Underground - Work ethic (Rant)
Underground - Work ethic (Rant)
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Discussion

J-Skid

Original Poster:

1,099 posts

288 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
Sorry, this is a rant.

I live in Clerkenwell and near Farringdon station. This weekend Farringdon station is closed all weekend for engineering works, yet we had today six LU staff sat outside the station on deck chairs smoking and reading the papers all day. Nice work if you can get it.

Across the road there are few people of Asian (Chinese) origin updating their restaurant. And on this I mean complete re-working - complete re-paint outside, re-tiling the flooring etc. between three of them. I just walked past them and said Hello - they said they hope the be finished be finished by midnight.

Hmmmm - These work their guts out and fair play to them, they deserve to get there. Unlike our friends on London Underground.... on lots of £k per annum. Thanks for coming lads!





Edited by J-Skid on Sunday 21st September 20:52

Flintstone

8,644 posts

277 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
Worst 'I'm jealous' rant evAr.

Simpo Two

92,948 posts

295 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
It's rather typical unfortunately. A friend of mine wanted some headphones manufactured. He spoke to a British company who said it would have to wait until their next meeting in three months. He then spoke to a company in China who said yes, they could make him a prototype. 'When by?' he said? 'Tomorrow morning' they replied.

Flintstone

8,644 posts

277 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
It's rather typical unfortunately. A friend of mine wanted some headphones manufactured. He spoke to a British company who said it would have to wait until their next meeting in three months. He then spoke to a company in China who said yes, they could make him a prototype. 'When by?' he said? 'Tomorrow morning' they replied. "After we've finished tarting up this restaurant in Farringdon"
EFA

leeb

1,074 posts

273 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
i had the misfortune of being on the underground at 11pm on friday night, it was PACKED!!!!

i couldnt help to be slightly pissed off by the cocky driver in his air con'd cab, pressing his buttons and chirping out "please mind the gap" with that scarcastic knowing tone, that he knows full well we are squashed in uncomfortably close to random, foreign smelly strangers!

bds. How people deal with commuting everyday, i will never know. Give me a traffic jam, my car, air con and the radio any day!


Edited by leeb on Sunday 21st September 21:02

J-Skid

Original Poster:

1,099 posts

288 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
Flintstone said:
Simpo Two said:
It's rather typical unfortunately. A friend of mine wanted some headphones manufactured. He spoke to a British company who said it would have to wait until their next meeting in three months. He then spoke to a company in China who said yes, they could make him a prototype. 'When by?' he said? 'Tomorrow morning' they replied. "After we've finished tarting up this restaurant in Farringdon"
EFA
C'mon - this was a genuine rant smile You're just spoiling it!



Edited by J-Skid on Sunday 21st September 21:03

fido

18,918 posts

285 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
leeb said:
bds. How people deal with commuting everyday, i will never know. Give me a traffic jam, my car, air con and the radio any day!
Well it's not too bad really - and the Jubilee Line seems a tad quieter these days.
Though this is one of the better lines - it seems to be staffed by dedicated folks rather than the Bob Crowist ones you get elsewhere.

Edited by fido on Sunday 21st September 21:04

B17NNS

18,506 posts

277 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
J-Skid said:
they said they hope the be finished be finished by midnight
bloody hell they are taking their time.

round here it only takes twetty minite

J-Skid

Original Poster:

1,099 posts

288 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
B17NNS said:
J-Skid said:
they said they hope the be finished be finished by midnight
bloody hell they are taking their time.

round here it only takes twetty minite
quicker than the the LU staff though.......


Flintstone

8,644 posts

277 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
J-Skid said:
..they said they hope to be finished by midnight but they'd probably fancy doing another an hour later.

simonrockman

7,128 posts

285 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
The Underground is ruled by unions who play the health and safety card under the spectre of Kings Cross at every opportunity.

Say a light fitting needs changing. It will be done when the network is shut down (so paid overtime plus unsocial hours). The man to fit the new light fitting will be paid to travel to a meeting point where he we meet two safety people, they will then be paid to travel to where the work is to be done. Then they take a break. Two of them watch while the man changes it, then they take a break and then they travel back to the meeting point. In practice they all meet at the place where the work is to be done but they get paid for the travelling time. So it takes three people five times as long as it should to change a light fitting.

If they just sent the light fitting to the station and asked someone there to fit it, even allowing for that person's time it would cost 1/30th of the amount.

The cost of doing anything on the tube is generally 11x the abount you'd pay in an outside enviroment.

This is why the Connect project which was commissioned in 1995 as a three year project is still unfinished.

Simon

J-Skid

Original Poster:

1,099 posts

288 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
simonrockman said:
The Underground is ruled by unions who play the health and safety card under the spectre of Kings Cross at every opportunity.

Say a light fitting needs changing. It will be done when the network is shut down (so paid overtime plus unsocial hours). The man to fit the new light fitting will be paid to travel to a meeting point where he we meet two safety people, they will then be paid to travel to where the work is to be done. Then they take a break. Two of them watch while the man changes it, then they take a break and then they travel back to the meeting point. In practice they all meet at the place where the work is to be done but they get paid for the travelling time. So it takes three people five times as long as it should to change a light fitting.

If they just sent the light fitting to the station and asked someone there to fit it, even allowing for that person's time it would cost 1/30th of the amount.

The cost of doing anything on the tube is generally 11x the abount you'd pay in an outside enviroment.

This is why the Connect project which was commissioned in 1995 as a three year project is still unfinished.

Simon
kind of what I figured. So how do we stop this?


Zod

35,295 posts

288 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
Make it illegal for the Tub workers to strike. It's an essential service and they are well paid for a not particularly taxing job.






muckymotor

2,498 posts

251 months

Sunday 21st September 2008
quotequote all
One of my biggest regrets is not training as a London Underground driver when I was much younger.