Perceptions: what to do??

Phil, the people who understand what you're talking about and realise the need to develop the public's appreciation of the staff will already be trying to do just that.

Sadly, those who need to learn won't have the faintest idea what your talking about and will continue to treat their underlings badly.

When one looks at how long the railways have been getting a bad press, and how much effort the railways have put into countering the poor impression that creates, I'd recommend not holding your breath. The concept of "enlightened self interest" is not as widely understood as it should be to get the best results.

Unfortunately, this situation doesn't only apply on the railways, the attitude is prevelent throught society.

We can only hope that those in more senior positions will read your plea and do something about those who need to understand and learn.

CSA'S badly treated eh? Who by? public or management!!! As is known I have been an sa for three years, and the general perception I have found is that the public think we are merely ticket checkers. A customer I have known for a while, came up to me and asked why I was on the platform!!!. Said [again] I thought you just check tickets and give directions!!! Just to clarify, sa's check station equipment, rectify faulty equipment, primarily ticket gates, and ticket machines. patrol the station looking and listening for anything untoward. Liasing with drivers as well as control, which is fairly regularly on the Northern!! We also have to think one step ahead, eg anticipating customer flow, and if necessary diverting said flow to reduce overcrowding. I could go on, and oh I forgot we help the public!!. Too many of the public treat us like slaves and give us little, if any respect. As for the cleaner reference, I have had on numerous occasions, food packaging and whatnot thrust towards me and nothing said, "are you looking for a bin, yes there is one to the right of the exit, thank you for travelling on the delectable Northern line"!!!. As a good cuppa says the problem is in society itself, I try to recondition someones negative attitude when faced with hostility but predictably this doesnt happen. I do not like someone trying to offload their angst onto me. A big problem I feel is that everyone is taught to RECIEVE EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE. They then come in with the most rigid of demands, and if we dont jump, they get wound up. Why are there so many stressed/angry people around? I think our job title is both misleading and gives people the argument to moan when they cant get what they want, "your're customer service arent you? Station assistant is a much better title. Sa's are the public face of underground and we [there are a few bad ones] do a good job of transporting them quickly and above all safely day in day out. How about some respect for tube staff, in fact all human beings?

I think that an answer to these problems is actually tucked away in the previous posts. The transport companies have spent so much time and effort in the past convincing passengers (and themselves) that those who travel on their systems are really 'customers', that everyone is starting to believe it. And as we have all been taught, the customer is always right.

When SA's were called Railmen, before the station cleaning went out to contract,part of their duties did include station cleaning.Not just sweeping up either,they were expected to wash down the tiling as well.

I wonder, prjb, if you have missed the point of the original post. You, and I, and everyone else on the forum - and a good few of the public too - know how good the SAs are.

The post was about the PUBLIC, not the SAs. It seems it is the public perception that is wrong. If a large number associate SAs with the guys they see on NR stations with brooms in their hands, then public re-education is vital as long as it is possible.
The people I was referring to above are sensible members of the public, including some NR enthusiasts amongst them. If their perception as to the status ( I repeat, NOT the role) of the SA is so far from the truth then it behoves(??) the movers and shakers to try and redress that misunderstanding in public if it is feasible. Just telling the staff what a great job they're doing is not enough IMHO.

As an outsider to the system, but someone with an interest in it, I don't think I've ever had the impression that station assistants were just cleaners. Perhaps I thought their role included that of cleaner I don't know.

From experiences of the system I've come to learn that they do much more than I thought. One particular occasion sticks in my mind - I was exiting the circle/district line station at Paddington to catch an NR train. Someone infront of me had trouble with their ticket and the gate, I didn't see what, but they moved to a different one and a chap with an Oyster card stepped into the gap and went through no problem. Assuming it must have been a problem with the first persons ticket I tried mine and it just wouldn't take it so I too went to an adjacent gate and went through OK. I then saw the SA was free and mentioned to him that the gate didn't seem to be accepting tickets. He tried it himself and sure enough it wouldn't take the ticket. Instead of coning/roping off that gate or putting a sign up saying it was Oyster cards only and call someone to have a look as I expected (it was a sunday evening iirc so the station wasn't overly busy), he set about trying to fix it (I don't know whether he did or not as I had to go for my train).

Reading things like this thread have taught me other things about the role of the SA that I didn't know. I think a large part of the problem is (unintentional) ignorance about what the role actually involves. Perhaps an awareness campaign along the lines of "A day in the life of a London Underground Station Assistant" showing them helping passengers, fixing gates, checking tickets, sorting problems, sorting problems, and all the other things that they do. The way this initially comes to mind is a sort of comic-strip style design taking up half/most/all a newspaper page as part of a recruitment campaign with a slogan along the lines of "have you got what it takes?".
This is a first idea that took about 2-3 minutes to think and write, so obviously its not going to be perfect and I'm sure there is some flaw in it somewhere that I've not seen, but maybe its a starting point for someone whose got more time and more knowledge than me.

I see what your saying, the point I was trying (badly) to make is that I think the majority of the travelling public realise that these guys are more than just ticket checkers. I really hope that they do anyway.

Also I think that it is deplorable that anyone would look down on such an operationally important grade. It has always made me laugh when punters start the old "your a public transport worker, so you must be the lowest of the low" rant. The majority of these people don't earn as much as we do! I always think that if there so important and hold down such high flying jobs why are they travelling on the tube rather than utilising their helicopters to get in and out of the city? ;D