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Bonus Episode of Thirsty Conversations Talk Show: When Every Stop Matters: The Unseen World of Public Transportation S4 Ep16
This is a bonus episode of Thirsty Conversations Talk Show. It's available exclusively on the tv streaming channel elrodtvnetwork.com with many more episodes of great guests that I know you will enjoy watching. On the tv streaming channel elrodtvnetwork.com you will enjoy shows like this and other shows not found anywhere else. Try it free for 7 days to see what everyone's talking about.
In this episode, Charles Adams shares insights from his decades-long career at the Chicago Transit Authority, offering a behind-the-scenes look at what keeps the trains running. His journey from track maintenance worker to inspector reveals the complex ecosystem of professionals needed to maintain Chicago's vital transit system.
• Working in track maintenance since 1999, ensuring infrastructure stays safe and functional
• Public transportation careers extend far beyond drivers and conductors to include engineers, accountants, maintenance crews, and administrative staff
• Time management and safety are paramount concerns in public transit operations
• CTA offers career opportunities with training regardless of formal education
• Public transportation serves as a vital connector between neighborhoods and communities
• Budget challenges and pandemic adaptations reveal the resilience of transit systems
• Taking pride in public service means focusing on passenger needs and safety
• Union representation helps negotiate for better working conditions and job security
• Potential extension of transit lines to suburbs and new Chicago Bears stadium
• Work-life balance essential to combat stress in transportation careers
If you're interested in learning more about careers at the Chicago Transit Authority, visit www.chicagotransitauthority.com to explore available positions and opportunities.
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Hello, and thank you for listening to Thirsty Topics podcast! I'm Lawrence Elrod, and every week Meryl Klemow and I dive deep into the stories that matter, the conversations that shape our world."
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Hello everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Thirsty Conversations. I'm Lawrence Elrod.
Speaker 1:And I am Kristen Willinga.
Speaker 2:And today is actually a very special day, and the reason why I say that is I have a good friend of mine that we're going to be interviewing. He's worked in the public transportation industry for a number of years In fact, we're childhood friends, been knowing each other almost 50 years and it's definitely a pleasure to have him on here Everyone. Please welcome Charles Adams to the show.
Speaker 1:Charles whoo.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me, guys. Thanks for having me. How are you doing?
Speaker 2:this morning, charles, I'm doing good. What about yourself? You know what am? I'm blessed. I could complain, but no one cares, right? Well, uh, I know you've been working for cta particular for a number of years. Um, can you kind of tell everyone you know a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 3:a little bit about yourself. Like you said, I've been with the Chicago Transit Authority since 1999. Good career, seen a lot of things. Like you said in the beginning, we're childhood friends, grew up same neighborhood, went to the same grammar school, high school. We went our different ways and started our lives, started our careers and it's good to be here now to interact with you and your co-hosts and just to talk about some things I could share from my experience and knowledge of the Chicago Transit Authority.
Speaker 3:So I'm a simple guy, easy guy, family guy, you know, just living life, loving life to the fullest.
Speaker 1:So what do you do at CTA, like do you drive something? Are you an accountant? What is your role?
Speaker 3:You, know that's a good question. You know, when people think of CTA, the first thing they think of is someone driving a bus or someone driving a train. There's a lot of people behind so the trains could stay on. We we keep the tracks in good condition so people could be safe getting to their destination from A to B. So I've been doing this since 99. I started off in a gang so I was doing more demolition work, tan up, putting up some new so it could last a period of time. Now I became an inspector. It's just walking and a lot of math, a lot of measurement, a lot of writing. I've been in several different departments pertaining to the track department, so I love it and enjoy it and, um, I'm very concerned about the safety and the conditions of the track so people can get to their destinations the safety and the conditions of the track so people could get to their destinations.
Speaker 2:You know, charles, I'm actually pretty interested. What got you into this career in the first place?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's a good question. You know, for years we always rode the AL and I was curious, just to. You know, as a kid you look out the window and you take a view Kids always been fascinated about trains, the speed, the power, what it looks like, and ever since I was a kid I always got like a racing car set or a train set. You know, I used to put the train set around the Christmas trees and I was always fascinated about the driver, the conductor, the outfit, the hat. I never thought I'd see myself at ETA. Honestly, you know I always wanted to be an athlete or something, but the job was presented to me and I fell in love with the job. I really fell in love with the job. Take the job very serious.
