After a brief one-week honeymoon period during which you might anticipate enjoying the job, poor management, dreadful working conditions, and dubious supervisors swiftly alter that perception. If you consider yourself a people person, relishing interactions with customers and forming connections with regulars, supervisors and management abruptly squash that enthusiasm. They clandestinely position themselves near your station preferably behind a wall monitoring your actions for a mere minute, and then issue reprimands for perceived lapses in customer engagement and greeting.
To exacerbate morale, a stringent set of rules forbids leaning, sitting, drinking, seeking shelter, or eating during the 8-10 hour shifts excluding fragmented breaks totaling 1 hour. The second-class treatment extends beyond working hours, where even during breaks, access to the booth is denied, forcing one to perch on the sidewalk or find refuge inside a local business if fortunate enough to be stationed nearby one that’s willing to extend their hospitality.
In extreme weather conditions where hypothermia is a risk, management's response is limited, permitting only a brief standing break in the booth if temperatures fall below 20°F or rise above 90°F. Despite the responsibility to dress appropriately, adherence to a strict uniform policy limits how prepared you can realistically for extreme temperatures. Prepare for seemingly arbitrary relocations such as to street corners during diversions customer contact is non existent and you are often without nearby restroom facilities or shelter. Encountering threats or harassment from the public while on duty elicits little sympathy, with the expectation to promptly resume work, as transit police response time offers little solace.
The scope of this job entails the expectation of of proximity or victimization of violence, self-preservation becoming a paramount concern. Management as they surprisingly admit is well aware of the toxic work environment, but promptly deflects blame, asserting contractual obligations from the client to abuse workers all while prioritizing personal gain from contract surplus. BBB station equipment languish in disrepair, and the benefits package amounts to a Chick-fil-A gift card and if your lucky a packet of hand warmers. Without the establishment of a union, the company's trajectory aims at further deterioration, inevitably leading to an escalating turnover rate.
