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The TrainManATL Chronicles Podcast
Interview with David Jerome Page, Part 2
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We are continuing our interview with David Jerome Page, a friend from the Atlanta Airport People Mover system, once was the safety supervisor, the training supervisor and head special project manager of the site. Also he worked along side with site managers in the San Francisco site. Now retired at home and the TrainMan continue his interview. Check our website: www.williams2.org
Greetings and welcome to the Train Man ATL Chronicles. We thank you for tuning into our podcast. We want you to check out our website, www.williams2.org. It has information about the podcasts, the people being interviewed with goals, achievements, direction, and contact information. Also, you can send comments and questions through our email address, getting a life3 at gmail.com. We are on several platforms such as YouTube, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Buzz Sprout, and various other podcast networks. This is season two, episode seven. We are continuing our interview with David Jerome Page, a friend from the Atlanta Airport People Motor System, once was the safety supervisor, the training supervisor, and head special project manager of the site. Also, he worked alongside with site managers in the San Francisco site. Now retired at home, and the train man continue his interview.
SPEAKER_04Now, um, moving a little bit further out, how many years were you actually at the airport?
SPEAKER_03Okay, so I would say for Atlanta, I was there from um May of uh actually May of 1980.
SPEAKER_041980. Okay.
unknownUh so I became a permanent person in 81. May of ninety one. But from I spent my total time from uh May of 1980 until uh uh 2016, 2017, I go to San Fran. I think I went to San Fran in 18.
SPEAKER_03So um 2017 um well actually when you accounting with the company as a whole, so it was May 1980 to um January of 2019.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So that that gives us what uh get my math here real quick.
SPEAKER_04Roughly about 30 35, 36 years somewhere in the world.
unknownYeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So it was it was um it was quite interesting. Um uh you know, I I felt good about things. Still there were things that I I would have really wanted to um still be there for, and that was to see that uh that West extension project and the um the uh um switch upgrade.
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, we still don't need switch upgrade, they got the one switch one, uh and four and three together. They can make it two, and they got s switch six and eight together. It's still uh up in the air with uh uh five and seven. And and we got the turn back taken care of too. West the West uh turn back, of course they made that tunnel and all that, and uh and they still want me to uh extend the map further down to it to to include. But uh my question to you is uh once you left that area, what did you pursue after that? What what was your job?
SPEAKER_03Okay, so after I left San Francisco, um well you know, after I left the airport, Hurtsville Airport, I went to San Francisco.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
unknownUh-uh.
SPEAKER_03And uh their system is uh totally like outside, um, elevated. Um again another group of uh excellent uh technicians that they had out, and and I um was able to connect with quite a few. They they had with a diverse group out there. Um and um you know, so I was able to work with with those guys and there wasn't a whole lot of super improvements that I could do right off, but as far as efficiency and stuff, I was able to um you know work out things and and with them from that perspective.
unknownBecause again, they had to school me on how things work out.
SPEAKER_04I'm there for that, and I come in.
unknownTotal different layout that I was used to.
SPEAKER_03But in the principle of what needs to be done and how we can do it, uh that was my expertise.
unknownRight uh do things. So that that was um my contribution out there.
SPEAKER_03That's just unfortunate that that cut short because of uh disputes with management.
SPEAKER_04Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03And uh, you know, uh people don't like for you to show them up.
SPEAKER_04Right, right, right, right. Yeah, I I I got that drip. I did get that drip now.
SPEAKER_03So it was like, well, do you want to continue to to fool around with this or what? And then you know, it came to some uh I I had a contract out there and it was a uh annual, uh a yearly contract.
unknownIt wasn't a a stretched out deal. Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_03As my next tour duty from there was gonna be uh Los Angeles, and I really wasn't impressed with looking that far over because I really like living on the West Coast.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, after I left um San Fran 219, February, March, somewhere, I decided to take off about six months to um just you know chill because uh I looked at all the years I've been working, really hadn't had it super downtime to just relax. And I decided, hey, this is gonna be my relaxation time.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_03In September, October, somewhere in that neighborhood, I go back to work. Uh we all know what took place from that point. Um and actually I had gotten a job with a consulting group uh in Miami. So that was where I was heading uh to Miami when uh pandemic hit.
SPEAKER_04Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so the rest was history with that for two years. And then 2022, um I got a job with Hitachi Rail.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_03And uh so that required me to move to Pittsburgh.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay, okay. Yeah. Is uh that type of rail that's similar to what what we know now at Alstrom today, or is that pretty much a different one?
