Another garbage article on the importance of business integrity. The how does not matter with this company. If it did, I wouldn't be told by my managers to lie on my work order reporting on a daily basis. In order to avoid taking hits on their ISP numbers , EVERYTHING is the customer's fault. Bad switch, CE. Unit train in the way because of no power , CE. No room to spot cars because we didn't pull their loads because of bad power , CE. Everything is the customer's fault. Recrewing trains, call a fake power move. Lies upon lies upon lies.
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We all at Sparks love Jason.
He's practically a oldhead 1998 hoghead from Bakersfield and working here in good old Sparks, running trains to Roseville and Lathrop if he can do it.
The grade territory and the power we have su-kks on these 16.000 or 19.000 ton trains, but he keeps his cool and just deals with this tarrrd run company and that's just the way it is.
Don't let the job run you.
Right, sure thing. Many folks have been let go because they were seen "sitting around" and deemed unnecessary to the company.
Old guy ain’t trying to do nothing like he is accused of. He is just playing it smart by doing what he is told…nothing more nothing less. Safety meetings and waiting for orders sometimes require a man to sit down and get his thoughts together. We have all seen frantic guys running around trying to save the railroad, but any veteran knows that it ran before them and will keep on running long after they are gone. The railroad hands you a big stick when you hire. It’s called knowing the safety rules inside and out. Use it. It takes time to work safe, and it takes time to follow proper procedures and protocol. It’s a condition of employment. Just because the boss thinks something is an emergency does not constitute one on my part. Follow orders SAFELY. Safety takes time. Proper procedure takes time. Keep up the good work Old guy.
Imparting railroad wisdom, huh? I think he's setting a bad example for would-be new hires thinking they'll get a job at the railroad and be able to do NOTHING and collect a paycheck. There was also mention of you working the job and not letting the job work you. Do you even work for the railroad? Have you seen the poor management the UP has? The other person was right about the UP continuing to be the worst employer in America. It's kind of hard to work the job when you have executives and management changing the rules constantly to a point where many of us don't even know what the job is anymore, and be fired for not following the rules they changed to satisfy their headcount reduction quota they say they don't have. So please explain how to work a job that's had a massive amount of confusion and stress added to it when it already had too much to begin with. Add that to the constant feeling that your job will be eliminated for poor performance due to the desire of just sitting around as the old guy said. He may be truthful in his post, or he may just be trolling the site. Old timer railroader wisdom DOES NOT APPLY to today's railroads. Any intelligent railroader would know that. Wisdom only gets you so far before ignorance takes over and shuts you down completely.
No……Old Guy is actually imparting seasoned railroad wisdom to you, but you can’t see it. He has it figured out perfectly. This is the crux of the matter : You must learn how to work the job on the railroad…..Never let the job work you. It’s as simple as that. Work the job. Never let the job work you.
I love the job and get paid doing it. Get paid to sit on my butt and listen to morning call, get paid to travel, get paid to get free education, get paid to sit and wait for trains, and get paid to do go to safety meetings so I can go home and read posts on here.
I've been bumped and bumped and furloughed on my job, but I could have quit and gone somewhere else but I have the freedom to do as I choose. It's a free country, and the job you do now is the job that might be gone next year, but you have free education and you can leave or stay.
Moving su-ks when you're not willing to move but there are harder jobs with less pay and other people willing to take your place. Right now I'm willing to see how the merger will affect our jobs, so I GET PAID to get ready for change.
I just go ahead and do what I'm told.
Only have 6 years left and expect to get my 30 years in here at Sparks.
Happy Labor Day.
Jason Cogdal#1 hoghead at Sparks
@11g Be careful with the “Just do as you’re told” attitude. If you do what you’re told and something goes wrong, management will not back you up. They will deny that they instructed you to do the task to throw you under the bus. Remember a few years back there was the “If you see something, say something” campaign? It was not there for honesty or doing the right thing, it was an out for management to say “You shouldn’t have done what we told you to do, now you’re liable”.
As much as agree with some of that, my personal safety and the future of my family is just way more important to me than to just "do as your told". I'd rather sacrifice my job than my life or the life of my co-workers just because I was following orders. The UP can take their management and their BS business ideas and stick them clear up Venas a$$!
just do as your told, doesnt matter if its right or if its wrong just do as your told. Doesnt matter if its positive and productive or negative and wasteful, just do as your told. And when your country, your state, your city or town, company, your house and your family is dysfunctional and not right, what are you gonna say then? Look up the nuremberg trials sometime, all those people said the same thing, “I was just following orders”
I love my job as a Locomotive Engineer here at UP and just do what I am told.
Jason Codgal
#1 Engineer
Sparks, Nev
The arrogant ones on here are usually the sad managers trying to stir the pot.
And we do UP loyalists assss lickers on here!!
