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

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine anyone in Boston not being understanding about T-delays, but I suppose if you're always driving it's less immediate.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Seriously.

He lives in the South End. Gee, I wish I could walk to work, too.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

There's a rule that says "the business is always located conveniently to the boss's house."

"Medical emergency" is usually code for "jumper". Or maybe that's just my inner New Yorker coming to the surface.

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

On occasion there are other types of medical emergencies, like the woman who gave birth on the T last year.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

The rule can be augmented to:

"The boss lives relatively far in a bedroom suburban community but has a company-paid parking spot in the downtown office building so she never has to worry about such things."

[komos.livejournal.com]

I'm going to ask you the same question I did above... source?

[jmspencer.livejournal.com]

And I'm going to point out the same thing I did above: that you can't expect a documented source on an MBTA euphamism for "Suicide Attempt".

[komos.livejournal.com]

So some guy in an orange vest said something off the record? That's not exactly hard evidence.

I've personally been witness to a half-dozen different types of medical emergencies on the train, ranging from nosebleed to seizure. I've seen a jumper exactly once. This isn't to say that jumpers are so isolated as to be negligible. On the other hand, I find it hard to believe that the term medical emergency means in fact that there's been a jumper.

[jmspencer.livejournal.com]

No, some guy in an orange vest did not say something off the record. Some guy who I trust who has been an inspector for the T for the last 30 years did say something off the record.

And I'm sorry, I didn't realize we were playing the semantic game of strict and literal inpretation when the meaning of the sentence should be obvious. Since we're doing that, I'll restate:

According to a reliable source within the MBTA, when the train is delayed for a significant amount of time and the reason is given as "medical emergency" (or, occasionally, "fire department activity") the problem is more often than not a jumper. This is most likely to be the case when trains stop running altogether and passengers are diverted to shuttle busses.

[komos.livejournal.com]

You made a statement of fact. I just asked for a source.

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

i've also heard of heart attacks being fairly common during the winter time.

[komos.livejournal.com]

He's got an inside source.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Whenever i've heard about significant delays due to a "medical emergency", it's because someone either fell or jumped in front of a train.

What other kind of "medical emergency" warrants a thorough stoppage of service and re-routing of trains? If someone has a medical emergency on board a train, call for help by radio, hold the train at the next station, wait a few minutes for an ambulance to show up, get him off of there, and send the train on its way. A handful of trains get delayed in the middle of the day. A medical emergency on the platform can be dealt with by getting the lookie-lous out of the immediate area and getting the patient out of there on a stretcher. No need to disrupt service at all. Not long ago some guy fell down an escalator and couldn't get up. No biggie, an ambulance got called and people just walked around him. (MBTA personnel were at his side to make sure he would be OK.)

[komos.livejournal.com]

Any medical emergency that occurs on a train will result in just that. The patient will be stabilized and removed from the system prior to the the train moving again. In some cases, this will take a few minutes. In others - heart-attack with defib, for instance - the process can take significantly longer. This doesn't even take into account the delays that will be cause simply by disrupting the flow of traffic for x amount of time.