SPEAKER_03Well, it's that they they deal with uh steel wheel systems, your your major uh public transportation like modern uh stuff of that nature. Um and I had uh a group of twenty nine twenty-nine field engineers that I was um managing from uh various locations around the US, Canada, and um Hawaii.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay. Okay.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was it was that was a tough one for me because here now I'm I'm managing people that I can only have Zoom meetings with.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay. Okay, yeah, so so that was totally different for me.
SPEAKER_03I'm I'm used to working with the people, you know, side by side. But now I'm sitting at a desk and uh just in meetings uh all day long or Zoom meetings, uh and uh and you know, trying to understand what the problems, the issues were, and who do I need to uh get in touch with to get some resolution and also it was a tough, tough one for me, but I managed to to hang in there for two years and doing that. Um but again it it was another one of those deals where um the people I worked with were fine.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_03The guys I had to work for and reporting, they got their own thing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I gotcha, I gotcha.
SPEAKER_03And it was just unfortunate because a lot of people I met, and of course, when I got that took it uh took the job, I wound up working with a lot of people who were former bombardier employees.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Uh-huh, uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, engineers that were working in Pittsburgh and stuff here. I am sitting right across from them now. They were they were surprised to see me there. Like, what are you doing here in Pittsburgh?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So that I think again made it comfortable for me to take on the job because now I'm in a place where I know uh quite a few people that I've worked for worked with in the past for a number of years.
unknownAnd uh so that that made it a little bit easier for me to get adjusted.
SPEAKER_04Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_03To a a a different job perspective where you're managing people from uh a remote position.
unknownAnd uh so you know, again, it was one of those deals where I see a lot of issues here, a lot of problems.
SPEAKER_03Um a lot of people I have to call to verify information, a whole lot, a lot, a lot. And it's it's it was a tough deal to to go through that. Um and then also I saw a lot of people once I got on, got to know them on the uh uh work with them, they quit. It was every month there was at least two to three people that that quit the job that I've had direct contact with.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
unknownSo I was just counting down the time.
SPEAKER_03When is it gonna be my time?
SPEAKER_04Right, right, right, right.
SPEAKER_03But unfortunately we, you know, we we don't run the system, the operations, we have to work within the confines and some things I do have uh integrity and I don't believe in in shortchanging people that report to me and and giving you the the uh runaround on things. I always tried to make sure I I got my uh field engineers the information and stuff that they needed. Uh and they appreciated that, and they always told me you're the first manager we've ever had that actually took care of stuff for us.
SPEAKER_04All right, all right.
SPEAKER_03All right and not not being right there on their work site with them.
unknownYeah, it took a lot.
SPEAKER_03It's felt that was a difference for me because again, I'm used to being in the field with the guys, and here I'm not in the field, but I gotta still handle business.
SPEAKER_04Right, right, right, right.
SPEAKER_03But anyway, so yeah, that that's that's how that took place in this past February, after I came off of uh uh two months medical leave. Uh uh I decided to throw in the towel and just go back to living life the way I was used to.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay. No headache. So so you're you officially retired from the uh uh from everything?
unknownMm-hmm.
SPEAKER_04Oh okay. So uh what what what do you have uh going for you at this time? I hear that you um did you marry or remarried or what was that situation?
SPEAKER_03No, never remarried. My wife um she's now here.
unknownUh you know, she was living in New York and working there, so she's retired.
SPEAKER_03And uh so she's been back here a year now, I guess.
SPEAKER_04A year and uh so you know she was the one who wants to push me.
SPEAKER_03Why don't you just go and retire so we can have I like working. Yeah. Yeah, so uh the things that I'm focused on now, and and believe it or not, I still have contact with some of them like like with you with Bombardier and the green deer. Uh my Ata Hatachi family, there's a couple people that I keep in touch with or I get a phone call uh once a week.
SPEAKER_04Uh-huh. Or giving me some updates on on what's going on, even though you know I'm like, oh, okay.
SPEAKER_03But it's always remember when you were trying to do this, well, they do it in the house.
SPEAKER_02Like, yeah, that's typically how it goes.
SPEAKER_03Now the black man's mouth is it it ain't right. So that's the way I look at it, Arn. It came out of my mouth, it wasn't right. If that's coming out of the white mouth, oh, they're all over. So people call me up and stuff, you know, they're like, yeah, man, they they took your ideas and they were like, eh, okay, well, I'm glad it worked.
SPEAKER_04I knew it was on burden, but you know, I get the heat about no, you can't do that.
SPEAKER_03And now I'm not there. You're doing the exact same thing, and that's how it requested we need to do. So I don't know love loss. I I just don't have the headache to have to listen to management like I had to. So um, but yeah, I'm I'm um just doing a lot of stuff. Uh um my family reunions coming up next year, working on that project.
unknownUh still a lot of um house uh projects going on, and just had contractors here working in the backyard managing and overseeing that. So there's always something I I always had a full plate of stuff to do.