@mk Ok first things first. Why come on here and call people illiterate, uneducated, crybaby rejects? You don't know the kevel of education the rest of us have. No this isn't a post claiming your a company man, because I don't care what you are. Your post tells me and probably the rest us all we need to know about you. So you're educated right? Ok if that's the case, then can you tell the rest of us what a pre Madonna is? The last time I checked, Madonna was a female singer with a strange personality. The prefix of "pre" means before. So what came before Madonna? A truly educated person would've spelled it as "prima Donna". You can fight amongst yourself over that correction. Also you came on here complaining about others complaining. Do you know what the definition of a hypocrite is? I would hope you do since your educated. You probably should look that up by way just in case your "education" didn't cover that. Did someone force you on here to read the comments? I kind of doubt that very much. No one forced you on here to read the comments. I do appreciate you giving the rest of us brief backstory of your family history that no one asked for and is entirely irrelevant. Your right, PSR is not new. The unnecessary mass layoffs were. Many objectives of PSR are new. I'd suggest you "educate" yourself a lot more about PSR and the effects it's had on the industry. Better yet, go watch the hearings the UP was involved in because of PSR. You just might learn a little bit more and become even more educated. Probably the most important point here is our nation's history. We're you educated in that at all? Do you know what the bill of rights are? The bill of rights highlights our nation's first ten constitutional amendments. The first amendment is centered around the freedom of speech. I have the right to come on here and say whatever I want, as does everyone else. You have that same right as well. What you don't have the right to do is claim superiority over anyone because your "educated". You have no idea what anyone else's education level is. You certainly don't have the right to call people names that are derogatory in nature. A truly educated and well-mannered person would've known that. If you don't like what's being posted here, then YOU can change that by not coming on here and reading the comments. The rest of us may be uneducated and illiterate, but you haven't shown anyone on here that you are truly educated.
@mk
Ok, company su-k-azz!!
SMH.
Soo many cry babies on here. All I here from everyone is UPis a bad place to work, you need to quit, management has no idea what they are doing or management will run the railroad in the ground. I have news for you pre Madonna rejects. UPRR has been around since 1862, whatever you want to call it PSR IS NOT NEW. If any of you illiterate individuals could read and educate yourselves, this is the Railroad industry. It has ran this way since it was created. I've heard it all, my union isn't working for me. Sorry to burst your bubble, you are the Union. If you don't agree with how things are being done then change it. The sad part is the same illiterate uneducated individuals are the same ones who say they know what's best and how to run a railroad, im sorry to tell you. YOU DON'T. If you did, then you'd be in management, but as usual none of you are, but know more than they do. Let me guess, someone will message me back telling me I'm a company man or whatever your uneducated and illiterate comments will be. I started on the railroad because this is what I wanted to do, I worked on trucks for 10 years to gain the experience on engines to work here. I followed my father's footsteps, not because I had to but because I wanted to. I've read books on the history of the railroad industry and its always the same thing. I educated myself in what this industry is and the life that you end up having. The difference between YOU ALL and I, is that I knew what and how the railroad is and operates as. The only other difference there is, I Am NOT AFRAID to write up FRA Defects and record them in my book. I do my JOB no matter what. Alot of you can talk a big game, but when it comes down to it. You just want to do as little as possible and that is it. So to all of you, if you don't like this job go elsewhere. I promise you though, you might find something better or you might not, but the TRUTH is no matter where you all work, YOU WILL NEVER BE HAPPY AND WILL ALWAYS FIND FAULTS WITH HOW ANOTHER COMPANY WORKS AND WILL ALWAYS THINK YOU KNOW BETTER.
I love getting patch jobs and power moves. Short and fast. There and back tie up and get out of there!!
Go home!
I'm hearing UP is negotiating with Shell oil to bring back 78 car 2 sets of tank cars to run from Central Coast of California down to Los Angeles-Long Beach again. 2 or 3 days of work isn't bad. It's just coming to work and being in the cab smelling your Engrs. Gassers.
UP only expects the workers to have integrity and be ethical, the uppers don't have to be, they are not your friends, buddies, and they will toss you under the bus in a heart beat. Lie, cheat, fabricate numbers to make themselves look good. Toxic he-l hole.
UP posting stories telling others to be ethical.. Is one of my favorite things
@an You are absolutely correct. PSR has been going on for about 6 years now. It’s been long enough. Not trying to sound disrespectful, but at this point there’s not much sympathy left for the ones still here. Get another job, and QUIT! I did, and I am seriously so much happier. It doesn’t matter how old or how many years you have. I too, had my fears about quitting until I was forced to, but in the long run it has been better for me than it was at UP.
You complain so much they you should quit. Probably the most miserable person to work with. You need to learn not to care about where you work, they don’t care about you, the union especially doesn’t care about you. The only time you hear from a union is when they are blowing smoke, you pay them, they negotiate cr-p contracts, they eat better than company people, you guys still get laid off no matter how much seniority.