When people complain about the conditions in the Electric Sewer my usual response is “You only have to be there a couple hours a day. Think about what it would be like 40 or so hours a week.”

Many MTA employees don’t have the greatest dispositions because, what many people don’t realize, is that workers reflect the environment.

Imagine, if you will, being in the subway system, the same system everybody complains about, for 8 hours a day (or more). The environment that you guys are only in 30-100 minutes a day is what we get as our work environment. And its not pretty. From dirty lunch rooms to smelly bathrooms.

As someone who worked as a professional and have a professional degree, I have to say that even my own work ethic has taken a hit. I have to focus hard on being professional and re-enforce what I know and was taught. Its hard to stay positive in a dirty, dark (mostly), and loud environment. As a person who feels the built environment effect how people behave, I truly feel that after a while, employees become grumpy. Work hours also do not help.

My own idea to remedy the issue is to:
a) improve work environment
b) teach customer service yearly, especially station agents

Don’t get me wrong, I like my job, but the environment is not very human friendly and because of this, even those who are professionally trained tend to falter.

As a person planning on opening my own business and has to think about how to handle employees, I just find that encouragement and environment is a great way to keep up productivity and hospitality.