TTC: Customer Service

[doady]

Every time I ask a TTC ticket booth attendant for a system map, they glare at me like I just anally raped their mother or something. Now I just don't bother asking, Last map I have is from 2005. The extreme attitude I get for these workers is not worth such a small thing as a map.

 

[Eug]

One local bus driver used to carry a thermos full of coffee with him.

However, if he's gotta go, he's gotta go. That's reasonable IMO, but at least politely tell the customers what's happening. When I was a kid, we wouldn't mind this, but the drivers weren't necessarily assh*les either.

 

[kEiThZ]

Giambrone can only be responsible for so much. He doesn't provide job training, scheduling of shifts, or anything that concerns front line workers. He is merely a liason between Council and the Commission. Making sure that they budget correctly, provide ideas and innovation within reason, etc...Where you work, what influence does your CEO or CFO have on you on a daily basis? Do they assign you work, tell you who to work with, etc? The reason why people blame him is because he is the face of the TTC, how many people have seen a supervisor or know his name compared to Giambrone?

Why should he be held to a different standard than the chair of any corporate board? It is his policies that have lead to the current situation. The GM is responsible for implementing his policies. Saying he doesn't provide job training, scheduling of shifts, etc. is a cop out. He sets policies to make those things happen. He should take responsibility for not setting effective policies that improve customer service.

Do you think the chair of Toyota right now, is saying, "I am not reponsible. I don't build cars. I just report to the shareholders."?

Being in the military, I can tell you that where I work, every individual in the chain of command from general to corporal is liable for the actions of his subordinates all the way to the bottom. In our case this is legislated. And I have never in my 10 year career in the military ever met a senior officer or general who'd say, "It's not my fault. I just set the policy." That would not be tolerated. And when senior officers have used such excuses (like General Boyle did during the Somalia inquiry), they are generally shunned by their peers, and their subordinates. But that's the difference between a culture of responsibility and an organizational culture where nobody thinks it's their problem.

In most cases in the corporate world, when things are this bad and customers are on the verge of revolting, the board would ask both the Chair and the CEO or GM to resign. Heck, in Japan, one of these guys might be so ashamed that they would end it all. Here, however, Giambrone does not even think it's his fault ("I am only the Chair."). To date, he has not even really apologized for his role in it all. He's tried to pin it all on the TTC employees and Webster. And he's even suggests that his election campaign won't impact his (currently meagre) management of the TTC at all. Terrible.

 

[Eug]

A Poster on another Forum that claims to be a Driver says their is quite a bit of talk amongst the Union Brethern to pull a surprise Wild Cat Strike in protest of the ill treatment the TTC Staff at the hands of the Media & Riders as of late.

LOL I hope they do they will receive absolutely no sympathy and it might just be the lighting rod that ignites revolutionary change in this city in terms of the TTC.

That would be totally awesome. I hope they go on strike. It would be especially awesome as a non-sanctioned strike.

 

[SP!RE]

I find there is such a polarization of TTC employees which is why they, of course, cannot be painted with one brush.

There have been bus drivers that let me off in between stops (or even offer to) and are not just courteous but downright friendly. It's so uplifting to experience such kindness from a stranger and it creates a feeling of all-round safety. I've also had a couple occasions (ever) where a very friendly ticket booth operator in one of the stations helped me out by giving my visiting friends or family a small deal.

However, the people working in the booths in the subway are usually very rude. All summer, working in tourism, I would work my ass off making visitors to our city feel welcome and encourage them about using public transit and telling them not to be afraid to use the TTC. Then I'd see a ticket booth operator harrassing or rudely gesturing at these same tourists later that day. Absolutely unacceptable.

It's a difficult situation because the TTC folks are angry, and the public are also angry.

 

[W. K. Lis]

But Dad, they started it first! They took pictures of me!

I don't care who started it. Behave yourselves and act your age. Take responsibility and solve it properly without causing more trouble.

Both sides are to behave, union members and the public.

That applies to you too.

 

[noctis]

But Dad, they started it first! They took pictures of me!

I don't care who started it. Behave yourselves and act your age. Take responsibility and solve it properly without causing more trouble.

Both sides are to behave, union members and the public.

That applies to you too.

just like what i said in another thread, who needs to shape up? the public and ttc people. props to that!

 

[kEiThZ]

^ The difference being that I am not paying my sibling to do a job that he either does not do or performs with disdain. This is not like kids fighting.

And can we please drop this whole, the driver is being harrassed business. It's far more frequent that passengers are being mistreated than the other way around. I can't believe some of these guys think that being caught on camera is mistreatment and harrassment. Don't do anything wrong, follow procedure and I won't film you and youtube it. Be polite to me. And I will be polite back. Go out of your way to help me and I will go out of my way to be a good passenger. Is that so hard?

