up orders, and wake up tired as if I had worked an entire shift. But it is NICE when that check comes each month and I can go and do whatever I please, when I please. A few years ago,that wasn't possible!!!!! No matter how much I hated it, nor how much I miss it (at times), I don't think you ever get it out of your system. I think its kinda like being branded.
GF
