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If you write to the top, be polite
By adamg on Thu, 02/14/2008 - 10:37am
Seems a fed-up Worcester Line rider e-mailed some increasingly choice words to MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas, eventually escalating to descriptions of what Grabauskas could do to himself, and now Grabauskas is demanding the Patrick administration do something about this violation of his civil rights. The alleged e-mailer works for the Department of Corrections and was suspended - with pay.
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oh, the irony
Grabauskas is gay? I've never read that before, or heard anyone mention it before.
Now, the DOC guy was out of line if he brought Danny's sexual preferences into it no doubt, but isn't the irony here delicious?
....
Show of hands: how many of you have received responses to your complaints of poor MBTA/MBCR service or inappropriate employee behavior?
Second show of hands: how many of you have read a news story about the MBTA screwing up or one of the "people write Danny and we publish his response" and noticed that Danny or Joey always follow this format:
1."gosh, **IF** that happened, sorry."
2."Here's why you're wrong about what you claim happened."
3."BUT, on the slim chance what you said actually happened, I've talked to *insert incompetent section head or team at MBTA here* and asked them to focus on doing what they should have been doing in the first place."
4."Thank you for riding the T. Like you have a choice."
Agreed
I thought it was funny too that Grabauskas was mad about not having his correspondence returned by the DOC.
I didn't know Grabauskas was gay either. Was Roberts aware of it and being threatening or was he just being obnoxious and inappropriate (especially for someone in a DOC job)? There are plenty of insults that can be construed as anti-gay when the writer just intended them to be generally obscene. How do you draw the line?
Maybe Roberts let himself get way out of line because since he never got a response, he probably thought no one was reading the letters anyway. It's easy to vent and increase the offensiveness of your language when you're frustrated and think it's all just going into a big cyber trash can where no one will ever see it.
Of course, it's a very different story if Roberts intended to be insulting to Grabauskas's sexuality and Grabauskas had reason to feel threatened.
Suspended with pay - why bother?
I have never understood what the point is of suspending someone with pay. Other than a black mark in their personnel file, it is essentially a free vacation day. Why don't they dock them the day of pay and make their wallet a little thinner?
Reason for paid suspension
Usually, paid suspension is done during the time an investigation into your actions is taking place. There is no determination of your actions yet, so it's not appropriate to penalize your pay, but they can't let you continue to work if you're doing so in a manner not befitting of your job. Once they sort out the claim against you and its severity under their rules, they'll take the appropriate action which may include a loss of pay.
Paid suspension is a protection for the employer against your potential guilt, but assumption of innocence is maintained so that you are not penalized....yet.
The guy is obviously
The guy is obviously protected by a union
Agree
I agree. Why bother?
Deputy General Manager hung up on me
I've been fighting a losing battle with the T for a couple weeks now, trying to figure out if they think a specific policy is fair, and if not will they change it. I keep getting bumped up the chain of command when one person after another keeps telling me they have no authority to change it.
I finally ended up with Deputy General Manager Joe Kelly. I left him a few messages, one on a Monday and a second on Wednesday, but I never heard back from him. I did get an e-mail from someone else at the T, but they never told me why they were e-mailing me, and it didn't answer either of my questions.
On Friday I called, left another message with his secretary, and a little while later she called me back to tell me the policy wouldn't be changed. I asked why not, and she couldn't answer that. I said I was willing to hold for Mr. Kelly, and shortly after that he came on the line. He immediately started yelling at me, told me he had this other person e-mail me, and after accusing me of harassment hung up on me. The whole conversation lasted maybe 90 seconds, in which period of time I still didn't get my questions answered.
To my read of civility, that crosses a line, too. All he had to do was return my phone call, and I wouldn't have had to keep calling him. I wonder if they will suspend Kelly. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander, right?
What policy?
That's bad, but can you tell us what specific policy you wanted clarified or changed?
Refunding my fare
I figure that since my train could only manage to run on time 52% of the time that I should be able to get 48% of my fare back. The answers to my questions are no, its not fair, and no, we won't change the policy because if we did we would be even more broke than we already are, but I want to hear them say it.
The person e-mailing me told me (as did all the other underlings I spoke with) that the policy is that if the train is more than 30 minutes late, and then you jump through a dozen hoops, then we will give you a refund. That doesn't answer my question, though. It just tells me what the current policy is, but I already knew that.
Fill in the blank
I'm still trying to figure out what goes here:
"...he is as useless as (expletive) on a bull."
A saddle?
A miniskirt?
