T H E 6 T H F L O O R

Life in 6 Land

Category Archives: Office Space

Access Denied

It’s quite interesting to note that I am no longer allowed access to www.abovetopsecret.com because the content is categorized as, “Alternative Spirituality/Belief;Newsgroups/Forums.” ATS members exchange and debate their Above top Secret approved ideas and theories on a variety of “alternative topics”, including UFOs and extraterrestrial life, political scandals, New World Order, the 2012 phenomenon, cryptozoology, and secret societies. (source). So the content is already considered by some “questionable material.”

At my previous employer it seemed to be a weekly occurrence that a favored web site of mine would suddenly end up on the ‘Access Denied’ list. While I have no idea who maintained this filter, it became rather frustrating. Many times I would frequent forum based web sites, for example QRZ.com and MercuryCougar.net. Both of these sites I use specifically for the forums. Oddly enough neither ever made the list. But the forums for the game I helped develop was put on the list. To this day I have no reason why. Could it be because the word, ‘terror’ was in the domain name?

I am sure my time perusing the web site, Godlike Productions while at work is limited and will most likely end up on the “Access Denied’ list in the coming month(s). Why? The content is similar to that of ATS and presented in a forum and probably more loose in terms of moderation. Yet as of this posting, I still have complete access to it.

While not too surprising I can access ATS via the IP address (67.228.0.162), although I am sure this too is against policy and it would probably be advisable if I didn’t. Too bad to see more and more of my frequently visited sites being on the ‘Access Denied’ list. Guess that is why it’s called work.

Tsunami. Derail. Power Issues. Oh My!

In the years leading up to my employment by BART, here in the bay area I can only remember a single event that delayed an extensive period of time. I had just got off work at SFO airport and was on the train headed to Bay Point about 6am in the morning. To be honest, I am not even sure what caused the problem (I believe I recall it was a software issue, but I can’t be sure). I remember having the train sit at the platform at Daly City until service was restarted.

Now being employed by BART, I see delays from the “other side of the tracks” so to speak. For the most part service is very good (in terms of on-time) through out the bay area. Of course you read some of the unofficial BART web sites and you would think the employees are overpaid, the system is archaic and unreliable and the trains themselves are never long enough, run on a poor schedule and always dirty for the amount of money people pay for a BART ticket.

The past two days have been a real challenge, not only for commuters today and people wanting to off board or catch a train between Pleasant Hill and Pittsburg/Bay Point. Yesterday a train derailed departing Concord Station. This incident caused delays and no one was injury. The trackway was shut down and train service was terminated at Pleasant Hill (Check out the images on Claycord.com!).

I do believe maintenance crews are to commended for all of their work through the evening and in to the early morning to get the trains usable for morning operations. While the derailment did cause delays and inconvenience patrons between Pleasant Hill and Bay Point, it paled in comparison to the power issues experienced downtown San Francisco this morning.Delays were rather extensive, “when an insulator protecting the third rail between the Montgomery and Embarcadero stations in San Francisco failed at 5 a.m., forcing BART to single-track trains through the transbay tube,” spokesman Linton Johnson said. The track was put back in service by 6:30am, but”police activity at the West Oakland station” compounded the delays further. This made for a very long morning commute, not only for patrons, but for employees.

Thankfully I work with some amazing people in my department and while it would seem like chaos to the casual observer there is actually some method to the madness in order to get trains where they need to go and establish some sort of service in order to get patrons to their intended destinations. It was about 10:30 or so when things finally settled down and the system back on time and trains were running to schedule.

These days are few and far between, but couple this with the “tsunami watch” we were on Friday and the events the past couple of days, I can understand why some patrons could be frustrated. Personally, many riders don’t know the full story and will only know what they read in the media. BART continues to maintain a high standard of safety and rules on-time over 93% of the time every month.

Where’s the Salaries?

Prior to logging into my Yahoo mail account I saw one of their news pieces titled, Which Jobs Pay New Hires Best? I was quite surprised to see the results and the jobs which pay the best to start. I was quite surprised to find my starting salary would be considered excellent when put up against this list. While I may never top out at $166,000/year I am still in a very good job that has excellent pay and wonderful benefits.

I loved my previous job at the airlines, in the operations environment. Unfortunately with the airlines in their current state and prior to 9-11, United was already in a tailspin and headed toward bankruptcy. Things at the airline have not improved, I would hesitate to say they have only gotten worse. The few individuals I still keep in touch with have only been given more responsibilities, received very little in terms of a raise (this after a nearly 35% pay cut from 2001-2005) but are expected to run an operation that continues to operate in the red.

