Dana Goldberg of East Lakeview wrote to the CTA about poor customer service and e-mailed the letter to "Going Public." Information about specific CTA employees has been redacted. Her letter continues after the jump.
"I am writing to express my disappointment with the way one of your CTA employees, a supervisor, no less, spoke to me on Thursday night, Oct. 29, 2009, at approximately 7:57p.m., at the Howard 'L' platform.
I have been a CTA rider since I moved to Chicago in May 2004 and I use the CTA as a regular commuter to my job at Evanston Hospital since February 2007.
I left work, took the Purple Line, and came into the Howard station and noticed a train left. I found two CTA employees and asked one of them, 'Was that a Red Line that just left?' He looked at me and said, 'I don't know, baby, I just got out here' and continued to walk away from me and speak with his coworker. ...
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CTA rider: Worker called me 'baby'
He, of course, didn't think that his use of the term 'baby' is offensive,
and he, of course, had no care in finding the answer to my question. Supervisor/CTA employee [redacted] was too busy speaking to his coworker.
(I later found out his badge number.) It was obvious through their body
language that they weren't talking CTA business.
[Redacted] and his coworker continued to walk away not hearing me tell him to not call me 'baby.' I left the platform and went upstairs looking for any other CTA employee I could find, and I found an employee using his cell phone.
There was no other employee I could ask. I then interrupted the cell-phone-using employee and asked him for help on getting [redacted's] badge number. By this time, [redacted] had returned to where I was standing and I asked him for his badge number.
He replied with a smirky tone and shoved his finger up to his hat where his badge number was written and said, 'Sure, you can have my number, [it's] [redacted].'
Not only is this interaction shocking and disappointing, but how am I to report this employee if I cannot see his badge number? How am I to ask for help? How can I tell he actually works for the CTA since he doesn't look like every other CTA operator/employee?
What if I wanted to commend him? His sweater had no badge number. The only location was on his hat. This defeats the purpose of transparency.
If I would like to report something that has happened, I don't want to have to ask for this man's badge number, I want to see it on his sleeve, like every other CTA employee. And I definitely don't want to miss my train seeking out employee information.
I hope you will speak to [redacted] and explain to him the frustrations I've expressed. I wouldn't want any other patron to go through this nor would I want any other CTA employee to have to deal with this situation in the future."
[Redacted] and his coworker continued to walk away not hearing me tell him to not call me 'baby.' I left the platform and went upstairs looking for any other CTA employee I could find, and I found an employee using his cell phone.
There was no other employee I could ask. I then interrupted the cell-phone-using employee and asked him for help on getting [redacted's] badge number. By this time, [redacted] had returned to where I was standing and I asked him for his badge number.
He replied with a smirky tone and shoved his finger up to his hat where his badge number was written and said, 'Sure, you can have my number, [it's] [redacted].'
Not only is this interaction shocking and disappointing, but how am I to report this employee if I cannot see his badge number? How am I to ask for help? How can I tell he actually works for the CTA since he doesn't look like every other CTA operator/employee?
What if I wanted to commend him? His sweater had no badge number. The only location was on his hat. This defeats the purpose of transparency.
If I would like to report something that has happened, I don't want to have to ask for this man's badge number, I want to see it on his sleeve, like every other CTA employee. And I definitely don't want to miss my train seeking out employee information.
I hope you will speak to [redacted] and explain to him the frustrations I've expressed. I wouldn't want any other patron to go through this nor would I want any other CTA employee to have to deal with this situation in the future."
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4 Comments
dude said:
All this fuss over a baby comment seems childlike, so maybe baby fits.
anon7700 said:
Ever been called Baby by a man speaking in a demeaning tone? If not, "dude", don't knock it.
fmja said:
The CTA customer is absolutely right: It is totally inappropriate to address any customer in that way. I hope the CTA public relations department offers her some sort of significant compensation (Perhaps a year of free train rides?).
Sonya said:
(Cue violins)
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