Good, they need to stay focused on making my sammich.

free sammiches?

Also, employees of a retail chain often get discounts on purchases made at any location belonging to said chain, or, sometimes just the one location they work at

/Shocking!

So what!

Stewardesses get free Airfare when they travel for their work. OMG!!!!!!

Also, alumni of certain organizations continue to receive preferential treatment by their former peers

/SHOCKING!

Five dollar foot longs?

News alert, most cops don't get tickets!

Most baristas get free coffee, too.

How many office drones pay for post-it notes and paperclips or ball-point pens?

At first I thought it was like the MTA in NYC, where the ex-board members and executives get magical Metrocards - but damn, everyone?

yet everyone will biatch when a politician takes his family on that "critical" business trip that just happens to be in barcelona or the azores.

it's just public money. why not?

logruszed: News alert, most cops don't get tickets!

Neither do relatives of cops, or EMS personnel. Just make sure you have an EMT sticker..or a uniform shirt in the back window.

Bartleby the Scrivener: yet everyone will biatch when a politician takes his family on that "critical" business trip that just happens to be in barcelona or the azores.

it's just public money. why not?

Well for one most folks have a lot of sympathy or empathy for those perceived as fellow "working-men", and a lot less for "fat-cats".

I live in Massachusetts, but even I'm thinking, "so what?"

logruszed: Bartleby the Scrivener: yet everyone will biatch when a politician takes his family on that "critical" business trip that just happens to be in barcelona or the azores.

it's just public money. why not?

Well for one most folks have a lot of sympathy or empathy for those perceived as fellow "working-men", and a lot less for "fat-cats".



Blow me, buddy. Ok?

bugmn99: logruszed: Bartleby the Scrivener: yet everyone will biatch when a politician takes his family on that "critical" business trip that just happens to be in barcelona or the azores.

it's just public money. why not?

Well for one most folks have a lot of sympathy or empathy for those perceived as fellow "working-men", and a lot less for "fat-cats".



Blow me, buddy. Ok?

WTF? I'm not speaking to the logic behind the sentiment, just acknowledging the motive.

The inverse is that some people feel pissed of because someone else is getting away with something they can't/don't get away with. "sour grapes".

logruszed:
Well for one most folks have a lot of sympathy or empathy for those perceived as fellow "working-men", and a lot less for "fat-cats".

have you seen that salaries for toll collectors in Mass?

there's no more to the work than showing up, standing, and making change.

The first story sucks because they're overpaid as it is. I mean, it takes less money to light the Zakim-Bunker Hill Bridge than it does to pay one toll collector's average yearly salary.

As for MBTA workers...I'm a little less annoyed at them. Harder to get mad about overpaying people who actually are responsible for facilitating traffic rather than impeding it, like Mass. Highway does.

Bartleby the Scrivener: logruszed:
Well for one most folks have a lot of sympathy or empathy for those perceived as fellow "working-men", and a lot less for "fat-cats".

have you seen that salaries for toll collectors in Mass?

there's no more to the work than showing up, standing, and making change.

I'm no more aware of a toll collectors salary than the average person, which does nothing to mitigate how they are perceived; and that's the point when it comes to sympathy, isn't it?

It is perception, not reality, which motivates feeling.

I worked in a few nightclubs over the years when I was younger, and 'club courtesy' is an excellent institution. Former employees of the club you are going to don't pay cover. Current employees of any club in town don't pay cover.

And often, our drinks are on the house, within reason.

I see nothing at all wrong with these guys not having to pay fares. It's a perk.

What a nonissue. Also: retirees does NOT equal former employees.

I agree with most of the commenters - it's just a job perk like any other. It has a cost and a value, and they decided to give it. My company offers health insurance as a perk. If they didn't, they'd just have to pay me more so I could buy it myself.

It's a nice perk with added advantages for the MBTA. It means you have more employees who are actually invested in the system instead of, you know, driving everywhere, and it means that people responsible for making it work experience it first-hand every day and really want to make it improve.

I don't really see what the big deal is.

Hey, you mean the government offers perks packages to recruit people, just like any other employer does?

It is a negotiated part of our compensation package. Ultimately the MBTA is less munificent than smart. Rather than higher salaries the employees get a perk that relatively few of them use with any regularity. An unused perk costs nothing.