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Staff Mess Rooms - not accessible to the public...

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ChristopherJ

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8 Aug 2005
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London, UK
Last night at Willesden Junction I overheard the most funniest conversation between staff and passenger ever and I was sure I was going to have a seizure from laughter.

Two girls aimlessly waiting on the westbound (Richmond/Clapham) platform and wandering around waiting until their train arrived, they jump up the step leading up to the staff mess room and peer through the tinted glass of the window, only to be met with a room load of London Overground drivers and guards staring back at them.

Girl 1: what goes on in there, who are all those people?
Girl 2: look, it's got a TV, food, games, everything
Girl 1: how do we get in here? Is this a waiting room?

Girl 1 bangs on the door, Overground man opens the door.

Girl 1: can we come in, we have a ticket?
LO Man: no, this is staff only premises
Girl 1: what is this place then?
LO Man: it's the train crew accommodation and booking on point
Girl 2: basically, it's an office...
LO Man: yes...
Girl 2: ...but it has TVs, games, ect
LO Man: yes...
Girl 1: so, those are train drivers, yeah?
LO Man: yes...
Girl 2: why are they watching TV and not driving trains?
LO Man: because their train hasn't arrived yet
Girl 1: this is such bad treatment, everyone waiting out here and all of you in there lazing about in there watching TV
LO Man: no one in here is lazing around, it's the booked housing for staff of London Overground - now will you please leave because you are not permitted to enter.
Girl 1: we don't have games and TV at my work
LO Man: if you like what you see so much and think you would enjoy working with us, please send your CV to London Overground Rail Operations Ltd, Finchley Road, London or log on to our website and apply for any available jobs.

Mr LO Man slams door closed.

How Mr. LO Man kept a straight face throughout that conversation I never know, I almost died, he deserves a knighthood for the way how he handled those two.

Saying that. I've had the opportunity to grace Willesden Junction mess room - last time I went in it had a pool table, a slot machine, a TV and a few sofas. That was back in Silverlink days when a nice guard allowed me to keep out the cold... ;)
 
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MidnightFlyer

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I witnessed this a few weeks ago at the fairly pleasant station in the Westcountry, during the evening just as the booking office was shutting up:

Woman - 'Do you have any toilets here?'
Staff - 'Not for public, sorry'
Woman - 'But they're outside'
Staff - 'Yes, sorry, but they're closed when there's only one of us about'
Woman - 'Why?'
Staff - 'Security I'm afraid'
Woman - 'So there's nowhere I can go?'
Staff - 'I'm afraid not, we keep them locked for security purposes'

The woman then went and sat back down in the waiting room near the booking office, and when her mate rang her later, went on rather loudly about how the man had implied she was a terrorist, and ended it with 'What does he think I'm gonna do, pull out a f***ing machete?'

People's ignorance is startling at times.
 

185

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Me "There's two smelly homeless blokes asleep on the floor of the messroom"

Control "Are you sure they aren't hungover drivers that never made it home last night?"

Me "Err.....oh.. I'll call you back". *Clunk*
 

AlexS

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Just outside the Black Country
Christ, some messrooms make me rather jealous! We have an FM Radio/CD player, a battered sofa, a table, a mirror that appears to have been acquired some time during the time of ownership of the LMS or it's predecessors, and a kettle/cooker/microwave/fridge/sink combination. No TV, no pool table, no games machine, only the crappy work computer etc etc. Apparently there used to be a bandit but that was removed years ago when the local BRSA folded.
 

jon0844

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Fruit machines cost a fortune now in duty, so I'm not surprised they've gone from most places. Many people had them illegally in the past (not paying duty) but I doubt any company would do that now.

5p/10p machines are cheap (free?) but who would play one of those?
 

t0ffeeman

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11 Jul 2008
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Most of the "enhancements" are paid for by the Social club which is mostly funded by the fruit machine. So if your work colleagues are gamblers you can have a nice mess room...
 

exile

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I have to admit to being annoyed by "these toilets are for staff only" whether it's in a station, shop, cafe or whatever. It is also irritating to find new stations built at great expense with good facilities for staff and poor or none whatsoever for customers/passengers.

(Mods' note: Discussion of toilets at stations for passenger use can be made in the Toilets at stations thread)
 

KA4C

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I have to admit to being annoyed by "these toilets are for staff only" whether it's in a station, shop, cafe or whatever. It is also irritating to find new stations built at great expense with good facilities for staff and poor or none whatsoever for customers/passengers.