Thankfully I got very lucky hiring on a train controller in the Bay Area. While I am not a fan of Northern California, as the price of the area is just asinine, I must ride out my time here before I retire. Okay, so that is not for another 20-25 years. I know I am secure and will be able to provide for my family.

Negotiations: My Impressions

*sigh* I remember the previous BART strike. Did I already talk about this? It was 4 years ago, I was working for United at SFO. I recall wondering how I was going to get to work, as I had been riding to and from the airport predominately since the 1:45 drive got long and tiring. Fast forward 4 years and I find myself no longer a paying patron, but a BART employee. So what does this have to do with anything?

First, I was never upset at BART employees. I was more upset with management and the fact they seemed to raise ticket prices on a yearly basis. It was no different than the bridge tolls going up a dollar every year since I lived in the bay area.

With contract negotiations going on this year, I have started reading some of the unofficial BART web sites on the Internet in order to get some reactions, comments and thoughts regarding the situation. Let me say, I am rather astonished at some of the attitudes on both sides. Being a patron for about 3 years I wanted the most economical, reliable transportation to and from work. BART was really the only option for me. Since then the economy has tanked. House prices has tanked. Jobless claims seem to climb on a weekly basis. Overall everything is down, yet my move from United to BART, everything was up.

I came out of a very bad situation at United Airlines, which culminated with 9-11. Things at United were bad years prior to that fateful day. After that day there were furloughs, retirements and an overall reorganization of the airline. Pay and benefits were cut as well, not to mention the company stock taking a huge fall. Over the course of 3 years I lost nearly 35% of my total pay.

It was not until my son was born in 2005 I realized I could no longer make a career, like my father did for 35 years, at United Airlines. I wanted to. I loved airplanes. I loved the job. But I hated the direction the company and it’s once proud principals were heading. I decided I needed a change. The opportunity to make that change came and I seized the day, so to speak.

On the day I was offered the job I immediately received a 30% pay raise for accepting the job. Based on the information provided from the Contra Costa Times and their nicely indexed salaries of all BART employees, my pay has increased another 31% since being hired. Nearly a 61% raise since making a decision to find a better job, with better working conditions and a future to look forward to.

I can understand and relate to the negative comments from many outsiders, looking in at BART. I understand the frustration and resentment of many patrons who are not happy with dirty trains, rules and regulations that are not enforced, high ticket prices and some front line employees who seem to come off with an “I don’t care” type of attitude. Unfortunately, everyone at BART suffers because first impressions do go a long way.

This is my first contract experience at BART. I can say I am comfortable with my yearly salary and benefits, based on where I came from, not the past practice at BART since I don’t know much prior to being hired. I hear employees from a few different unions voicing their displeasure with what management is trying to do or has (or hasn’t) been doing leading up to the July 1 deadline. Now we are 10 days past and still in negotiations.

Hopefully whatever transpires benefits all parties involved from employees to management to those patrons who pay their fares to ride daily. As optimistic as I would like to be, negotiations always seem to be ugly and someone always feels they get screwed. Hopefully it is not the patrons who feel screwed in the end.

My 3% (as opposed to $.02 cents)

I recall a former train controller trainee, when asked how he heard about the job, he Googled $100,000 BART jobs and was surprised to find an Excel file that held his answer. Being inside the proverbial “glass house” and looking out I think I am paid very well for what I do on a daily basis. Looking at this realistically coming from an airline that has been sliding downhill since 1999 (or a few years prior) I felt very fortunate to be hired. My pay had been reduced nearly 35% over the course of 4 years at United, in addition to furloughs and changes and more job responsibilities.

The hiring process at BART was long and the training even longer and more stressful than I ever imagined. I believe I earned every penny I was offered. Still do in fact. Now that the media has made all 3,200 BART employee salaries available via an organized database that can search by last name, department or job title. Amazingly enough each work has their pay broken down based on gross, net, overtime and other pay. Wow! Who would think the entire world could know how much I make. Again though, I stand by my previous comment, I believe I am worth every penny I make.

While the job I do is not for everyone, there is a very high (70%) failure rate for candidates who just cannot make the grade and end up failing out of training. Again, I should know because at a few points during training I could have been a statistic. Thankfully after countless discussions with managers and trainers I was able to refocus and adequately demonstrate my learned abilities to be certified. This was not a simple process. I don’t ever recall having such a difficult time during training, this training was different.

I won’t comment on the unions and their proposal for a 3% raise. Would it be nice? Sure, it would. Can I live without it, yup. I am more worried about medical benefits and retirement more so than giving concessions for a 3% raise of a proposed 2 year period. We all know the economy will turn around and the current situation will get better for everyone. Hopefully I don’t find myself walking a line with a sign in my hands because that is the last place I expect to be. I would much rather be at work, helping patrons get to work by keeping all the trains moving.