Author Unknown, Found on Trainorders.com, Originated on Facebook; May 1, 2018
I Am a Ticket Agent
I am the first face of Amtrak, a friendly smile and greeting when you come in the door.
I am the person that makes sure you have a proper E ticket, and checks your bag.
I am the person who makes sure you have an ID tag on your bag.
I am a ticket agent.
I am the person who reassures the first time traveler, almost an everyday occurance.
I am the person who hands out children activity books and engineer hats.
I am the person who warns parents about the loud engine & horn that sometimes scares babies.
I am a ticket agent.
I am the person who cleans the toilets, empties the trash/recycling, mops the floors, & changes lightbulbs.
I am the person who stocks the paper towels, toilet paper, soap, & tissues.
I am the person who washes the windows and shovels & salts the sidewalk & platform.
I am a ticket agent.
I am the person who sells a walk up passenger a ticket for cash, and sometimes a combination of cash & credit.
I am the person who checks for a best buy price reduction, and refunding tickets.
I am the person who suggests upgrading to a sleeping accommodation.
I am a ticket agent.
I am the person who does an E ticket for the retired railroad pass rider, who never bought a computer and only has a dumb phone.
I am the person who switches people to lower level seating, because Amtrak fails to tell them about the 12 LY seats they usually put in seat inventory on the train’s day of departure.
I am the person who checks the computer, for both coach & sleeper space availability, on future dates.
I am a ticket agent.
I am the friend for the autistic railfan who comes down every Sunday night.
I am the friendly phone voice for the lonely person who just wants to talk in the middle of the night.
I am the part time social worker for the depressed, the homeless, & stranded passengers.
I am a ticket agent.
I am the person who helps get lost bags and carry on items back.
I am the person who rebooks tickets for people that get their travel dates wrong.
I am the person who personally calls people a day ahead, alerting them the train is running late.
I am a ticket agent.
I am the person that stocks travel brochures for popular destinations.
I am the person who has the knowledge and gives advice for transit, rental cars, & cabs.
I am the person who gets the occasional carry by passenger back to their destination.
I am a ticket agent.
I am the person who calls EMS & the police when there is an issue on board the train.
I am the person who calls the rescue mission when somebody gets off the train and has nowhere to go.
I am the person who houses the traveler overnight, because often that’s the only time they can get to the depot.
I am a ticket agent.
I am the person who stays late for people that are waiting on rides.
I am the person who sells the boxes for people that come in with garbage bags or totes.
I am the person who assists the elderly, the blind, & the physically challenged.
I am a ticket agent.
I am a goodwill ambassador for our city.
I am a problem solver, the one that alerts conductors of potential issues e.g., passengers who are intoxicated, with offensive body odor, & with too much carryon luggage, etc.
I am the person who watches your vehicle, and keeps the riff raff out of the waiting room.
I am a ticket agent.
I am the person that helps the station caretakers.
I am the person that calls customer service.
I am the person who does the station accounting, and is trusted with company funds.
I am a ticket agent.
I am the person that comes in on my days off to make a reservation.
I am the person who communicates with management on service problems & solutions.
I am the person who spends his own funds on the small stuff, pens, toilet cleaner, & coffee.
I am a ticket agent.
I am the person who engages in small conversation, shows how to read a timetable, and tells people about on board services and rules of riding the train .
I am the person who makes a living wage, pays a mortgage, and supports a family.
I am the person who uses his pass privileges and enjoys riding the train.
Yes, I am a ticket agent, or as Amtrak calls them, Customer Service Representatives, I have always given Amtrak 100%, and have made many friends and cultivated a dedicated clientele. Amtrak apparently doesn’t see the value in that anymore. This will undoubtedly lead to a faceless, problem prone & less personable experience for travelers. Ridership “will” go down, conductors will be stressed, and trains delayed. This is a bad management decision and may possibly hasten the demise of the long distance train.