Kinda-dumb confessions thread

[Shazam]

Inflation is a bitch. $85K is... okay. For the work it's barely worth it.

Hey just for comparison there's a job for an admin assistant that my wife applied for (she wants to change careers) and it pays $70K.

[speede5]

I have several friends who work at CP and it is a pretty toxic enviornment. The hours suck and the whole system for booking on and off is brutal. I too thought it has to be simple as trains are running on a clock but it's crazy hard to manage the people. You basically have a window where you will get called in to drive a train, then you have to account for crew rest, duty time, a slight delay can push you out of your window. Someone calls in sick and the whole list gets bumped. The money is the only thing keeping most people there, it's easy to make $140k on a high school education. From what I see the management all comes up from the floor though and they don't do a good job of educating people management so it really seems like the only way to get people to move is to yell louder.

They also have a terrible attitude towards safety management. Every incident is blame and fire, rather than investigate and prevent. They could take a page from flight safety and really change the culture for the better.

[bigrangy]

I feel like there's probably quite a few more than 14 train engineers in Canada

[Doctorfever]

I’ve come here to confess, I was the second gunman on the grassy knoll.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Locke

Well...I do the taxes for a lot of CP Rail Engineers and have for a couple of decades now, what their job entails precisely, I couldnt really say, but it is a very specialized career and tends to require a lot of days away from home and they tend to get hurt rather frequently.

The pay is pretty good too.

Who would have thought setting up shop right outside the CPKC Headquarters would lead to lots of their employees coming to you!

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by speede5

I have several friends who work at CP and it is a pretty toxic enviornment. The hours suck and the whole system for booking on and off is brutal. I too thought it has to be simple as trains are running on a clock but it's crazy hard to manage the people. You basically have a window where you will get called in to drive a train, then you have to account for crew rest, duty time, a slight delay can push you out of your window. Someone calls in sick and the whole list gets bumped. The money is the only thing keeping most people there, it's easy to make $140k on a high school education. From what I see the management all comes up from the floor though and they don't do a good job of educating people management so it really seems like the only way to get people to move is to yell louder.

They also have a terrible attitude towards safety management. Every incident is blame and fire, rather than investigate and prevent. They could take a page from flight safety and really change the culture for the better.

My buddy said hunter harrison was if Hitler and Satan combined and would kill him 100% if he knew he could get away with it.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Sliver

a 5.11 Rush 24.

I confess that's a silly looking wannabe Military looking backpack

[TheIronMaiden]

My Friend has that backpack, we always call it Tacticool.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Locke

They do work irregular hours but I'm not certain they're 'always on call.' There are 'on call' shifts and my understanding is...again, people get sick or hurt so need to be replaced from time to time.

And...at least for the Old Timers? That pension is amazeballs.

Its an old school way of life. I deal with a lot of the old CPers.

Aren't all of us here old CPers making North of $100k?

[CMPunk]

Originally Posted by D as in David

Aren't all of us here old CPers making North of $100k?

Negative

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by D as in David

Aren't all of us here old CPers making North of $100k?

only $100......

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Why the hell would they be constantly on call lol? That makes no sense.

You’d have to ask the rail companies why they don’t hire enough people to allow for a better quality of life for their employees.

750 meter trains don't just appear. It takes all kinds of planning to assemble a train and fill everything up and schedule its route, I'm sure. They don't just spring it on the "engineer" the morning of.

Well you’re absolutely wrong about that.

Basically the job is 'slow down for the corners'. I think I can handle it.

I’m enjoying this quite a bit because I know it’s your thing, but man you’re really barking up the wrong tree on this one. How do you think you’d do with their zero tolerance cannabis policies?

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Shazam

"North" of $100K, what is that? Is that like $120K? Is that supposed to be a lot of money?

Is it safe to assume that right now you’re banging on your MLA’s door demanding they raise the minimum wage?

Originally Posted by Shazam

Inflation is a bitch. $85K is... okay. For the work it's barely worth it.

Hey just for comparison there's a job for an admin assistant that my wife applied for (she wants to change careers) and it pays $70K.

Apples, meet oranges.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Who would have thought setting up shop right outside the CPKC Headquarters would lead to lots of their employees coming to you!

Ha! Yes, there is that. But also, way back in the day a lot of Railroaders moved into the Ogden area and just never left when they retired, so there is that as well.

I see lots of them in the local pub too.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by fotze2

I’ve just heard CP rail is an evil corporation to work for. Ruthless. They saw CNRL and said hold my beer.

This I can confirm, especially the Hunter Harrison years, from which there is still fallout.

Every single person I deal with largely says the same thing: "Awful place to work, as soon as I qualify for my full pension I'm a fart in the wind."

[Johnny Makarov]

SAIT offers the Railway Conductor program and I toured our training facilities about a month ago. It's super neat but our campus is like at the other end of the city.

[nfotiu]

From Webster's

Engineer
en·​gi·​neer

1
: a member of a military group devoted to engineering work
2
obsolete : a crafty schemer : plotter
3
a
: a designer or builder of engines
b
: a person who is trained in or follows as a profession a branch of engineering
c
: a person who carries through an enterprise by skillful or artful contrivance
4
: a person who runs or supervises an engine or an apparatus



#4 fits for the train drivers.

[Delthefunky]

I'm a locomotive "engineer", and I pretty much agree with the engineer title being unnecessary. I think it stems from the old days when there was a giant boiler and furnace attached. Back then would have required a good amount of knowledge about pressures and volumes etc -- maybe like a modern power engineer would learn to operate boilers.

As for education required, you don't need anything more than a high school diploma. My terminal hasn't stopped hiring for 10 years, and they have job fairs where they hire people off the street every few months. The Sait/Nait courses are a complete waste of time and money, as they put everyone through a 3 month conductor training course of their own. Surprisingly there is a lot to learn about how railways operate, and there's way more to it than I ever expected before I started working there. There's lots of rules that you question why they exist, and then you experience accidents where someone didn't follow the rules, and you understand why.

For driving a train, you could definitely learn what the important controls do in 5 minutes. But you won't have much success getting anywhere safely. The engineer training program is about 6 months long, and has some moderately challenging concepts to learn. You have to have been a conductor for at least 2 years.

Starting pay for a conductor is likely around $80-$100k depending on where you hire on. But I know plenty of conductors who make $130k. Engineers make $130-$160k.

After 7 years, out of 20 people I hired on with there's only myself and one other person. Everyone else has quit, and it's because of the hours, lifestyle, and the way the company treats everyone. So it's not a hard job in a physical way, but it's not for everyone though.

For the most part I really like it though, I get to see the best scenery and animals, I basically get every other day off, and I probably have as good job security as anywhere.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Delthefunky

I'm a locomotive "engineer", and I pretty much agree with the engineer title being unnecessary.

Reminds me of the old George Carlin airline skit.

"Who made this clown a 'Captain?' Air Marshall Carlin says he's a Pilot and should be happy with that!!"

[CroFlames]

Isn't Power Engineer a fancy title for a plumber?