More about placating the boss when the T is late

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I have been late - and yelled at - more times than I care to relate because of the T. Yesterday, it was "traffic." Today, a "medical emergency." These "reasons" sound ludicrous coming from the T, and believe me, it's even more suspicious sounding when I say it.

I called MBTA complaints at 617-222-5216 and spoke to Micheal. He was quite understanding and confirmed that it was not my fault that I got to work late and it was completely beyond my control. He also told me three interesting things:

1. Porter to Downtown Crossing should only take 15-20 minutes.
   
   
2. If you have your boss call the complaint number, they will vouch for your being late.
   
   
3. If you have a fax machine and call them up, they will fax you a letter explaining the delay, which your boss can frame or put into your permanent file or staple to a TPS report, or whatever.

So...they can't get you to work on time, but at least they'll try to keep you from being fired. Yay, MBTA

Comments

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Is that time from when you walk onto the porter station platform, or from when you get on the train at porter?

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming train time. What he said was, basically, being on the platform at 8:30 should be enough time to get to work by 9.

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

heh. because i don't think i've ever seen the train get from porter to downtown xing in 15 minutes. i don't think i've ever seen the train get from porter to *kendall* in 15 minutes.

[cos]

Porter to Kendall usually takes about 6-8 minutes in my experience (once you're on the train), sometimes longer. Porter to Downtown in my experience is about a 15 minute ride. Everything is a bit slower at peak hours because it's more likely that your train has to wait for another one ahead of it, but even so, longer than 20 minutes to get from Porter to Downtown Crossing is an unusual delay. I actually have timed these rides a lot over the years.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Indeed.
I used to have to be in at 8:30.

I would leave my house at 7:55 (it takes 5-8 minutes depending on that stupid crossing at Somerville Ave.) and be on time to work.

Now, I start at 9. I leave my house from 8:15-8:20 and I am at least 5 minutes late. Today it was 16 minutes.

So yeah. It's gotten a lot worse lately.