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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Some talk a little and some talk way too much

Karen.

Karen, Karen, Karen ...

I'm sure you're a lovely gal, but you overloaded us with way too many announcements this morning on the 7:53 Oshawa-Union train.

It was, um, irritating.

Not surprisingly, I did receive an email about the announcements and Tom W. has some comments. I second all of them:

To all CSAs:

* As we near Union, stop saying it is our "last and final stop". The last stop is always the final stop.

* Stop saying crossing tracks is "illegal and prohibited". Illegal stuff is always prohibited.

* Stop using the phrase "Next station stop". Stops which aren't stations are moot - just say "Our next station is ..."

* "Detrain" is not a word. I think you mean "alight", as in "Alight at Pickering for stations between Pickering and Union".

* Saying, "Doors are now closing" and then failing to close them makes you a liar. Just close the doors. Worry about trapped limbs afterwards. If everyone knows the doors close when you say they will, people will get out the way.

* Stop using overly complicated descriptions. This morning on the 7:59 from Whitby - Union, I heard, "This train will make all stops to Pickering, then operate express to Union Station". Just say, "This train stops at Ajax, Pickering and Union." It's quicker and less confusing for people who haven't memorized the order of the stops on the line. Similarly, on the 17:20 out of Union to Oshawa, don't say "This train stops at Danforth and Scarborough, then express to Pickering, then all stops to Oshawa". Just say "This train calls at Danforth, Scarborough, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa", which leaves no room for confusion and no need to explain that passengers going to Eglinton, Guildwood and Rouge Hill want a different train.

* It's "Union Station", not "Toronto Union Station" or "Toronto's Union Station". There are indeed other Union stations out there, but the nearest are Washington DC and Chicago, so there won't be any confusion. Toronto has lots of stations, but we never hear "Toronto's Danforth station" or anything like that.

* When we do stop for some random reason, don't say we will under way "momentarily". That means "in an instant or moment", and implies we will be moving within the next 5 seconds, which we almost never are. Use "shortly" instead.

Anyone else?

25 comments:

Taylor said...

I'll sign the petition....and can we tell Dan we don't need to sychronize our watches with his, just let us know if we are on-time or not.

Anonymous said...

Voice-over training should be mandatory for this position. Hands down, Berlie who sometimes does the morning Oshawa train is the best voice of GO.

Anonymous said...

Please join the Let Go Know customer panel.

Skin Man said...

Why join Let Go Know, all the info you need is right here. In fact if Go management have a question, I'm sure they could send it to CJ and she would post it. I suspect responses would be.....swift.

pPYT said...

In fact, all GO needs to do is redirect Let Go Know.com to this website and shazam, it's all here.

But really, letgoknow.com is just another demographic ploy to be able to sell info about the customers to other agencies so they know what samples to give out at Union. I'm kind of sick of the Kellogg bars and I have enough Pantene shampoo to last me through at least 1 natural disaster.

C.J. Smith said...

But I like Kellogg bars. And Pantene shampoo.

kary said...

I liked the free bottle of red wine, even though it was Copper Moon Merlot. Maybe next time it will be a Shiraz.

Unknown said...

who is giving away wine?

Bicky said...

Hey, I like synchronizing my watch with Dan's. It's the one thing I look forward to before a long day at the office. (I know... sad.)

Here's a Name said...

Why doesn't Go just hire mimes to stand in each car and try desperately to convey what the next stops are without a word?

Leslie J said...

I would think calling out the stops is a necessity but I don't read anything about anyone complaining about station announcements. That's expected.

LSW said...

My personal pet peeve is not with the announcements (Tom covered those off for me :) I can't stand the 'Stand Back of the Yellow Line' signage on the platform. Is that even grammatically correct? How about 'Stand Away from the ...' or 'Stand Behind the ....

Anonymous said...

get earplugs if this irritates yyou

matt said...

On the Georgetown 7:38 to Union, and the CSA (Denise) talks like she's a gameshow hostess. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are currently stopped while we wait for the passage of...a FREIGHT TRAIN!". I'm half-expecting her to follow it up with "tell them what they've won, Bob!"

C.J. Smith said...

Anonymous @ 827 must be Dan.

Dakota said...

I like Dan. He is a great CSA. I also like that he synchronizes watches. It's fun. Also, Will on the LSE 4:25 when he says GOOOOOOOOO Transit. It is just fun and puts a smile on my face. What I am waiting for is the construction to be finished in Whitby so I do not have to hear about the cars that will open there a million time.

Todd said...

And soon the west end of Pickering platform will close for construction so we can look forward to hearing which cars will open their doors there too.

Skin Man said...

CSAs can some times be quite amusing. I enjoy the cockadoddledo rooster crowing on the occassional LSW morning runs.

TomW said...

"But really, letgoknow.com is just another demographic ploy to be able to sell info about the customers to other agencies so they know what samples to give out at Union."
You'd rather have samples which aren't useful to you given out?

"Stand Back of the Yellow Line" should be "Stand Behind The Yellow Line"

TomW said...

One CSA uses the instruction that passengers wishing to get off at a station where no all doors open should "move in the opposite direction to what the train is moving". It's not bad, but grammatically awkward.... better would be "move in the opposite direction to train's movement". (This is because if you tell people to move to the rear of the train they get confused. Seriously.)

Unknown said...

Is this the CSW that sounds like Ruth Buzzy. I keep on expecting her to say "one ringy dingy"

kary said...

I find that GOOOOOOO transit guy on the 16:25 LSE really annoying. I like the French guy (Mike or Mark, I can't tell) on the 07:15. He keeps it simple.

@Holly, yes they were giving out a coupon at the GO in Oshawa, for a free bottle of merlot a few weeks back. For some reason I always thought it was illegal to give out free booze, except for the wee samples, but apparently I was wrong. Yay!

Anonymous said...

I agree, I hate the "Goooooooooooooooooo transit" dude extremely annoying. ya it was funny the first couple of times, now it's just annoying. Loser.

Isabel said...

"Detrain" drives me crazy!!

There was a CSA that would say "ALL ABOOOOOOARD!" like the GO Train was a Choo-Choo train. It made me so furious.

Anonymous said...

Well, our CSA, Gord, Barrie-Bradford 2nd train morning/evening, has the voice of a certain retired broadcaster and the sense of humour to back it up. We are never bored on our train and he makes it an enjoyable trip to work and on the way home.