Sleepy Station Agent Retiring, Union Blames Overtime

NY1

An avuncular MTA employee who was caught on camera sleeping inside the token booth at the City Hall R station has put in his request for retirement. The unidentified worker, whom we'll just call Sleepy, got in trouble earlier this month when NY1 obtained a photo of him with his face down in the booth. In an interview, Sleepy claimed he wasn't napping, just bent over to closely inspect the money, because, "I always check money and everything else and look at it carefully. Because I've found errors in the money, there are, slightly misprints, what do you call. In fact, I've shown clerks the same, what I've found."

Obviously, he's about ready for retirement. It's unclear whether the MTA's investigation into his drowsiness is going anywhere, but Transport Workers Union President John Samuelsen says Sleepy is not to blame—it's all the overtime the station agents have to work because of cutbacks! "I'm not defending anybody's behavior," Samuelsen tells NY1. "I'm pointing out that he worked 33 days in a row, and was 69 years old. And he would never had been able to work those 33 days in a row had Jay Walder not gone down this unnecessary road of laying off hundreds of station agents."

Jay Walder, the newish MTA chief, has been criticized by the union for being "out of touch," what with his Central Park West condo and a vacation home in the South of France. "It's very difficult work destroying New York City's mass transit system. We should give the guy a break," Samuelsen sarcastically says. "He deserves a little time in the South of France while the rest of New York is suffering from his actions."

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By John Del Signore in News on August 13, 2010 3:32 PM

Comments [rss]

Peter

And wasn't Samuelson telling us how dangerous it would be to remove station agents, because they act as "eyes and ears"?

He hasn't met the incompetent/lazy member of his union who should get fired. It's the same with Pat Lynch (PBA), and was with Randi Weingarten and the UFT.

Peter

inklake

whitecastlerock

Sleepy Pants retired a long time ago-now he is just making it official. Union Chief Bluto wants to blameshift everything to the big bad MTA. Many times he may be right-it's tedious after awhile. You two are stuck with each other. It's not like Bluto has been missing any meals working for the MTA...

ronshapley

Oh and thanks to the MTA conductors and bus drivers who refuse to announce the stops in english... HUH ?? At least I think they're speaking another language...either that or they are so ignorant, they can't speak in discernable(sp?) english.....

ronshapley

Yup....Here's "sleepy" providing "security" in the station.........Good job Samuelson, you lazy, fat...well........never mind

inoyourider

If you can't do the work, don't take the OT.

And if your worker is 69 and has worked 32 days ina row, don't give him the OT.

IvoryJive

Samuelsen is the one who's out of touch. Any idea how arrogant and unprofessional you sound? Not to mention mercenary for trying to defend an overcompensated sleeping worker gobbling up overtime pay in probably his last year before retirement, trying to max out his pension. What crooks these goons are

kazubes

People who take pictures like this and send along to news outlets are a bunch of hypocrites. Big friggin deal he was napping on the job...just like we all post on gothamist at work which we shouldn't be doing...or check personal email..or make calls...or slip out early...whatever. No one is a perfect working automaton...people like agent sleepy over here are just that...people..like everyone else, they're not perfect..if they're sleeping tap on the glass and move on with your life.

jt10000

Good point.

just saying

Really? Just try totally zonking out by napping away a sizeable portion of your workday and see what happens. At least the Gothamist commenters are awake and conscious (supposedly) of what is transpiring around them.

No sympathy for Sleepy from this embattled MTA customer. Sleepy was most likely working excessive overtime to beef up his salary before retirement in order to inflate his pension since said pension is calculated using a formula based on total salary/overtime earned in the final years of employment.

henryhamilton

I completely agree. I despise the little rats.

SohoTimmy

For those of you who haven't seen the scumbag Samuelsen in action here he is on Channel 5 this morning.

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/traffic/mta/twu-local-100-president-john-samuelsen-20100813

kswissreject

We should definitely blame the TWU for this, not the MTA. Samuelsen is an idiot. Remember the strike? Remember all these cushy pensions and the very OT he's complaining about, I'm sure the union members love being paid way too much. Geez.