Instead, quite often, these guys use the excuse of a few bad customers to make life miserable for the majority of docile, paying customers. They do it because they can get away with it. It's just that they're caught off-guard by a public that's now fighting back. It's decades late, but it's happening.

 

[waterloowarrior]

]Kinnear responds to Webster memo

TTC union chief blasts bosses, media and public
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 | 12:23 PM ET Comments3Recommend4
CBC News

An angry TTC union leader took verbal swipes at management, the public and the media on Tuesday — blaming them all for the recent upswing in complaints about service on Toronto’s public transit system.

Bob Kinnear, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, said recent photos and videos of a snoozing fare collector, bus drivers stopping for bathroom breaks and absent ticket takers, is creating an atmosphere of harassment on the TTC.

Kinnear said some unionized employees now "fear taking a few minutes for a needed washroom break because they don't want to be subjected to ridicule or embarrassment."

He blasted the public saying, "To all of those who get some cheap thrill making a video of a driver leaving his or her bus for a washroom break: Stop it! It's inhuman and it's creating potential health and public safety hazards."

Kinnear said media outlets that receive pictures or videos exposing problems on the TTC should send them back to the person "with a reprimand."

But Kinnear saved his strongest language for TTC management.

He called a weekend email to staff from TTC chief general manager Gary Webster — taking employees to task for service problems — a "whiny rant."

"This email was unfair in the extreme," said Kinnear.

"He [Webster] takes absolutely no responsibility for operating decisions that anger customers. For example, he takes no responsibility for the recent token fiasco. It's our members who take all the flak for that."

"He takes no responsibility for the staff cutbacks that result in dirty subway stations and washrooms. He takes no responsibility for the St. Clair cost overruns ... He takes no responsibility for any management decisions that have adversely affected service and led to greater customer dissatisfaction," Kinnear said.

TTC official Brad Ross, who said in the media a bathroom break should be announced to passengers and should only take about three minutes, was also denounced. "Who made you God?" said Kinnear.

But the sting of criticism from the public has pushed the union to take action.

"As a union we acknowledge that there are things we can do as workers to improve the customer experience," said Kinnear.

The union leader said the ATU Local 113 would sponsor town hall meetings aimed at bringing together TTC employees and the public, but did not provide any details on dates or times.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/02/09/kinnear-ttc.html#ixzz0f3yDvbYi

 

[PinkLucy]

I hope the union has been pushed to take action -- to ensure that their members aren't sleeping on the job or leaving their equipment unattended. Instead, their action seems to be to blame everyone but the people who screwed up.

 

[kandaman]

I hope the union has been pushed to take action -- to ensure that their members aren't sleeping on the job or leaving their equipment unattended. Instead, their action seems to be to blame everyone but the people who screwed up.

The unions main purpose is to protect its members. I think its obvious the employee is to blame for his action the union doesnt need to point fingers, if it did than hes paid his union dues for nothing. Think of the union as the employees lawyer. Employee screws up; union will back him right or wrong as they should.

 

[The Mad Navigator]

I could use a few days off work. You guys should have a work to rule once a year.

 

[PinkLucy]

And this is one of my main beefs against unions. They protect their members even when they are caught doing something wrong. So where's the incentive to do a job properly if you've got someone who will back you and make sure your job is intact no matter how badly you screw up? What's the point in doing a good job when your co-worker who does a bad job gets the same rewards that you do.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

"He [Webster] takes absolutely no responsibility for operating decisions that anger customers. For example, he takes no responsibility for the recent token fiasco. It's our members who take all the flak for that."

"He takes no responsibility for the staff cutbacks that result in dirty subway stations and washrooms. He takes no responsibility for the St. Clair cost overruns ... He takes no responsibility for any management decisions that have adversely affected service and led to greater customer dissatisfaction," Kinnear said.

Yes, Webster should also take responsibilites for serotonin imbalances, psychiatric episodes and sphincter malfunctions. Rock on.

AoD

 

[kandaman]

And this is one of my main beefs against unions. They protect their members even when they are caught doing something wrong. So where's the incentive to do a job properly if you've got someone who will back you and make sure your job is intact no matter how badly you screw up? What's the point in doing a good job when your co-worker who does a bad job gets the same rewards that you do.

Thats not always true. Sure you get better job security but that doesnt mean your getting away with bad habbits. The driver who got caught for the 7min break still got suspended, im sure in this current day and age with or without a union thats all he would have gotten. There have been guys fired from the TTC for being bad apples and the union could not do anything about it. On the rare ocassion even the union will agree a bad apple is a bad apple. Just because your in a union doesnt mean your untouchable.