"NEW HIRE" SCHEDULED FOR CLASS AT REDI CENTER JULY

Hey everyone I'm actually a Norfolk Southern employee but I just accepted a job offer with CSX in Huntington,WV as a utility worker I was just wondering if anyone else from around the area would be attenting the same class with me on July 9th and I'm also wondering if someone could actually give me a better decripton of CSX's utility worker position because from the website it kinda sounds like a mix of what NS would call a laborer and a carman! thank alot

..........Moved to employment forum (CR).

I'm starting conductor training at the REDI center on the 8th. As for your other question this might be of some help. http://csx.com/?fuseaction=careers.posi ... ail&i=5122

I start July 9th for conductor also. Are you in UNF0710??

I'm actually going to be on the B&O W class. I'll be working near Toledo, OH.

Oh OK... I am at UNF right now.. 12 of us have two weeks left and we go straight to REDI for 10 days. Then back to our respective subs for OJT

bbrinager wrote:Hey everyone I'm actually a Norfolk Southern employee but I just accepted a job offer with CSX in Huntington,WV as a utility worker I was just wondering if anyone else from around the area would be attenting the same class with me on July 9th and I'm also wondering if someone could actually give me a better decripton of CSX's utility worker position because from the website it kinda sounds like a mix of what NS would call a laborer and a carman! thank alot

Why the f- would you leave NS to work for CSX??? Utility worker is rebel speak for the yankee term laborer.

Oh and by the way, whilst yous guys are being reprogrammed at The CSX school of beatings, remember a few things -
always:
keep to the right in hall ways
never:
walk with you hands in your pockets - even two steps! and DON'T even think about walking and talking on your cell phone at the same time
always:
hold the hand rail AND stay to the right when ascending and descending stairs (thats up and down for you southerners)
never:
show up drunk or smelling of booze and cheap women
always
tip the strippers well
avoid:
keeping beer in your room - they also reprogrammed the mesican room cleaners to be rats as well; if you do, make sure you throw ALL the empties out in the trash in the hallway (bring a cooler and use the ice from the hotel ice machines works well)
never:
use the hotel bar, be seen transporting kegs into the hotel elevator (consider ALL hotel employees or "guests" to be spies (this one could cost you your job)
be careful:
where you stick your hands, a guy in my class found a rubber fist, a stack of gay porno mags and a jar of ass lube underneath his hotel room bed (he claims they weren't his-but then why tell everybody?)
never:
do anything that will embarrass you IF you get caught doing what ever it is that will also embarrass the company - enjoy looking for a new job if you do
(examples : flashing women and hotel staff, walking around the hotel pool in a speedo with a visible erection, nude or dissorderly conduct, drunk driving, selling crack, making crystal meth with your microwave, starting fights with hotel or REDI center staff)

Use your time wisely down there - if you're not getting what they're telling you, don't be afraid to ask questions. Study, study, study, form study groups with one or two other guys.

REMEMBER- YOU'VE OR Y'ALL BEEN WARNED. INSOLENCE WILL BE REWARDED WITH SEVERE BEATINGS AND HUMILIATING TREATMENT BY THE REDI GULAG TORTURE ADMINISTRATORS.

(BY THE WAY I'M SERIOUS - ALL EXCEPT FOR THE BEATING PART)

A young fellow in my REDI class was throw out on the last day of class for putting his feet up on the desk. Haha, unreal. There was a laundry list of things he had done prior to that, though. The dumb thing was - he'd walk into class every morning half loaded and either:

A. Pretty much pass out.

B. Tell all the instructors and anyone else who would listen whatever dumb thing he did the night before.

They did pay for his flight back home.

He's probably better off not working for CSX. Sounds like he may have been heading for a short career anyway. As a new guy, you'll be under a probationary period. During that time the union can't help you and you're at the mercy of the folks, the personalities and attitudes that run the REDI center. Going to the REDI center is like taking your road test at the DMV. You want to make sure all your ducks are in a row, t's crossed and I's dotted. And at no point can you let your guard down. Depending on how serious of an infraction against company code, some dismissals may not even warrant a warning. Most of the folks the teach at the REDI center are decent folks. But they are expected to uphold a standard and a level of pride in the school. I have heard stories about the mind games they play. I've heard about guys misbehaving or screwing up and ordered to stand in the corner facing the corner. Others I've heard include making the entire class write rules word for word over and over if someone in the class gets out of line. I've witnessed first hand how they'll try to shame and humiliate to get their point across. The company carries this mind set and you can expect similar treatment in the field. If you're a railbuff the railroad life and treatment will break you down eventually. Once you see how we're really treated, when they screw with your pay just because they can. They have NO regard for your family or their well being. The biggest advice I can offer other than keeping your nose clean is don't get used to good money. Especially if you're close to engineer school. Save enough money to last you atleast six months. The railroad spares no expense making sure they pay you the least they can while going through the engineer program. Mortgage, mouths to feed, they don't care. Welcome to the railroad - Trains magazine never mentioned anything about this crap.

Also...

when you do hit the ground here's something you'll probably hear again but are words to live by:

-take everything you THINK you already know about railroading and toss it out the window. Leave it at home and forget it. It won't help you one bit. The guys you train with will teach you most of what you NEED TO KNOW to get by.
-never volunteer for ANYTHING
-never ask for more work
-never be a rat
-stay off the safety committees (through individual special treatment -they're tools of the company to work against our solidarity(what little is left)rarely ever do they actually accomplish anthing useful)
-stay away from the bosses and out of their offices;tell them nothing
-nobody likes a whore
-never help the company out(no good deed goes unpunished around here) all the ass sucking won't help you one bit when they're trying to fire you
-never tell anybody what you know or that you know it already(just say ok or alrighty then)
-never admit to being a buff and never talk about trains in the crew room(80% of the guys on the railroad are either buffs already or closet buffs, eventually you'll figure out who most of them are)
-be where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be but when not needed keep out of sight - "out of sight out of mind"
-don't be afraid to double check your work - preferably before it's too late. Once its done its often too late or too far away to check - did I relock that switch? Did I make the right cut? Did I line my route properly? Did I remember to put my pay in???

words to live by or lessons soon learned