A pocket protector?
Tits
get out much?
I knew the phrase sounded
I knew the phrase sounded vaguely familiar; Google brought up "as useless as tits on a boar", which I think is the version I've heard.
You may all now commence wondering why it is that male mammals have nipples.
ask stephen jay gould
Same reason female ones have orgasms, saith SJG. A happy byproduct of developmental constraints on sex differences within a species. He has a great essay about it.
It was supposed to be called "Tits and Clits," but he didn't think the point that they were supposed to be MALE tits would come across to your average Natural History reader.
Men can lactate too, under
Men can lactate too, under the right circumstances.
Believe it or not, we've got the same options list up in the breast area, just different quantities.
Some Grabauskas info
It's surprising that no one knew that Grabauskas was gay.
His appointment to the T was, at the time, heralded by the administration of ex-gov Romney as a sign of his inclusiveness and tolerance of the gay community. So his sexual orientation was widely published.
$8 billion in debt? no worries. invoke teh gay.
I'll have to remember that next time I find myself responsible for a vast, Brobdignagian public scandal out of which the state cannot bail me.
Quit Passing the Blame
Who Mr. Grabauskas likes in his personal life frankly isn't any of my business, nor is it something I care to know about.
What is my business is the fact that the MBTA is consistently one of the worst run agencies in Massachusetts.
Riders, especially commuter rail riders who depend on the Worcester-Boston line, are fed up. It is frustrating to write to the MBTA and to the MBCR and not have your complaints answered. It is frustrating to be a pawn in a "silent" conductor's strike. It is frustrating to pay over $250 a month just for a commuter rail pass and not see conductors collect fares or check for passes. And it is frustrating to not arrive at your destination on time - to be in an overcrowded car that may or may not have heat or air conditioning.
Mr. Grabauskas - I'm sorry you were personally attacked. But how about stepping up to the plate and trying to IMPROVE service on your commuter rail and mass transit lines. Just "adjusting" schedules doesn't cut it. Your agency is $75 million in debt and about the only thing you and your spokespeople can do is pass the blame around - you blame the MBCR, you blame the rising cost of fuel, you blame CSX. How about taking some ownership and assigning your agency some of the blame?
Stop flaunting your heterosexuality
(To clarify for various posters, it's quite well known among GLBT and ally folk that Dan Grabasskus is gay; he's often in the queer magazines and newspapers in the who's who pages and whatnot.)
Can I just point out, Commute-a-holic, that it's homophobic to point out that you don't want to hear about someone's sexual orientation? You might think that your remark is one of acceptance or whatever, but it really isn't, if you think about it. I'm assuming from your comment that you're straight, but please, let me know if I'm wrong. Anyway, based on my assumption that you're straight, how would you like it if people told you they weren't interested in knowing whether you're straight? That it's no one's business? You wouldn't be able to mention at work that you have an opposite-sex spouse or that you're dating an opposite-sex person. You'd need to take down any pictures you might have on your desk. Go to the company party alone. Don't list an emergency contact with the HR people, or have anyone on your insurance. These would all be ways of letting people know that you have a heterosexual relationship, and we're not interested in that. Oh, and don't forget about your neighbors. You're going to need to start calling your spouse/significant other your "roommate" when you're out in the yard together, because we don't want to hear about your heterosexuality. And you can't get upset when someone invites you over for dinner, but doesn't include your spouse, because, well, you didn't let them know that this is a significant person to you, because it's just not appropriate to tell your neighbors and friends and colleagues that you're heterosexual. What if the children found out? What if the children asked why you live with someone of the opposite gender? And what if they saw you hugging or doing dishes together or fixing up the yard together? The children would of course immediately assume that you have graphic sex, and they'd be traumatized! So, you see, it's definitely in everyone's best interest that everyone keeps their sexual orientation a secret and no one ever mentions dating or marriage.
nevertheless, it's irrelevant
His sexual orientation is still entirely irrelevant to whether he is doing a good or a bad job running the MBTA. If he doesn't want to get abusive criticism, he needs to do a better job.
Yeah, that 'blame the
Yeah, that 'blame the victim' mentality should go over well with your constiutents in Somerville, Mr. Newman. If your performance sucks, I'll be sure to email you vicious attacks based on your sexuality, religion, or other characteristic. It's good to know you're OK with it.
I don't have "constituents"
Dear Mayor Newman,
I have to agree with your angry adversary that viciousness is not one creature. All vicious attacks are not equal, nor should they be considered so, no matter how badly their target may perform her or his function.
