Earl Wrote:
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> Only a fool would stay in a job he hates so much.
> If you are that unhappy, quit and go someplace
> else and get a GOOD job.

I've been waiting for someone to post something like that! Never fails. Here's my typical response that I used to post on Trainorders.

I don't think you'll find very many railroad employees who truly hate their job, but the job is what you make of it. It also depends a lot on where you work, what other job possibilities you have and the cost of living in your area compared to what you'd earn doing some other type of work. For example, it's a whole different world in North Platte or Green River than in Los Angeles or Roseville. That being the case, many railroad employees who would probably prefer another line of work will stick it out with the railroad not so much because they love it, but because they have no viable alternatives.

Take me, for example. I'm not really a rail buff, but I have a passing interest in transportation history (probably stemming from my family's background in the steamboat business). I've been doing this for 39 years now, not because I love it but because I find it relatively easy to do. I've never been one of those "Turn and Burn" big-money-at-all-cost kind of guys, chosing instead lesser pay in return for semi-regular hours that allow me to pursue my outside interests and have a quasi-normal family life. The railroad is truly an equal-opportunity employer; all you need is a high school diploma (although you might be surprised at how many of us have multiple secondary degrees) and can pass muster . . . or fool 'em into thinking you can. So that's why I'm still here. Honestly, the best job I ever had was when I worked at a Baskin-Robbins back in school. Worked my way up to Night Manager making a whopping (for 1970) $1.70 an hour. But as much as I liked B&R (they let ya eat as much as ya wanted), the railroad offered a better option.

Rail buffs often have an unrealistic view of what it's like to actually work for the railroad. That's OK, because I probably have no clue about what it's like to work at whatever job they do. That being the case, it's often hard for them to understand that things aren't exactly as they've seen in Trains magazine. The "reality" is even more apparent to those of us who've been here for a long, long time. A lot of what Union Pacific does has people like me scrathing our heads. We know that UP would be a much more efficient railroad - which translates into a better bottom line - if things were done differently. We've been there, done that. But because of UP's standing in the overall transportation Big Picture, the money keeps rolling in. If what many analysts predict about the future of Powder River coal comes true in the next 20 or 30 years, UP'll be in a world of hurt. That's OK; I'll be long gone by then.