I don’t know about you, but I can get really bored at work. You know – it’s a slow day, no one’s around, you’re exhausted from staying up last night to watch an entire season of True Blood … Hey, don’t judge. So, maybe you whip out your smartphone and flip through Facey for a while. These things happen! But – if you’re like me and you’re an Arts graduate with a double-major in English and ‘creative flair’ – your job probably doesn’t affect many lives. I mean, when I’m handing out perfume samples at the Indooroopilly shopping centre, no one’s going to die if I sneakily play Bejewelled behind a counter.
Train drivers, on the other hand … ‘Not looking down’ is a rather vital part of their job description.
Nicole from NMNPHX (a blog I recommend checking out) brought a rather pertinent news story to my attention. A train driver in New York was recently suspended from his job for reading the newspaper at work. A passenger uploaded a video online of him reading the paper – cover to cover! – while he drives the train. In the video, filmed through the window in the driver’s door, you can see the driver occasionally glance up at the track, then go back to reading the paper in his lap. Ouch. That’s pretty irrefutable.
Oh, mister train driver. I know work can be hell. But when your job requires you to look at things in front of the train, maybe you could find an activity that doesn’t make it near-impossible to look at things in front of the train. There’s books on MP3! The radio! You could invent your own freestyle raps. Just don’t read the bloody paper.
This story has made me wonder if train drivers getting trolled by passengers is a common thing. I know I’ve uploaded a photo of a bus driver reading the paper between stops, but I wasn’t trying to get him fired. I just thought it was too amazing not to share. I’d love to know if anyone has heard of similar stories – my comment board is always open.
Kaitlyn Blythe 
That story was funny and scary at the same time. When I used to rely on local routes – which take forever to get from point A to B, I used to get annoyed when drivers would stopover in front of convenience stores and take a 5 minute break to buy a snack. What I didn’t understand then is that many drivers work long shifts and it is tiring to drive all day.
I guess I’d rather sit idle in a bus for another 5 minutes or so to let the driver rest up instead of having them do something unsafe while driving the bus like this driver did.
FoR sure! We want our drivers to feel rested and refreshed. I feel for them – there must be a certain amount of monotony in their jobs. I guess I’d be hanging out for a break, too.
I wonder if technology has over-simplified too many jobs. I’ve been thinking recently that a lot of our work industry is designed as if we were robots: clock in, do a set task for several hours, then clock out and “power down” at home. It’s no wonder people are getting bored or falling asleep at work. Humans aren’t designed to work that way.
Reblogged this on NMNPHX and commented:
Hey everyone! Kaitlyn over at Transports of Delight posted some interesting commentary on a news story I had sent her recently where a train driver in New York was caught reading a newspaper…while driving the train. Check out her post and leave a few comments on her blog if you’ve ever observed something similar. Happy Monday!
This happens in Toronto almost every week, and the Transit Authority is asking that people stop doing it because it shows them in a poor light. Yeah, and police and ambulance flashers are a poor light too. Put down the paper/cellphone/Ipad/makeup case, and actually DRIVE the damned streetcar!
Wow! That’s almost too cheeky. I guess they thought solving the problem is too hard, so they’re just asking people to ignore it. Amazing.
I agree that there are som many other activities the train driver could have used rather than read the newspaper. When you are dealt with the responsibility of taking care of hundreds of lives doing an activity that takes your eyes off the track is downright negligent. Great post! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thanks, I’m glad you liked it! 🙂