Another Illiterate Service Message

[Peter Mugridge]

You wouldn't believe how carefully I read and re-read this before spotting the deliberate mistake, and there is one.

Paste instead of post?

 

[Deepgreen]

so should that have been... Thanks, as I have never......... comma, not a full stop ?

No. The "thanks" stands on its own.

 

[Deepgreen]

Calm down man.....

I know you like assailing front line rail staff at any opportunity but it's a simple typo.

What a strange assertion - I do not "like assailing front line staff" at all, and will only do so when it's justified. It's much more likely that I will criticise management. In any case, the people who write these messages are not 'front line'.

There are some who find poor communications by those who are specifically employed for the purpose to be annoying, and those who don't care. I am in the former category, but it is all the more galling that we are repeatedly told that the TOCs take good communications so seriously but, also repeatedly, demonstrate the reverse.

Of course mistakes happen, but I genuinely can't recall the last time I read an on-line message from GTR that didn't contain errors - that is not a good strike rate! Their current message about driver shortages is another case in point, by the way.

 

[Sprinter153]

From a recent experience at an interview for one of these customer information jobs, they appear to be more interested in whether you can build a tower out of Lego in a team or stand up and tell everyone else a 'quirky fact' about yourself than whether you can actually write clearly and effectively, or understand what is going on.

 

[TheManBehind]

From a recent experience at an interview for one of these customer information jobs, they appear to be more interested in whether you can build a tower out of Lego in a team or stand up and tell everyone else a 'quirky fact' about yourself than whether you can actually write clearly and effectively, or understand what is going on.

You can train for skill in communication (and frankly, your application form will cover large parts of that) but not being able to be part of the team can bring it down completely.

Having recruited for this job, I ask maybe one question about comms. The rest is whether you'll work well in my team and add to its performance.

 

[farleigh]

You can train for skill in communication (and frankly, your application form will cover large parts of that) but not being able to be part of the team can bring it down completely.

Having recruited for this job, I ask maybe one question about comms. The rest is whether you'll work well in my team and add to its performance.

Doesn't seem to be working too well then!

 

[Deepgreen]

Doesn't seem to be working too well then!

No, it is not. I can readily accept that people make mistakes, but if someone is employed in a communications role I would expect their specific skills to be in that area. Checking a couple of paragraphs before posting in the public domain should take a suitably skilled person about 20 seconds - hardly a serious delay to vital information.

Either the TOCs do care about their information provision quality (as they always tell us so glibly when we complain), or they don't. The evidence is that they don't.

 

[farleigh]

Completely agree with you Deepgreen but it seems that some people are more interested in 'teambuilding' than correct messaging :roll:

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Completely agree with you Deepgreen but it seems that some people are more interested in 'teambuilding' than correct messaging :roll:

Some TOCs don't even prioritise teambuilding, instead it seems to be about coming up with backward ideas (based on no experience) that have no place in the real world, but might happen to make one person's job easier at the expense of everyone else.

 

[Adlington]

Southern's web homepage now - full of illiteracies about the Selhurst depot signalling failure [/URL]

That's from the same company which put a work experience teenager in charge of its Twitter account (I believe this gem has already been posted somewhere here, but I cannot find it)

 

[goblinuser]

That's from the same company which put a work experience teenager in charge of its Twitter account (I believe this gem has already been posted somewhere here, but I cannot find it)

What is the issue with doing that? I bet the spelling mistakes are coming from some 40 year old bloke...

 

[Adlington]

What is the issue with doing that?

Read some of the exchanges on the SR's official Twitter account mentioned in the article. If you are happy with that, so be it. Personally I expect such an account to be used for serious information exchange. There are many other channels to swap silly jokes.

 

[goblinuser]

Read some of the exchanges on the SR's official Twitter account mentioned in the article. If you are happy with that, so be it. Personally I expect such an account to be used for serious information exchange. There are many other channels to swap silly jokes.

Southern needs all the jokes and humour it can get to make their tarnished brand seem even remotely human.

 

[Adlington]

Southern needs all the jokes and humour it can get to make their tarnished brand seem even remotely human.

I thought it needs much more than that, but of course I may be wrong

 

[goblinuser]

I thought it needs much more than that, but of course I may be wrong

Yes it certainly does.

 

[TheManBehind]

Doesn't seem to be working too well then!

Nice assumption, but the message in the OP doesn't belong to my team or my organisation!

 

[Antman]

On the tube yesterday there was a message about delays on the Bakerloo Line and a reference to "Harrow & Whetstone"!