Speaker 3:I love trains. People ask me all the time how can I get a conduct that head? How can I get a train set? Uh, do they still have tokens? Uh, they want to know the history of the train. How fast does it go? And not only just the chicago transit authority. I get to ride all the transit that travels through chicago and throughout chicago, each one of them. Like, we have a suburban train which is called the metro. It goes much faster. So I know that. Uh, some history of the trains, and I'm fascinated about trains. I love trains, you know, and it's a good way to travel. If you're going out of town, uh, some people prefer the airplane, but, believe it or not, driving a train, the view is beautiful. You know, you're going out of town some people prefer the airplane, but, believe it or not, driving a train, the view is beautiful. You know, you're going to go on through mountains, going over water, the scenery, and so that's the beauty of a train, and you get to conversate with people, have some good conversations.
Speaker 1:So when it came to getting into this field, did you first have to go to school for any sort of engineering or technical school, or were you trained on the job?
Speaker 3:You know CTA, you got a mixture. You got people with degrees, no degrees. We do have in-house schooling, depend on what position you're going for. And basically, CTA look for the basics If you can see the potential in a person you're going for. And basically, CTA look for the basics. If you can see the potential in a person and you see the basic and you see where a person could grow, we're willing to train and teach, Depending on what department you're going to. So you need that mixture. You need a mixture of both and it works out well.
Speaker 2:You know, what's interesting, charles, is that when people think of public transportation, they generally think of bus driver, conductor maybe the maintenance people that you see work in the tribes, people that they actually see on a day-to-day basis. I'm quite sure there's a lot of other careers and a lot of the things that goes on behind the scenes, as far as career-wise, that someone could look into you know your co-host brought out a point about.
Speaker 3:There are people that handle the budget, there are people in human resource, there are people that's out in the field, there's people that's in the office. There's the engineers there, there's people who draw up the blueprints, there's the labor person, there's the janitor person, there's the mechanics. We even had electricians, the carpenters, the plumbers, because our transit system just don't go on the ground. We go elevated, we go over the expressway, we go in the subways, so we need key people in those positions that have that. We have people that handle the lights, the garbage. We have people that handle payroll. We have people that handle the manpower. We have represented the spokesperson. So when we do have accidents or things like that, we have people that go speak out. We have safety people. So we're a big family. We got so many departments, so many Java classifications that you could think of. So it's one big family, but it's a common goal to get people to where they need to go Safe, on time, clean service.
Speaker 1:So, since we're talking about behind the scenes sort of things, what do you think is just like one major thing that most riders don't know about keeping the trains running on time daily? I mean, are there certain things that you're like man? Before I worked here, I had no idea that you know that's a good question.
Speaker 3:If manpower is always talked about you, it's like having a team. You need a good amount of people. Everybody played a part and it's uh. Dealing with transportation is not easy because you got to have the right people in position. They got to be trained properly, especially when you're dealing with time, getting people saying we're going to get you from a to b at this time, and if you don't, sometimes I would feel we fail and we try to find a way to make it up. So our job is to really manage time well. Time is so important. If you get off to a bad start, that means the rest of the day you know could go bad. So time is important and we stress time safety. Uh, uh, courtesy, being polite to the customers, it's a lot to go behind the scenes. I mean it's not always pretty. You know people only see the front of it, but they don't see the behind the scenes. It's a lot of work behind the scenes.
Speaker 2:You know, Charles, you actually hit on a great point and you know when you look at things behind the scenes and things of that nature. What does people need to know, as far as if someone were to work for CTA or any other public transportation, that they should know in order to be successful?
Speaker 3:there. One is to respect time. Respect time, follow the rules. Rules are in place to keep you in line. A lot of people don't like rules. They don't like to be told what to do. They're instructions to help you do your job well. We have what we call SOPs. They're like rules and regulations. If you do this, if you do that, the consequences, things of that nature. So coming into CTA, people must realize it is a good career job being focused. You have to be focused because dealing with a train and a bus, we're talking about the safety the safety of people and the safety of the employees. So safety is stress and we also tell people you know you can't be high, you can't be drunk because you operate in the machine and we have so many people in our hand that you want to stay focused. You have to stay focused. You got to take safety serious. You got to take time serious and you have to do your job well and perform and you earn your check.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we have talked about the serious stuff. Do you have a specific day, or like an event that really made you proud, or like grateful to do what you do?
