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Protesting for tuna
(lemm.ee)
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this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2024
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Genuine question: why don't they just start the train? Best case, the cat jumps off. Worst case, it dies but the train continues. Is there something else? Is the presence of the cat on the roof a safety issue?
Edit: I'm asking from the train operator's perspective. Obviously we want the cat to be safe and well, but a train company with a timetable doesn't care about that, so I wondered what's actually stopping them from just starting the train and potentially killing the cat.
So you think it’s acceptable to kill an animal so people aren’t late?
Should the cat know better? I’m not sure cats comprehend timetables.
No, I don't think it's acceptable. But my question wasn't about me, nor about ethics. There's no way a train operator with a timetable cares about animal well-being or any other question of ethics. I'm curious what the real reason is.
Why on earth would a train operator care about timetables over basic ethics? They are human beings, not robots, you know?
The controller and driver both get paid either way, and I'm sure the train driver is used getting home late on occasion - and I expect they get overtime pay, so he may well be laughing anyway.
And the controller, or whatever they're called, will just be seeing it as a PR issue. The slight lost money on the refunds (that passengers actually bother to put through) is easily worth the good PR.
Edit: Missed random words, impatient brain running too fast for fingers.
I do applaud your optimism. Wish I could have that same rosy view. Unfortunately company executives have shown time and again their true motives. You are of course correct that they are not robots; however, studies do show that they are disproportionately psychopathic compared to the general population, and the behavior of companies often reflects that quite visibly. Profits and the interests of stakeholders always take priority over basic human decency. It would definitely be refreshing if that is not the case here.
You’re missing a fundamental part here. The company execs are not the ones deciding whether to delay a train with a cat on the roof.
That’s the driver and conductor, who are paid hourly or salaried. The execs don’t even know there is a cat on the roof.
Not trying to get personal or anything, but it sounds like you've never been an employee in this kind of organization. It is absolutely the higher-ups (line managers; not necessarily the CEO) who decide whether a train conductor is allowed to delay a train for reasons like this. Employees such as these are under constant stress and pressure to perform to expectations or risk negative evaluations, which can lead to the next raise being denied or, in some cases, dismissal. In many organizations with schedules, timetables, deadlines etc., employee evaluations often depend on coldly calculated heuristics such as proportion of on-time arrivals, not on a human evaluation like how nice you are to animals. Your delayed train just drops you in the statistics and “there was a cat on the roof” simply does not factor into those statistics. This is a direct consequence of the profit motive where “productivity” or “employee performance” is considered more important than peripheral considerations like animal well-being.