In this case, it looks to me like some idiot _paralegal_ sent some perfectly generic insults up the chain of command on company stationery. Unbelievable stupidity, generic insults. Together again. I hope people can judge for themselves that Grabauskas' apparent wolf-crying is one man crying wolf and not a whole population.
My best to your constituents.
Ron, here on UH
We're all your constituents! :)
(That was an attempt at a smiley face.
I like Ron's postings but am somewhat retarded
in ASCII to html xlations.)
Apparently I was uninformed
Apparently I was uninformed about your recent electoral defeat, but you very much side stepped the comment about your inane position.
From the BostonNow- "Tell that little [expletive] Grabauskas that he needs to quit [expletive] his boyfriend's [expletive] and get these [expletive] TRAINS RUNNING ON TIME," Department of Correction paralegal Mark Roberts wrote Jan. 10, according a copy of the email provided by the T.
According to you, he should prepare himself for such an attack because of his position. I trust you will make that point to comfort your pal Rebekah Gewirtz if she were to ever receive a series of emails disparaging her gender or religion.
Irrelevant to the issue isn't the same as taboo
Yes, of course it's irrelevant to the issue. But that doesn't mean he should have to stand for any type of abuse. My point also still stands that it's homophobic to say that one "doesn't want to hear about" someone's sexual orientation. No one ever says this in response to evidence that someone has had heterosexual relationships.
I do
but it doesn't seem to make much of an impact.
But if THREE people do it, can you imagine, THREE PEOPLE?
Maybe you could enlist some friends and start a movement!
Even if he were not gay ...
the comments are still actionable, because they are hate speech. Most haters are not particularly good at proper victim classification, because they have cartoonish notions of what is "gay" and what is "straight".
We're here
We're queer, and we're going to keep yammering on about it 'til we bore you to tears. Gay gay gay, did you know gay? Yeah, I do a sucky job, but it's okay because I'm gay. That's so unfair to bring up that lousy on-time percentage... because I'm gay. Did I tell you I'm gay? So you can't tell me I suck, right, because that would be unfair. Don't care? No, no no! You have to care, whether you want to care or not. Silence equals death, y'know, so I'm not shuttin up. No, not me. Cuz I'd die, like right now. Silence is a luxury for you heterosexuals. See, I can tell you're heterosexual because you're not talking about your sex every time you do a crap job. Gay gay, wanna talk about gay? No, let's not talk about the crap job I do. That's just like saying I can't have any pictures on my desk! Unfair unfair unfair. 48.5% on time? No, what you really want to talk about is gaygaygay. What, you won't talk about it, right now? Homophobe! You're a homophobe! Which is all about gay gay gay. You say you don't give a damn? Aha! But what you're really saying is you do give a damn, in a double-secret backwards kind of way. Homophobia at work is over? No! It's never over! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? No! And it's all about teh gay! Did you hear I'm gay! Hey, don't put your hands over your ears! I can tell from here those are heterosexual hands! Which is like totally the same as I can't rake my leaves! I can't haz leaf rake! And it's all about teh gay! Because U iz a Homophobe!
...what?
...what?
Patrick responds
The Globe reports the governor has no tolerance for hate speech - and also no tolerance for state officials "making allegations they know to be false." Your move, Mr. General Manager.
Grab your ass...
...and kiss it goodbye, Dan. Could he be distorting his claims because he finally got tired of hearing how poorly he's running everything? Is this going to be his last hurrah? Will Deval toss Dan for filing a knowingly false complaint, thus allowing Dan to save face for how poorly the MBTA is being run (but still getting rid of him to try anew anyways)?
Stay tuned, fans. Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel!
What complaint did he file?
What complaint did he file? The article's headlines suggested non-responsiveness. Yesterday's article does not include any quote from Grabuskas alleging anything like that. The article also made it clear the paper raised the issue, not him.
If badtransit.com (something this site is becoming more like) was good for anything, it was documenting the fact that whoever is the General Manager, the issues are the same. Since he can't be fired, unless the State wants to buy out his remaining contract for over a half a million dollars, maybe the new administration will make his life miserable but either way people will still go for the throat of whoever is in that seat.
A letter to the top
Dear Governor Patrick
Please fire Dan Grabauskas. He is incompetent, childish, and a very bad public face to YOUR administration.
yep he's gay
that news has been in circulation forever, in fact, Dan G. is supposed to be some type of poster boy for GLBT's breaking the proverbial glass ceiling....
Sadly, there is no correlation between his gayness and his managerial skills.