Speaker 3:You know, we have a couple events. We have something that's called a rodeo. It's annually and we all come out. It's like a big family. We come out. You can bring your family, families. Uh, we have, uh, uh, the city of chicago. We have something like the jesse white timely team, so we have some people that can entertain you. Uh, gifts, we compete against one another. Do you remember your rules? Or who the fastest is on a bobcat? Or? Uh, you know all the rules to a train. So it's a good family event. And and then you also have the unions. They have the annual like picnics and events. So we honor each other like that. If people care to participate, that's a good thing. We also give out.
Speaker 3:I was talking to Lawrence about certificate. You get five years. You get a certificate. You feel appreciated. It means a lot. You get buns. It's like being in the military. You can put on your shirt or you can put on your hat. Guys love that. All the little gadgets, the coolers, the water bottles, so you feel appreciated. It means a lot Knowing that somebody is watching you, knowing that you're doing your job that's nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's very nice. I mean, I didn't know. Uh, cta did all that. That's actually pretty cool. We got a lot of toys. Well, I'm quite sure you've collected quite a few things over the years give away a lot of stuff.
Speaker 3:I could give you some stuff. I can give both of y'all some stuff Bags, book bags, you name it, Tool sets you know I was going to say where are all your pins?
Speaker 1:I expected some pins on your hat, or yeah, come on.
Speaker 3:You know now, Monday through Friday, yeah, Weekend me Got it, Got it.
Speaker 2:I love that. And actually that leads me into my next question, charles. I know that lately, you know, the big trend is really putting a focus on mental health, especially in men, because, you know, for a long time, you know, we never really talked about our feelings. You know someone asks us how we're doing, we're like, no, I'm good, even if it's not true. What do you do to kind of decompress and kind of give time for yourself? You know, either physically, mentally, something that would kind of help you go, ah cool, everything's fine, and just kind of relax yourself.
Speaker 3:You know from the job. I tell people, especially the young guys, don't bring your job home and sometimes we tend to bring the job home. Or you talk to your spouse, you, you talk about the job too much when you come home. You got to just leave it right there and relax. I call it woosaw. So I don't care if you gotta listen to some jazz, you gotta read a book, go for a walk, work out uh, that's why I love gardening. I love gardening, I love working out. And you, you gotta release you. You can't bring it home. Some people keep it all bottled in and they trap themselves and they hurt themselves that way. So it was meant for us to release, get rid of it, detox it and, like I say, don't be complacent and be focused. You have to be focused and that's the key, and I know it's not always easy, but you have to find some type of out. You have to too.
Speaker 1:I love that. So when it comes to, I guess, how you feel about your job, how does it feel? Because I mean, I think it's neat. How does it feel being a part of something that's so essential to so many people's daily life? Does it feel like a lot of pressure, or do you feel important?
Speaker 3:You know what I take pride in my job. You're always going to have some employees. They just there, they just there for a check. But you got to take your job serious, you got to care and I'm always a believer that I like to see the job go from generation to generation to get better and better, to go forward. It can get better and I see changes and some people don't like the changes, but change is here. So I do take it serious. I don't take it lightly, I enjoy it. Take it seriously. I don't take it lightly, I enjoy it. I like to see people smile, like yourself, happy, and I can look back and say I played a big part in that and I really believe in that and that's part of building your legacy as well.
Speaker 1:I love that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Well, I have to ask this question here, but obviously people in the chicagoland area kind of know what's going on, with the potential budget issues being that, um, for whatever reason, um, the amount of money appropriated hasn't shown up in the budget or they're addressing later. We don't know yet. It's still being looked at. But kind of tell people from your perspective um, if there is a massive budget shortage, what does that mean? Well, we.
Speaker 3:We know it can lead to people losing their jobs, being laid off, and you don't like to see nobody getting laid off. Uh, one thing I learned about cta we always try to find a solution. Uh, the last thing you want to do is, you know, to lay off people because you need, you need people, you need body. I always like to say you need all hands on deck. Uh, hopefully they come up with a solution. We do have a timetable. Maybe 40 years out, maybe something will be solved. And that's what I always look for and I always encourage people to don't get down. You have to do what you have to do.