SPEAKER_02But the work, the work hours, you know, eight to ten hours a day was taken away from me having to focus on things uh that I had to take care of.
unknownSo now it's open. I'm just handling business as I speak.
SPEAKER_03Uh maybe I I've gotten some offers on jobs and stuff, but I'm not looking for any any full-time work at all.
SPEAKER_04Okay. All right, all right, all right, okay. Now uh what uh let me ask you this question. What when you was at the airport, what was your uh event or situation that you really regret, but then again it kind of like uh worked itself out. If you can remember that much. Yeah and but then it worked its way out. Yeah.
unknownUm there was uh there's quite a few things. Let me key back in on one in particular.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, just one.
SPEAKER_03Um uh when I can I can I can probably say just utilizing the the PS Upgrade project.
unknownOkay. And uh and we had uh uh an issue of bringing power back up. And uh and it took us it took us what four o'clock in the morning to about eight eight o'clock or so before we got actually got the system back up. Right, right. And understanding that the people that was I was working with the electrical contractors and stuff, I relied on their work, which I always we had checks and balances, and everything was good, and it came down to it was not anything we did, it was the oversight of the um console operator. Right, right.
SPEAKER_02Supporting the breaker position, you know, um mentioning I relied on them to give me the status because we we had everything shut down where you did not see anything.
SPEAKER_03And uh so you know, that caused me to have them to uh bypass the temporary layout we had and put back in the original configuration. And uh then when we found out that nothing was wrong with it, mm-hmm in hindsight, um what I what I should have done was uh um constantly have the console operator and someone else to verify the actual breaker position because the local at I think that particular point, you know, we always put out those memos about how the the cutover was gonna go.
SPEAKER_04Right, right, right. Now they call them bulletins.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the bulletins. And so one would require you to go to the uh actual breaker to verify whether it was open and closed.
unknownRight, right.
SPEAKER_03And uh and we didn't have we didn't we didn't uh we didn't do that.
SPEAKER_01Uh I didn't send anybody down there to verify and so it can it can uh uh confirm what the operator was uh supposedly seeing.
unknownUh-huh.
SPEAKER_03That was yeah, that was the thing I regret not having to do because it it created a uh situation where we we had to pay a penalty for the uh downtime and uh it it was a ding on the project. So a ding on the project meant that it was a ding on me.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Right? Okay because of the decision making.
unknownSo that was a that was the only thing I regret. That was a you know most recent one because that would have made a whole difference in um in uh the outcome. Right. Send someone down there to the breaker itself rather than having them to go back to the track side and reverse the circuitry. Because that was relying on what the console operator was telling me. Right, right.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, once we went through the review process and looked at the video and zoomed in on the screen, we saw that uh it w you know he misquoted the status of the brick.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay. Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_03So that's so that's that's the only thing in the high.
SPEAKER_04Now, uh one more question. What would you say to a potential young man who wants to really work with us in the uh train area system? What would you tell him in terms of uh getting a job and uh handling the job and loan how how would you say that?
SPEAKER_03How would you I would definitely tell any any uh but they they got they g they got a name for him.
unknownI watched this one show, the fishing show, they call him Greenhorns.
SPEAKER_04Greenhorn. Yeah, green horns.
SPEAKER_03That's the new guy on on the scene, and they give him all the dirty work to do. Just just to see if he's gonna be obedient and actually do it and stuff, because what that is doing is building trust between him and the and the people he's working with.
SPEAKER_04And uh I I I I I it was that one uh this was a fishing show, and then there's another one where they cut down timber way up there in Alaska and places. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_03And they call them they call them greenhorn.
SPEAKER_04So I would tell any young person slash greenhorn that the first thing you have to do is be able to take orders from whoever's giving them to you. Right, right.
SPEAKER_03No matter what.
unknownUh, because that's the thing, the first thing, first impression that people look at.
SPEAKER_04Right when you uh when you're uh coming on board.
SPEAKER_03And and I just look back at my first day on the job. It was it was like that. I didn't know anything about you know wording or anything, nothing was. And also, someone told me to do something other than picking up a broom and a mop.
unknownRight, right. That's not you. Hey, this wasn't explained to me when I was taking this job on. So don't give me broom and mop in me. And y'all have a um a cleaning service here.
SPEAKER_02Uh but yeah, listening and and uh taking being able to take orders and not talking back to people because you think they don't know what they're doing.
SPEAKER_03Um you gotta you gotta be able to to uh listen and take.
SPEAKER_04Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_03That's that's number one. Number two, you gotta be eager to want to learn things.
unknownAsking questions. That was my thing.
