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I worked as a food specialist for amtrak in los angeles for about 4 months before quitting. Some of the other employees were really cool and very good at there jobs. A bunch of the people that I met were just down right rude and very unprofessional with the passengers. On my very first training trip I was sitting with two the other food specialist and a train attendant. The two male employees were just being very vulger and talking about ladies they had been with and talking about female body parts, top and bottom parts. They were swearing and talking very nasty, with passengers in clear hearing distance. This same employee had even made another employee in training cry because of the comments that he made to her. I also seen some very nasty attitudes in the kithcen from the chefs and other food specialists. I saw some very horrid sanitary practices like food that has fallen on the floor and being placed on the plate, the chef chain smoking over the grill where all his steaks are frying, and people using the restroom and not washing there hands. I have also seen a lot of laziness from the chef being too lazy to simply warm something up in the micro for a passenger. Also the chef saying that he is too busy to make cookies for the parlour car when all he has to do is put the already made frozen cookie dough on a sheet pan and throw it in the oven for 15 minutes. I have never worked in a place where everyone was complaining nonstop about the smallest details, and all the drama and gossiping that goes on. I couldnt work with these kind of people anylonger so I quit after just 7 trips, besides I graduated from culinary school and wasnt happy just opening packages and keeping food warm on a steam table. The only reason I did work there was because the money was good but that still didnt make up for all my miserable trips. I also know that they are having trouble keeping LSA's especially in the diner car. No body wants to deal with the BS from employees. After this I dont think I will ever ride the train because I have actually worked it and know how the people are. Just my opinion.
Room Service Member # 2405
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It's my understanding that if food is dropped on the floor for under five seconds that there isn't a problem.
I believe it's called the "5 second rule"
Amtrak288 Member # 1967
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Nando, I worked and quit a fast food chain that I won't name here twice in my life and although I never saw anything as extreme as what you're quoting, I can tell you whenever you work in a busy restaurant, whether on the ground or on rails, there will be a ton of BS, I know this for a fact. I used to work for people who blew a gasket over the stupidest little thing that should concern nobody! I was once threatened with disciplinary action if one, and I mean ONE french fry was found on the floor the following morning after I closed the place. Needless to say, the manager who threatened me later got fired for something unrelated but still, you'll find that kind of behavior in food service.
rmiller Member # 341
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I've never spent much time in the kitchen, Nando, but don't doubt what you are saying is true. How long ago did you work for Atk? I do know that they are always looking for LSAs. Not only is it a crappy job but some can't keep their fingers out of the till.
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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What is a "food specialist?"
jp1822 Member # 2596
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I'd send your comments and experience details to the boss at 60 Mass Ave in DC.
AMTRAKLVR Member # 2843
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Nando, your post makes it kinda hard to swallow.
vincen47 Member # 2201
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nando, I see this was your first post. Welcome to Railforum.
Amtrak207 Member # 1307
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Their.
KA6BGJ Member # 662
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Nando,
I think in order to make your story believable, you need to add at the bottom "THEN THE ALARM CLOCK FINALLY RANG"
nando Member # 2891
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I am just stating the facts here. Have amtrakluvr or ka6bgj ever worked for Amtrak? I think not. I am sure other employees know exactly what I am talking about but dont want to say a damn thing. The sad thing is that was just half of the stuff that I saw and experienced. I have no reason to make this stuff up I was just reading your forum and noticing all the posts about nice employees and just thought I would ring in my thoughts. Instead I get slammed by others saying I am lying and that I was dreaming, whatever. You werent there so I think you should keep those comments to yourself. If you cant handle someone talking about the sad and honest truth about your beloved amtrak employees then just simply log off. Incase you havent found out yet Mr Toy, a food specialist is the title amtrak gives to their cooks. I think I will take jp1822's advice and write a letter of my experiences to Washington.
AMTRAKLVR Member # 2843
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nando, TAKE A CHILL PILL AND VEG OUT! READ A FEW MORE POSTINGS AND YOU WILL SEE THAT WE TALK SMACK ABOUT EMPLOYEES TO IF THEY DESERVE IT! YOUR WAY TO SENSITIVE MY CHILD!
espeefoamer Member # 2815
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I have several friends who are Amtrak employees,and I have heard stories that would make your hair stand up on end.
------------------ Trust Jesus,Ride Amtrak.
MPALMER Member # 125
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quote:Originally posted by nando: I saw some very horrid sanitary practices like food that has fallen on the floor and being placed on the plate.
And I take it the union leaders would defend this practice? Prepackaged chips and bottled water look migghty good compared to this.
MP
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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Nando, I'm not going to dismiss your story out of hand, but I do see some holes.
You imply that such practices are the norm. Everything you described almost certainly caused problems for front-line crew members and the public. So where do they fit into the story?
For example, if poor kitchen sanitary practices are routine, there must be a lot of sick passengers, and passenger car attendants having to clean up after passengers lose their lunch. Where are all these sick passengers? Crew members eat the same food the passengers do. You'd think they'd be getting sick on a regular basis as well, if sanitary conditions are as bad as you say.
Or how about the chef who was too lazy to warm something up? Between the chef and the customer there was a server handling the transaction. How did the server deal with the situation? I can't imagine the server going back to the passenger and saying something couldn't be heated up.
Ditto for the parlour car cookies. The Parlour car attendant must have been wondering where his cookies were. What did he or she do about it?
Maybe things happeed as you say, and if so you have a moral obligation to report the health violations to the proper authorities. But something tells me there may be a dose of exaggeration in here somewhere. If these things were normal, we'd be reading about it every day here.
[This message has been edited by Mr. Toy (edited 11-17-2003).]
nando Member # 2891
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I never implied anything being the norm. Since I was a new employee I didnt know what the "norm" was. As far as the sanitation pracitices and people not getting sick, most food borne illness is caused by food not being cooked to the proper temperature or being stored at the proper temp. As well as cross contamintation with cooked food and raw foods mainly poultry items. All of the food that is served on Amtrak is precooked and prepacackaged therefore there is really no danger of that ever happening. The bad sanitation that I witnessed was a very messy work station with the other food specialist (I was the one cleaning up after a lot of people) food just all over the place, not washing hands like I said, and produce just sitting out like preppared salads just sitting there getting warm and wilting. I dont know about you but I like my salad cool and crisp. As far as the chef being lazy and not wanting to warm something up, the chf would just tell the server to tell the customer we were out of it and let him know what we had left. The cookie situation was something that was new, I guess corporate decided to add cookies in the parlour and it wasnt listed or made aware to the customers. Besides the cases that I saw the chef would just let the attendant know that he wasnt making cookies and other employees and TA's would agree with him "why should you have to make cookies you have other things to do" Hello, he is the chef and there is a lot of down time to make these cookies its not like he was making them from scratch. Like I said before I dont have any reason to make any of this up and nothing is exaggerated. I just thought that I would give my 2 cents worth since noone really seemed to know how things were in the kithcen.
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