Speaker 3:It's been tough, lawrence. It's really been tough. A lot of people are panicking, some people are retiring, some people are retiring so they can make room for the people. That's with less than you're not gonna understand. It's a waiting game. Let me put it to you that way. It's a waiting game. You just have to wait. All parties got to get together and hopefully come up with the right solutions so we can continue to go forward, because, uh, public transportation is so important in the city of chicago, so we have to come to some common ground, some agreement where we could keep it going with all the people. We need to keep our with all the people we need to keep public transportation going.
Speaker 1:So and you talk a little bit about change also and I'm sure change is coming with, you know the budget issue and how that's going to get resolved. Are there any specific things that with those changes that you're like excited about or that you could see or hope get improved with some of these changes that might be happening?
Speaker 3:you know, some people don't like a baby. A baby don't like to be changed. They're staying that diaper. Well, but sometimes change is.
Speaker 3:Sometimes change is necessary for the improvement and the better throughout my career I have saw where change really works and it helps. You may not agree with everything in change, but you have to adjust to change and a lot of people don't like to adjust. So when they don't adjust, some people leave, go somewhere else, they retire. It took me a while to get used to the change, but I kind of like it as long as it's headed in the right direction, and that's what it's about. Improving it's not always to how should I say, maybe take away, but it's always to improve. Having the company continue to go forward. That's what it's about, not backwards but forward. So I'm not a person that's against change as long as it's for the right purpose and reason.
Speaker 2:I love that. Yeah, hey, charles, let me ask you this If someone were to become an employee for any public transportation, whether it be CTA or any other mass production line, what type of person would be successful working in public transportation?
Speaker 3:That's a very good question and I preach on this a lot Customer service, you have to have the right attitude, because anytime you serve in people, you have to be patient. You have to have the right attitude. You got to be direct. You have to be very helpful. You just can't just be a body Just like you guys. You bring out the energy, the personality, the character. You have to have the right people on the front line because you're welcoming customers into your public transportation and you want to greet them well. You want to feel like oh, I appreciate this, I could ride this train again, I could ride this bus again. But if you have a bad personality, nobody is not going to support you. That's like in any business. You know, in a restaurant, if you get a bad waitress, you don't want that waitress no more. So you need the right people in the position to make the job successful.
Speaker 1:That's a good point Do you have a story or you know a most memorable interaction with a writer?
Speaker 3:I have a lot of them with a rider. I have a lot of them because one thing about me I my position, I really don't deal with the public, but sometimes the public see us because I have company trucks or cars or whatever. But when I talks to some of the customer I like helping, I know that direction. I don't want nobody lost. So if they tell me like, say, I want to get to the Sears Tower, I want to get to Wrigley Field, I want to get to Soldier Field, I'm familiar with the system, where to go and this, and that I want to be polite, I want to make sure they get there.
Speaker 3:If they don't know how to purchase their ticket, I even lead them to the machine. I know about the machine, even though it's not my job, but I don't want to see nobody lost and I can tell when somebody's lost because they're looking up at the sky for a long time. So I feel you know, because I by me, represent cta, I'm a part of the company and I feel like sometimes, sometimes we may have to do some jobs outside of our job, even though I'm not getting paid for that, but it's just helping out, it's being that team player.
Speaker 2:Now you know I have to put you on the spot next year. What is your most proud or your best moment that you've had working for CTA?
Speaker 3:You know what, Anytime you could accomplish a project less than the time expected, that's an accomplishment. For instance, we have a big job and they give us six months to do it and we do it in four months. That's, that's a proud moment. And then you sit back and you watch the finished results of it. Sometimes I may drive on the expressway and pull over and look like man, I played a part in that accomplishment. So I saw a lot of projects that we finished, a lot of jobs that we got done, where people are happy.
Speaker 3:And to go back and answer your co-host's question about I never had a bad moment with a passenger. I always try to be helpful, even when I see them do wrong. For instance, there's a young man. He's about to light up a cigarette. I pulled him to the side. I had to talk to him on his language. I was like you know, we got police upstairs. Man, I don't want to see no scene. They'll give you a big fine. They can tackle you. This will be all on the news. He said good, looking out, old time. I said you know I can't stop you from smoking, but just not here. And he said I really appreciate that because he could have, could have suffered jail time, got in trouble, and it's just knowing how to talk to people. And that's what it's about knowing how to talk to people. If you give them I know that sometimes you have to be firm and direct I get it. But if you could start off and kind of talk to them the right way, you know, you'll get better results.
