Remember when the crew caller actually knew where you lived and who you were? If things got strapped, they knew who would go, who was qualified, and who not to even bother with a call.
The caller worked under the supervision of the Superintendent.
I remember when a superintendent called me and ask me to take a train they couldn't get anyone else to take. I didn't stand for that job or even that pool. He called me because he knew I wouldn't refuse him.
Below, two of the letters refer to problems with our Crew Management System. Please don't misunderstand: The individual callers are not the problem. Callers have our sympathy. They have the same personal necessities the rest of us have. They have to eat, drink and use the restroom.
They should be entitled to a coffeebreak, too. Callers have told me, "Most of the time, I take my lunch home without touching it."
They need a telephone system that doesn't "time out" and hang up on their internal customers -- TE&Y personnel. It is as irritating as waiting in a long line at a supermarket check out and having them close it down just as you get to the head of the line.
More Callers is the solution. -- Editor
Recently I had a little incident with Crew Management Center that I want to share with you. I know that each and everyone of us has had some kind of difficulty trying to reach our callers.
One day back in the middle of February I went to the emergency room at the hospital with chest pains. After about two hour, they got hold of my family physician who told them to get a sonogram of my gall bladder. However, the nurse had given me a glass of juice to drink, which messed up the sonogram.
When I got back to the emergency room, I was still having pains in my chest, and my doctor told them to put me in ICU.
When I arrived in ICU it took me until nearly 7:00 p.m. to convince them I needed to call the railroad and mark off. I was told, "They didn't allow phones in the ICU rooms."
I told them how important it was for me to call the railroad and they finally decided to let me have a phone hooked up in my room. At around 7:10 p.m., they brought it to me and I placed a call CMS to mark off sick.
I punched in the number for CMS, then punched in my Social Security Number, then punched "1" (for the caller option.) As usual, I was on "Hold" for about 20 minutes and no one answered. Great! There I am laying in ICU with an IV with two heart medicines going in me, heart monitors all attached to my chest, an oxygen tube shoved up my nose and a pulse monitor on my finger and CMS has me stuck in "Hold Hell."
I decided to hang up and try again. This time I pushed "2" (which is the pager line) instead of the usual "1" (for the Caller.) After about three minutes the caller answered and I told her who I was, and that I needed to mark off sick. She told me she couldn't do it because this was the pager line.
I told her, it was an emergency. I was in ICU at the hospital and had been on "hold" for about 20 minutes on the other line. I needed to mark off "sick." She said she didn't care, and I was not to use the pager line to mark off. So I asked to speak to her supervisor, and guess what? I thought it was going to ring forever, and finally decided to hang up.
The physician and the and nurse were on one side of my bed and my wife was on the other side. They couldn't believe the difficulty I was having. The nurse even volunteered to call and talk to them but after calming down I decided to try it again myself.
Again I called. They answered within a couple of minutes this time. I told her who I was, and that I was unable get hold of her supervisor, and I need to mark off "sick."
She told me not to use line 2 again to mark off and I said "OK", but I still needed to mark off "sick." That was when and she told me she couldn't mark me off until we had a conference call with management at Fort Worth.
Here we go, and I am on "Hold" again, when she got back with me she said Fort Worth wasn't answering, but she would go ahead and mark me off sick.
The next morning I had another sonogram of my gall bladder and sure enough I have gall stones and the pain was from passing a gall stone.
I am just thankful it wasn't my heart after all.
Steven C. Cowgell
scow@flash.net
Steve is a Fort Worth Switchman Conductor and was recovering from surgery as this is was written.
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My wife checked the AVR at 1540 hrs and told me I was still marked up "OK." I then called the Command Center (at 1827 hrs) and talked to Mark Fleener. I told him the story and he called a (CMS) manager in Omaha.
I explained the problem to them both, and indicated that both time and trouble would be saved if the callers were available.
I stressed strongly that the present situation was causing a great deal of consternation in this service unit.
Jess Dye
Trainman
Email: jdye@flash.net
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I really enjoyed the E-mail Addresses of all the employees that are on line. Could you add me to the list? I would sure appreaciate it. If there's anything I can do for you or anyone else from the east side of Texas, or Southern half of Arkansas send me an E-mail, and I will see what I can do.
Have a safe and productive year.
Terry Hogue, MSM Longview
E-mail: Thogue@texramp.net
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