Sunday, December 20, 2009

A FRUSTRATING EXPERIENCE WITH METRO - AGAIN


(Tom writing): Perhaps one day, The Washington, D.C. METRO will get it.
Here's yet another example of the wonderful customer service experience that one can expect from our local transit authority: A friend of our is staying with us while he transitions to living here. Tomorrow will be his first day at work and he will need to ride the Metro. I had an extra SmarTrip card, from a painful learning experience I received from leaving my customary card at home one morning. I gave the card to our friend and thought we would take him to the New Carrollton station this afternoon to show him how to use the farecard machines.
We arrived at 3:30 PM only to find the gates closed, but not chained and locked. Apparently the system had shut down early due to the weather. Through the gates, we witnessed three individuals (Metro employees) standing inside the station manager's booth. I yelled through the gate to see if one of them would let us in to use the farecard machines which were located just inside the closed gates. The three of the men in the booth just pointed at us and laughed.
Another man came out of an adjoining room and crossed the station to the booth to join the other men. I yelled to him to see if he would let us in. He went to the booth and poked his head around and said, "No." I asked what harm it would be to let us use the machines. Another man got out of the booth and yelled, "We're closed. Step away from the gate." The now four men retreated inside the booth and continued to laugh at us as we departed.
If general manager Catoe were really serious about cleaning up the image of Metro, he would do well to start with dealing with the poor customer service. And, he could start with firing these four individuals. Absolutely abhorrant behavior and terrible way to treat customers. But then again, Metro never learns, which is why it's in the mess it's in today: poor hiring decisions.
FOR OTHER PEOPLE'S EXPERIENCES WITH THE METRO CHECK THIS BLOG: http://hotcupofpork.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/orange-line-train-next-stop-misery-doors-open-left-side/

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Who I am

I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob

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