SPEAKER_03I uh there was some engineers, I knew they had some prejudice uh uh positions and stuff.
unknownUh, you know, you can tell, but it didn't bother me any. I still questioned them. Right, right, right, right. Why'd you do this? What's the purpose of this? That, that, that. I'm trying to understand. When they see that you're really wanting to learn something, then they become more open to showing you things or requesting your assistance. Yeah. So, so that's that's that's one of the uh key key factors there.
SPEAKER_04It's it doesn't matter how much education you got uh or what you know, you have to bring in your skill set and find a place where you fit in with uh where you are.
unknownAnd then once you get in there and and you have a confidence of people you're working with, not so much as who you're working for, but who you're working with, right?
SPEAKER_03Then things become a lot easier, and uh, you know, you you start getting recognized and noticed. Uh so that's what I would tell uh um a youngster coming through the door. Oh, and you know, we we had plenty, plenty, plenty of them, and I worked with plenty of them, and some made it and a lot didn't.
SPEAKER_02Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_03And then the main thing when you look at it was always something about their attitude.
SPEAKER_04Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right, right.
SPEAKER_03That people didn't like, so that's that's number one right there.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Now um in terms of coming in to the door, um, do they have to have a uh degree of some sort? What type of degree do they have to walk in the door so that the management can know that hey, you got talent in this area maintenance or this area sort?
SPEAKER_03Well, degrees are are only as good as a person's um ability to again take orders and understand the work environment he's working in. Uh I I can give you an example of a person who's got four or five degrees and and and have not a clue of common sense.
SPEAKER_04Right, right. So there you go. So there you go.
SPEAKER_03So, you know, that's just a plus to that's just to say you have um um built yourself up to wanting to uh achieve a little higher education, and uh it doesn't mean that you you're coming in the door as an expert.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02So people who I've always been high on people that that had uh uh technical college skills because I know your work your stuff has always been a hands-on from day one to the day you graduate.
unknownRight, right.
SPEAKER_03You may not have had a lot of of book um education outside of the field, but you have been seasoned in the field through hands-on in a technical college uh or or or or an exposure uh working for a company for X number of years without any kind of degree. It's just that you know you built up your your um expertise on the job.
SPEAKER_04Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_03So and and when it still goes to date, people put in their education requirement on and on and on. I try and tell my boys, don't let this stop you from applying. So you put in um your interest and what your previous prior background, how it can uh fit into the program, and you wait and see what happens here. You know, it's one of those things. But now with AI and all of this other business, right, right, your your resume gets rooted out before anybody reads.
SPEAKER_04Mm-hmm. Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_03Key keywords and key stuff that they're looking for in the resume and how you how you uh construct it.
unknownSo it is it's a uh numbers game, and that's and actually it's a little bit sad now because AI is taking over pretty much everything. Right, right, uh and and you uh I tell my kids, don't sit back and wait for a response.
SPEAKER_03You call them up or you send in an email or so and constantly reiterate. I submitted my resume, this, I'm highly interested in this position, I'm looking for a career move, blase blase. I think I can be a asset team. So you have to do those things now because once they I kick you out, they don't know a thing about you.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_03So that's that's that's the way I see it.
SPEAKER_04Right. Especially from today.
SPEAKER_03From today, the way we do business today is it's no longer calling them up and doing a drop by, drive-by, and walk up and introduce that stuff pretty much out of the window now.
SPEAKER_04Right, right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we we have to use technology and be a little bit smarter if we want to get in the door.
SPEAKER_04Right, right. All right, Jerome. You'd like to say anything uh for your last remark before we close this interview out.
SPEAKER_03Well, no, I'm I'm just um glad I was able and and uh to be available. I know I think the last time we talked about it, I was just coming out of surgery. And um I think this is a great thing that you're doing, and hopefully we can uh um do something in the future here where we're constantly uh giving corners and ideas and hopefully tet touching someone, giving them some ideas about uh job expectations and more how to perform or do things on the job. So uh yeah, this is this is a great, great meeting. Uh thank you again for inviting me. Thank you great to talk with uh good friends, great friends.
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03You're both a good one and a great one. Oh, yeah. And you help me out over my over my time too. So that's that's the thing I like about it.
SPEAKER_04Okay. I appreciate the conversation. And uh thank you very much. All right, take care. You too. You have been listening to David Jerome Page interview him according to where he came from in terms of working at the airport, and now he's retired from all his duties. I appreciate this time interviewing him and uh talking with him. Thank you, and God bless you.
SPEAKER_00We thank you for listening to this episode of the Train Man ATL Chronicles Podcast. Check out our website, www.williamswo.org, for updates. God bless you and have a blessed day!