Speaker 2:You know, I love the fact that you actually did that because, unfortunately, there's a lot of people who'd be like, well, that's not my problem and just keep going.
Speaker 3:Right, right, right. That's why I say that's just a person at work, don't care. They just wait for payday. That's it. Yeah, you it. Yeah, you know you always gonna have some slackers. That's that's life. And then you have some people that go beyond the call of duty. You got some people that's just gonna follow the rules because they don't want to get in trouble. Nobody wants to get suspended or get written up, but anyway you can help a person and that takes pressure off you.
Speaker 1:That's how I look at it so, speaking of you know rules and regulations. Um, I'm sure you had a lot more when Kovac hit um how did that change things? And and did it change things permanently, or have they kind of gone back to business as usual?
Speaker 3:from Kov covid that's a very good question. That was a big challenge for us. You know, cta never sleeps. Uh, social distance was really preached. We had to wear our mask, be in safety. Safety is always first. Um, you know, of course we had to get the vaccination. It was a different feel, it was really a different feel.
Speaker 3:You know, during that time, ridership did go down. As workers, we still had to be safe. You know, instead of two people driving like in a van or a truck, it narrowed down to one person. It was mandatory that we wear a mask. It was mandatory that, uh, we kept our distance. So it was more safe, it was more and, uh, we did what we had to to keep the locations clean, be aware, be alert, really protecting one another. So that was a challenging time but we made it through. We made it through.
Speaker 3:Some people, you know, some people died. Some workers died. That was sad. Some people really got sick, through it all, uh, but we had to continue to go forward. We had to continue to go forward. We still people were still getting on the train and buses, not as much because of what was going on around the world, but it really that's a life-changing experience for anybody. I never saw nothing like that in my lifetime nothing experience for anybody. I never saw nothing like that in my lifetime nothing. And I was so blessed I never got colby. I did what I had to do. Um, we was buying orange juice for each other, drinking a lot of tea and sanitizer whatever we had to do gloves, uh but everybody was looking at each other. Like you know, as soon as you hear somebody sneeze, everybody freak out. You know it was a different experience. Yeah, I have, I have experienced that in my lifetime, but we made it through. So we hear that I could talk about it.
Speaker 2:We made it through I gotta imagine that had to have made your job kind of difficult, because obviously there's certain tasks where you need multiple people doing yeah it, you know it.
Speaker 3:It got slower because of manpower. Um, there's people that didn't want to take, uh, the vaccine. They're right, you know. So we had to do. We had to do. Some people had to pick up the slack, somebody else lagged because, you know, whatever reason, and that's their right. So you can't force nobody and that's your right. But I did what I had to do because I look at, I look at family. You know you have to do what you have to do for family. I look at that. So I look at the bigger picture. Uh, it wasn't new, you know, but for some reason some people just didn't want it to take it. You know that's their right yeah, um.
Speaker 1:So. So I guess, coming coming back from covet, um did Were there any changes that you made during COVID that have stuck?
Speaker 3:You know, I believe everything is coming back to normal. We've gotten back there, but you still have a few people that are very, you know, cautious. You know ridership is picking back up. It's getting back to normal. It's really getting back to normal. That took a while, you know that took a while, and that's a good thing. You want everything to get back to normal where people could enjoy themselves, you know, getting to work, getting to whatever event they have to go to, even in the workforce. So we're getting back to normal, normal and that's what you want yeah, oh, absolutely yeah now I'm very curious about this.
Speaker 2:now, obviously illinois, um, is a on the state level where you can smoke marijuana legally. Kind of clear up the misconception about driving a commercial vehicle with marijuana, because some people have this and you know what I'm talking about here. Some people have this crazy idea and the only reason I know this is because you know I sold commercial trucks for so many years. A lot of people have this idea that well, you know it's legal to buy marijuana, so you know it's not a problem. You're smoking, smoking it and driving a bus or train. And can you kind of clear that up a little bit?
Speaker 3:My God, Wow, you know, we take random drug tests, we take random alcohol tests.
