" The Suggestion Box"


Some Official came up with the bright idea for a suggestion box, and I am sure there were many suggestions placed in the box that to say the least were not to helpful.

Anyway one day a guy comes into the office, his last name escapes me, but I am sure some one will eventually tell me, but I do know his first name was Bob, and because he seemed to dress and look like Mr Haney, on Green Acres the old T.V. programme, behind his back they used to call him, Joe Bob Slick.

Bob was on an excepted position, or was it accepted position I was never quite sure.

Bob is sitting on a stool in the checking booth watching a train pull by, and seemed to be moaning and groaning making funny faces, and seemed troubled.

Being the sympathetic sort I ask Bob what the trouble was, at which he went into a little bit of a tirade about how the Bar Codes on the rail cars kept getting dirty consequently, screwing up the information they were sending out to the reading device.

I ask him what was the main problem with that, and he tells me it costs about one hundred and twenty five dollars to replace it any time it got dirty.

I said to him well that's no problem, I could fix that for at most one dollar per car, to which he says yeh, yeh, sort of treating me with condescension and disdain, and says what do you suggest.

I said simple, just put a piece of clear plastic over the Bar Code, and if and when it gets to dirty replace the plastic, at which his eyes open wide and he says, Jesus Christ, why has no one thought of that before, and tells me to put it in the form of a suggestion, and give it to my supervisor.

I tell Bob, Bob, you know the solution to most problems is simple, the hard part is knowing what the problem is.

I put it in the form of a suggestion and give it to my supervisor Robert S. who sends it on with comments.

A couple days later I am approached by Jim H. another supervisor who tells me that they put a piece of plastic on the Bar Code of a Transfer caboose and instructed him to keep the read outs whenever the caboose was used, for three months and report the results downtown.

I was told later by Jim H. that the plastic idea never failed but that the Company wasn't going ahead with the project because the AAR, Association of American Railroads wouldn't advise their clients to do the same, the reason given was, that they could put a radio transponder type of devise on each car cheaper than a Bar Code.

The class of the Powers That Be showed in this instance though, you would think some one would have at least called.

Does anyone out there know what was ultimately done with this problem.

Allan