(Mods' note: Discussion of toilets at stations for passenger use can be made in the Toilets at stations thread)


Employers are under an obligation via Workplace Regulations to provide such facilities for their staff and these facilities are meant to be (though not always in some old facilities) to be to a certain standard

In some areas, staff are a "target" for undesirables, esp at night and toilets are used by such undesirables for their various dubious activities. Employers have a duty of care to their staff and so it is right that staff should have separate facilities
 

krisk

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347
Absolutely agree one million percent. Toilets got shut because people abused the facilities. Where they remain they incur a usage charge
 

Greenback

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Llanelli
Absolutely agree one million percent. Toilets got shut because people abused the facilities. Where they remain they incur a usage charge

There are reasonable free toilets in Swansea and Cardiff, platform side of the barriers.
 

exile

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Employers are under an obligation via Workplace Regulations to provide such facilities for their staff and these facilities are meant to be (though not always in some old facilities) to be to a certain standard

In some areas, staff are a "target" for undesirables, esp at night and toilets are used by such undesirables for their various dubious activities. Employers have a duty of care to their staff and so it is right that staff should have separate facilities

Not just talking about toilets - but seating and shelter, not to mention security. Older stations are much better in this respect - when staff are on duty passengers can wait in the ticket hall in some degree of comfort. Some recent stations have a block containing just a ticket office and the passengers have to make do with "bus shelters".
 

dk1

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At Greater Anglia we only have pool table, football table, quiz machine, fruit machine, change machine, hot drinks machine, cold drinks machine, snack machine, several toasters, microwaves & a full oven/grill, water boiler, kettles, computer, oh & of course the large flat screen with full Sky sports/films package.

& still we moan & get bored in our breaks :lol:
 

34D

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Employers are under an obligation via Workplace Regulations to provide such facilities for their staff and these facilities are meant to be (though not always in some old facilities) to be to a certain standard

In some areas, staff are a "target" for undesirables, esp at night and toilets are used by such undesirables for their various dubious activities. Employers have a duty of care to their staff and so it is right that staff should have separate facilities

Yes, but rail workers are about the only lot who actually get separate toilets etc etc.
 

the sniper

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Yes, but rail workers are about the only lot who actually get separate toilets etc etc.

Everywhere I've ever worked off the railway has had separate toilets for staff and customers, or only had toilets for staff.
 

A-driver

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Yes, but rail workers are about the only lot who actually get separate toilets etc etc.

No we arnt-most employees in shops, offices, gyms, other transport modes etc etc get separate facilities. And it's only larger places we get seperate toilets such as major stations etc. Places like caterham, welwyn, Hertford, east grinstead and Epsom to name a few authorised break points I'm aware of share toilets with the public and have a small room with a sink, kettle and microwave for breaks.

I don't think anyone can realistically argue we should spend our only break sitting in the public waiting room can they?!
 

34D

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Everywhere I've ever worked off the railway has had separate toilets for staff and customers, or only had toilets for staff.

I don't think I've ever worked anywhere with separate facilities apart from railway roles.

No we arnt-most employees in shops, offices, gyms, other transport modes etc etc get separate facilities. And it's only larger places we get seperate toilets such as major stations etc. Places like caterham, welwyn, Hertford, east grinstead and Epsom to name a few authorised break points I'm aware of share toilets with the public and have a small room with a sink, kettle and microwave for breaks.

I don't think anyone can realistically argue we should spend our only break sitting in the public waiting room can they?!

I've never seen shops etc with staff toilets.

If I have a break somewhere then sitting in a public waiting room or going to a cafe is exactly what I do.
 

A-driver

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Out of interest what jobs have you done with no staff facilities? Most shops don't have public toilets at all-they only have a staff toilet. Even pubs and bars tend to have seperate toilets for staff as the public ones end up such a mess.
 

Cherry_Picker

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I've never seen shops etc with staff toilets.

If I have a break somewhere then sitting in a public waiting room or going to a cafe is exactly what I do.


Lots of shops have staff toilets. I'd imagine its the majority of them if my experience is anything to go by.
 

142094

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Quite a few shops will have a separate changing area with their own toilets, certainly some of the large chains do.
 

34D

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Out of interest what jobs have you done with no staff facilities? Most shops don't have public toilets at all-they only have a staff toilet. Even pubs and bars tend to have seperate toilets for staff as the public ones end up such a mess.

The obvious example is bus or coach driving (in the sticks, not London) where there are no special toilets or messrooms whatsoever.

I suppose offices count as segregated toilets if there are no public allowed in the offices?
 

A-driver

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The obvious example is bus or coach driving (in the sticks, not London) where there are no special toilets or messrooms whatsoever.

I suppose offices count as segregated toilets if there are no public allowed in the offices?

As I explained earlier bus and coach drivers use public toilets when in the sticks away from the garage just like train drivers do when away from major terminals. I listed a few locations a couple of posts back. And when I signed Epsom downs a few years ago if you were on a 455 or 456 then the closest you had to a toilet on you 20min turn around of a 2 and a half hour round trip was the cess hoping no one in the houses were looking out their window!

Before joining the railway I worked in a major supermarket, a chain pub and a DIY chain and all had seperate toilets and staff break rooms. In fact, at the pub we were not allowed to have a break in the public bar or use public toilets in uniform.
 
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