Speaker 3:You know you cannot be high driving any vehicle and you're responsible for lives in your hands. Not be high driving any vehicle and you're responsible for lives in your hands. So you know that's a no-no. Now, what you do on your, your free time, is your business. But operating uh, uh, any type of machinery operation, such as a bus, a train, even the equipment that I'm around like a crane, a bulldozer, a bobcat, you want people to be sober and focused. You cannot be. Uh, you know too much of that. No way know how. That don't mean you have the freedom to do what you want. No, you still have rules in place, you know. Do you think you can function better drunk or sober Better drunk?
Speaker 1:or sober, so okay. So I have a very strong, strong opinion about this, so I'm curious about yours. What role do you feel public transit plays in connecting people and neighborhoods and communities?
Speaker 3:That's a very good question. You know, in the city of Chicago you have suburbs that touch the city of Chicago and we have other community trains and buses so we all connect as it's a family RTA we call it RTA and you have a suburb bus that gets close to the city. Then the CTA pick them up and take them to their destination. So we all connect with family. They're really trying to merge us all together, to work together. But there's been some problems with that because the suburbs wanna stick to their transportation, the city wanna stick to their transportation, city want to stick to their transportation. So, uh, in the city of chicago they really trying to merge all of us together. So will it work? Possibly, you know, or extending the lines. So we're in the process of extending uh services to the suburbs services to the suburbs.
Speaker 3:So we've been working on that. Uh like, uh, cta only goes city limits, but now we're trying to extend it where it goes, uh, in the beginning of some suburbs, or further north or further south. Uh, it could work. It could work. It takes teamwork and all the leaders coming together to make it happen. It could happen, maybe not while I'm still here. When I retire. I could see it five years from now. I could really see it, oh wow.
Speaker 1:Do you see a public benefit to that, or what is your opinion on extending lines?
Speaker 3:I can, especially because you know, especially when you're dealing with, when you have airports, jobs, schools, some people go so far and some public transportation don't go as far. So if we could extend it now we servicing everybody the city and the outer skirts of the city, and that's a plus. That's a plus Because you know you can't always get the cab driver, so anyway we could service people through public transportation or the metro, or we got another system called the PACE, so wherever we serve people to get people to their destination.
Speaker 2:Now you know, I got two questions as a follow-up to that is one if CTA goes into the bordering suburbs, would it still be known as CTA or would it transfer over to RTA?
Speaker 3:You know, that's a good question, lawrence. That's probably on the table. That's a good question, lawrence. That's, that's probably on the table. That's a very good question. All the presidents of those um, those transportation, they, they come together on it. That's a very good question.
Speaker 2:So I haven't heard nothing about that yet, but that's a very good question now, the second part of my question being that both of us are diehard Chicago Bears fans through and through. Now I don't know if it's on the table or they're talking behind the scenes. Being that the Bears are going back and forth, I personally think it's going to end up in Tarleton Heights, unless something dramatic happens. But if that happens, do you think, from what you're seeing, that there's going to be a point where CTA extends all the way out to the new stadium in Tarleton Heights?
Speaker 3:It's a possibility. Anything's possible Throughout the history, like the blue line, for instance. We call it the blue line and that extended to the airports. We have two lines that extend to the airport. It did happen. I have the dates of that, that's a plus. So, extending to Soldier Field I believe they would try to extend it as far as they could go and then maybe a suburb bus could pick it up from there. So I can see that, I really can see that, and you made a good point on that, um, because to take a cab or uber, that's a nice distance from the city, you know. So I can't see that and I believe it's in the making when I don't know, but I, I believe, is it's going to happen and it goes back to the beginning of our.
Speaker 3:What we was talking about change. A lot of change is here, beginning of our what we was talking about change. A lot of change is here and, and some people going to be in an uproar no, I don't want the city coming out here and that's too far. And, uh, why don't we keep the bears right here? So it's been going back and forth, back and forth, so I'm hearing it from different angles, different people. Uh, who knows what the future holds. I really can see it happening, cuz I believe the people of Chicago. They wanna see the Bears move, they wanna see a championship, they wanna see a dome, they wanna see the city of Chicago host a Super Bowl. It's at Arlington Heights and that's what a lot of professional teams are doing now. They're taking the teams out of the city and taking them to the suburbs because of the land, and that's one of the biggest reasons because of the land.
