Sleeper Hit

Toronto-based Twits have been all a flutter here in the last twenty-four hours. It all started yesterday when Jason Wieler posted this picture on Twitter:

Jason wrote, “Yup, love how my TTC dollars R being spent…” Needless to say, it’s gone viral. News outlets picked up the story and its obvious from the comments left on the stories that there isn’t much surprise amongst the Toronto population about the collector was asleep on the job.

Customer service (or lack thereof) has been a hot topic lately as there are more and more complaints about rude drivers, sporadic vehicles and subway delays. Earlier this week, TTC Chairman, and Mayoral hopeful, Adam Giambrone announced that he was setting up a blue-ribbon panel whose focus would be on improving customer service. That got people on Twitter talking but nothing like what yesterday’s picture set off.

When I first saw the picture, I was pretty ticked off. When I’m paying over $100 a month for a transit pass, I expect a certain level of service. Instead, I have long wait times for streetcars, when they arrive they’re packed to the point that I’m getting to know fellow passengers intimately and drivers who are rude and have no sense of service.

The TTC’s response to the picture was not surprising, they ho-hummed about it:

There could be extenuating circumstances that we’re not aware of, such as fatigue. And if he was fatigued, that’s fine. And if he was unwell, and was unable to continue work, he needs to let his supervisor know.”

Only the TTC would say that an employee being asleep because they were fatigued would be okay. I could imagine Larry’s response if he ever found me asleep at my desk. It wouldn’t be as favourable as him wondering if there were “extenuating circumstances.

Regardless of what the TTC said, I kn0w nothing will happen to the employee. Why? Because he’s part of a union; a union that had no trouble going on a wildcat strike two years ago and stranding citizens late on a Friday night. Sure enough, the president of the union responded to the storm caused by the photo,

There have been many media enquires about a picture taken at 10:00 p.m. on January 9 of a TTC Collector described as “sleeping” in the booth. The TTC is conducting an enquiry on this and until this is completed the union will have no comment on the matter except this:

Whatever the outcome of the enquiry, it is very discouraging that the picture taker and, apparently, other customers, made no attempt to determine if there was anything wrong with this TTC employee. A simple knock on the glass might have determined if the Collector was, in fact, asleep, or whether he was unconscious as a result of some medical problem. The reports that passengers were laughing at him as they passed by the booth makes this even more disturbing.

Leave it to a union to put the blame on everyone else except for the employee asleep during his shift. It was the riders coming through the subway station that night responsible for the collector being asleep. They should’ve woken up the employee in case he was ill or dead.

Bad customer service and lazy employees, they’re all symptoms of the greater malady; the TTC is a poorly run, poorly managed system and it’s evident that the incompetence runs from the top down. I sincerely hope that the municipal election this year brings about real change at City Hall.

Earlier tonight, another photo of a sleeping collector emerged. I’m guessing that more photos of such behaviour of TTC employees will come to light. These instances aren’t new, anyone who takes the TTC on a daily basis is well versed with the subpar service put on offer. What will come out of this (if anything) will be interesting. Although, I won’t hold my breath.

If nothing else, the “Sleeper” photo has led to some laughs. It’s been photoshopped and manipulated; such that the collector has been on Leno and worked next to Homer Simpson. Most of the pictures have been collected here. My favourite one, which sums it up perfectly, has got to be:

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