The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-09-30
CARMEN'S
PROBLEMS
Relations OF Patrons
to the Trolley
Tenders.

Nobody can accuse a Rapid Transit
motorrnan or conductor of having a
| ''snap" job. Far from it, With his
| mind working through the maze of
rules governing his actions while on
duty and in watching the patrons.
| largely TO prevent them from hurting
| themselves while on his car. he has
no sinecure. The Wise Motorman
| freed his mind the other day of some
of the troubles which he and his con-
ductor have to face and solve so as
pet in the managers office. Here are
a few:
''Of course 1 haven't got eyes in the
back of my head, but I see a whole
who suddenly waddles into the street,
from just where its hard to tell, fran
tically waving her parasol and trying
to run. The brakes are damned down
and the ear is brought to a standstill
some little distance beyond. L can
hear her breathless denunciation of the
conductor for not stopping when you
should, ETC.. It's the same old story.
We're to blame. And then, because
the conductor says, Madam, we stopped
as soon as we saw you, she flares up
and says she will report him to the
company. Sometimes she does and
sometimes she doesn't. She mentally
takes in the number of the poor fellow
as she flashes angry eyes at him.
Then there's the woman who rings
the bell just a few feet from the cor
ner she wants to get off at. Jam go
the brakes again and the car stops.
But does she get off right away? No
she has got to tell her friend to BE
sure and come over to see me right
soon, won't you, dear, and Why. yes,
we live right down here We lose time
and other cars are stalled up on the
line, but SO sure as the con. rings
the bell to start she'd begin to climb
off the car and take a tumble. Oh,
we have that sort of woman every
day of our lives, the one who has got
to have a last word with somebody else
in the car. OF course, if they take a
tumble we get reported. and sometimes
we get a lay-off
Now, there's where the system in
vogue in other places would come in
just right here. When person makes
a complaint at the Office that person
should be required to lay down. say,
$2.75, an average days wages of the
con. or motorman. What's that for?
Well. the manager or superintendent
would HTh1t ranraSpnfC he DAVIS
wages of the man you have made
complaint against. l will have him
here tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock
and wish you to be here also and then
weu talk this thing over. If we find
that your complaint is trivial we will
claim the $2.75 for the ernploye. If
he was wrong we will return the s2.75
and take it out of his wages Now.
that would be fair all around and it
would stop a whole lot of these trivial
complaints, for they are mainly
trivial
''I'n tell you the men on the Homo
lulu Rapid Transit lines are good set
of men, People from abroad always
praise the system, the splendid way it's
managed and the manner in which
they are treated by the employees. The
motormen are watchful as a general
rule. and, knowing their patrons as
we'll as they do, know just how to
start and stop the car for them. The
conductors are generally very polite
and they certainly DO take a whole lot
of back-talk from some patrons who
ought to know better People, too.
don't seem to think that we are earn
ing our living for ourselves and fami-
lies and that trivial complaints are
often the cause of two or three days
lay-off. and that is a lay-off without
pay. We can't afford it and certainly
no man is going to do anything on a
car that will lay him open to a loss
of wages. But many patrons are I'M
thinking about this matter. We have
wives and children and must be sup
ported as much as those of our patrons.
They must remember that if con-
ductor can keep his temper after d
long hard days run he is getting into
the angel class. What with the hand
ling of three cords, transfers and
punch. the changing of money. watch
ing out for Japs and other Asiat1cs
to prevent them jumping off cars at
the wrong time. fixing up time and
cash-sheets and trying to remember
all the rules. the average conductor
keeps going some.