Speaker 2:Good point.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm a Lions fan, so I understood like halfway through.
Speaker 3:Well, we got your coach. I like that.
Speaker 1:Okay, but I do have a question. So, and only because my my dad's a truck driver, right, and I know he's got just his daily like routine of where he goes for his morning coffee, where he gets his bagel, do you have a morning routine Like? Do you have your favorite like pit stops?
Speaker 3:you do every day that you're like I can't function without my blueberry muffin, sort of sort of thing I, like you said that, and I and I deal with the truck drivers when they bring in their goods and stuff and I have to unload them and stuff like that. I've been cut from the old school and I learned from the old guys. They it's like they need that morning breakfast to get them going. They need that coffee, maybe that donut, maybe that short conversation, maybe that sport talk, maybe a couple of jokes, just to get it going. So that's the morale up. So that's an excellent point. So traditionally I continue to do that and every new guy to come in I take them along teaching the routine. Hey, start your day off here.
Speaker 2:This and that and yeah, to ask you a question, yes, and I love it nice now, charles, when people look at this interview and there's probably people already thinking man, man, you know, that would probably be a great career. Love to do that. What advice would you give someone who really seriously wants to get into public transportation? You know, whether it be working maintenance, whether it be driving a truck or maybe even an office. What advice would you give them?
Speaker 3:First, I'm going to put this in place. We have a lot of trades at Chicago Transit Store A lot of trades. I tell a lot of young people that CTA is still one of the best jobs to have in the city of Chicago. You can have your career here. You can. Best jobs to have in the city of chicago you can have your career here. You can.
Speaker 3:Uh, sometimes when a person get out of college they may not be able to go into their field, but at chicago transit door we have something you can get into based off, you know, your educational background. So cta has something for everybody. Uh, I think a lot of people look at when they see a person at a cta uniform, right away they see money signs. That's first thing. They look at cta. A lot of money, you know. But when you actually apply for the job in the position and you see what you're really interested in, make sure that's what you really want to do. And I tell people, make sure that's what you really want to do. Are you here for a paycheck or you really want to make a difference? It's the money always going to be there, but you want to make a difference. You want to bring your knowledge, your experience, your skill set, your talent, whatever it may be, to make a difference at the job. So I'm always encouraging young people when they come in, because I see people come in and I see people go. They say that's not the job for me. My mother told me to go here. Uh, cta is also a family job and I I touched on this before that um, you have three, four, five generations of family at my job and that's good.
Speaker 3:Sometimes you may not be able to find something out in the world in your field. Come to CTA, you may find something there. You can always go to our website wwwchicagotransportaureatecom. It's a lot of jobs, great opportunities. If you're in college, you can do your intern. It's a lot of opportunities at CTA. You're in college, you can do your intern, no-transcript, not a bad job. It has changed people's lives. People have been blessed through it. I've seen a lot of great things happen at CTA and a lot of people prosper from it. And to see people retire that put in so many years and they're gone on, they're relaxing, and just to see their children, their children's children, get in, that's a blessing. So I'm always encouraging people if you want to come here, be serious about it and make it a career. Don't look at how many years you got to do. Make it a career.
Speaker 1:Was there anything so just to save anybody grief? When you first started or within the first few years, were there any big challenges you feel you had to overcome in order to feel settled there?
Speaker 3:Yes, the time schedules. One thing at CTA the schedule is not your basic schedule, like your nine to five. Like you're nine to five, you may and you may start off on the night shift. Just for example, when I first started I started at nine o'clock at night, got off at five in the morning. Never done that shift before. So it's changed my lifestyle a little bit, my eating habit, and so when I build up time now I got a set schedule 7 to 3, 30 weekends, weekends off, love it. If I want to do some overtime, that's on me. So, like I said, cta is 24 hours, so you have some time, some schedules. That's totally different, that you never heard before.
Speaker 2:But people do it all the time. Now talk about time. I have to put you on the spot again Now, being that you've been working for CTA so long and obviously there's going to be a point where you're going to retire. I'm kind of curious do you know what you're going to be doing? Are you going to be active or just going to be sitting in front of the TV eating your milk nuts? You know?
