Re: Guard announcements

[craigd@lios.apana.org.au (C. Dewick)]

"Jane Campbell" <janecampbell@optusnet.com.au> writes:

>Actually I garble my announcements deliberately.  Don't want to exceed the
>public's expectations now do I?  :-P

Got to maintain the 'mushroom' status quo.. If we, that's the staff, are
treated like mushrooms, so should the passengers. 8-) (not really, but this
is a bit of a spoof isn't it?)

Seriously, the root cause for the PA annoucement problems is threefold:

 - the equipment itself is very bad (it's just standard PA amps running off
   the 240 volt AC auxilliary supply), and with extremely insufficient sound
   insulation in the cabs the level of ambient noise, even with all doors
   and windows closed, makes it difficult to speak at a level which is
   suitable.

 - the staff are *not* correctly shown how to speak into a microphone, and
   some people speak *way* too loud, and some way too soft.

 - the connections for the amplified audio signals, although at standard PA
   line levels (that's about 100 volts), go through the jumper cables like
   everything else, and as you'd expect, movement during travel causes these
   connections to be far less than ideal.

There is also the obvious issue of langauge, and as you can expect with
State Rail being required by law to implement EEO policies, they can't
refuse to employ someone because he cannot speak English with 'anglo-saxon'
sounding innotation, etc. Unfortunately that is the cause of a lot of
complaints, but if the equipment itself was better designed and the cabs
properly insulated, many staff who have trouble with their announcements
would find it much easier to say what they need to say and be able to say it
clearly.

Regards,

Craig.
--
            Craig Ian Dewick            |       Stand clear - jaws closing
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