Speaker 3:that's a good question. I get asked that all the time, especially when a person gets ready to retire what are you going to do? Are you going to get another job? Are you going to be a consultant? Are you going to work part-time? Are you going to go to another city and work for another transit, or are you going to really do what you say retire and relax and just travel the world? I'm still at the table with that.
Speaker 3:I really probably want to do something that I always wanted to do, and I believe people always have their dreams that they always wanted to do. But they had to put it on hold because, uh, what they had to do with their job. So I probably won't be in the uh, in the uh, transportation field, but I'll probably be doing something that I really want to enjoy doing, and it's not even about the money either, you know. But I have guys, as soon as they retire, they go work for another company, just like this, and it's like why you go over there? You could have stayed here and now you got to start all over again. I see that all the time.
Speaker 3:Some, some people go for two and three pensions, some people deal with just one pension and they done, you know. So I got to next year. I've been really sitting down with what I'm going to do, but I'm not going to be in this field. But I can tell people that once this is over with, I had a good ride. I enjoyed it. I have nothing bad to say about it. I may have some disagreement but overall, wearing the good and the bad, it's been a good ride.
Speaker 1:Nice good ride, nice. So you had mentioned um before. I mean pension, and then also I thought you said something about union before. So there is. Tell me about the union. How does that work? Does everybody have to be a part of it? What's the union situation there?
Speaker 3:you know you. You got salary, you got union. You know you got salary, you got union. Unions are good. Some people don't like unions. It's like I always like using this way. It's like the law say you have to have car insurance, right, it's better to have insurance than no insurance, because if something happened, you got insurance to back it up. And union the people are the union. You know the leaders of the union. You want them to bargain for you with management, better wages condition.
Speaker 3:You know, how that goes. Sometimes you may not agree with what you're going to get, but that's the fight, that's the beauty of it Can we come together and come up with something that we can all be in agreement with and be a little satisfied. But you're not going to make everybody happy. So you hear some some good stories, you hear some bad stories. I've been a member, uh union member since I started uh. For the most part I try to stay out of trouble and I only use the union when I really have to.
Speaker 2:And then when I go to meetings.
Speaker 3:Of course, you want to hear the updates on what's going on. What's going on with uh, uh, the contributions where we headed. Uh, for instance, like you guys brought up about what's going on in chicago with the budget, uh, the unions are getting together and uh, designing t-shirts got these signs going down there lobbying. So you need people like that.
Speaker 3:That's going to fight you know, everybody's not going to be out there and just fight. So I appreciate those people that's in office and trying to fight to make sure none of our wages and some of the things that we built up we lose. So, I believe in those people.
Speaker 2:Wow, you know, the crazy thing is we're almost out of time and wow, we could keep going with this. This has been a great conversation, awesome. I really appreciate you coming on to the show, charles. Thank you both for having me.
Speaker 3:Keep that smile. You got a great smile. We can use it.
Speaker 1:Thank you, thank you both, for having me Keep that smile.
Speaker 2:You got a great smile. We can use it. Thank you, yeah, again, keep us informed. You decide to retire? Definitely you're a friend of the show, so come on back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we can have a third co-host. Oh wow, okay, keep that in mind when you retire.
Speaker 3:Okay, that sounds good.
Speaker 2:Well, everyone, thank you again. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back. Welcome back everyone. We had a great, great show.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, Thank you so much to Charles Adams. He's just a fun, fun guy. I love to hear how excited he was about his 20 plus years at CTA and how he still seemed to really love it. So it was informational and fun. If you are interested in checking out our other interviews, please head to our TV networkcom or you can communicate with us on Instagram or on Facebook at Elrod TV network.
Speaker 2:And again I do want to thank everyone for watching us and supporting us as well. Just a little cheater notes here. In fact, kristen doesn't even know this, but I'm working with Some other filmmakers and I'm actually going to be putting a movie on the channel.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I have another podcast that's coming on board. In fact, this gentleman, real good friend that I know, he's actually out of Africa, so I'm going to be uploading that and then also working with other creators to put their products on ElrodTVNetworkcom. So there's a lot, a lot of great things to come very shortly.
Speaker 1:Bring them on, lawrence, bring them on.
Speaker 2:And always, always, always have those thirsty conversations. Again, I'm Lawrence Elrod.
Speaker 1:And I am Kristen Willinga.
Speaker 2:Have a great day, everyone. Bye-bye, bye you.
