A show about what we can learn from anyone’s job
A show about what we can learn from anyone’s job
Transcript: Episode 3 - Everyday Experts: Chiniqua Levine
INTRO
Thanks for tuning in to Everyday Experts -- a show about what we can learn from anyone’s job.
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EPISODE INTRO
[00:00:00] Chiniqua: [00:00:00] Being a new Yorker from New York, I just love being in the heart of my city and like just helping it move. I like to say a joke. I want none of my customers to ever want to take an Uber
[00:00:13] Bethany: [00:00:13] welcome back to everyday experts. This season is all about getting to know your customer. On today's show. You'll meet Chiniqua Levine, a bus operator in New York city who epitomise is what it means to put people first. I first met Sheniqua on a solo trip that I took to Puerto Rico several years ago. We ended up getting matched as kayaking buddies on a midnight ride through a mangrove forest.
[00:00:38] Yes. This is a hilarious, as it sounds and resulted in a large number of faux pas, team building, and navigating misadventures, all of which is a story for another time, you can read about it on my blog everyday experts.co. Suffice it to say, however that she made a big enough impression for us to stay friends years later.
[00:00:59]One big thing that struck me about Chiniqua was her incredibly upbeat attitude, both about the city and the people she serves. Up until 2020, when she stopped working due to medical reasons, Chiniqua spent nine years working for the MTA. That's the metropolitan transit authority, but she never let the city's grittiness bring her down.
[00:01:21] I interviewed Chiniqua in December of 2019, just in the midst of the holiday season, in New York city and pre pandemic. I spent the afternoon riding along her route and joined her on her dinner break, where I interviewed her from a crowded cafe, which is why you'll hear a little background noise as we talk.
[00:01:38]As every new passenger boarded, the bus, Chiniqua, greeted them, enthusiastically answered their questions and made sure people found their way to the right stops. She even offered some Midwestern tourists with a recommendation for a top steak restaurant in the area. The more I got in her head, the more I realized that she was practicing an elegant balance of mindfulness, both connecting with her customers while also being cognizant of what it takes to maneuver such a large vehicle in the safest way possible.
[00:02:08] Keep in mind that this conversation [00:02:10] took place before the threat of COVID-19 on transit workers in New York city. The job of a bus operator today has become, if anything, even more mission critical to our city survival. Right now in the spring of 2021, as new Yorkers start to emerge from their winter hibernation and re-engage in the city, I wanted to share this story of how things were.
[00:02:33] It may be a long time yet before we ride public transit without face masks and I think we have a lot to learn from the kind of people who take on perhaps some of the most frontline jobs out there. So without further ado, meet Chiniqua Levine.
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INTERVIEW - CHINIQUA LEVINE
[00:00:00] Bethany: [00:00:00] thanks for being here.
[00:00:01] Chiniqua: [00:00:01] thank you for having me.
[00:00:02] Bethany: [00:00:02] So first, I'd love to just sort of hear what exactly is your job description as a bus operator?
[00:00:10] Chiniqua: [00:00:10] So I would say transportation is definitely our business doing it safely, efficiently, humanely. I'm serving the people, serving the people no matter what, serving the people in a safe, efficient manner. And I'm a native new Yorker, so I just love doing that on a daily basis.
[00:00:30] Bethany: [00:00:30] And you've been doing this for eight years, you said
[00:00:32] Chiniqua: [00:00:32] Got coming on eight years in March, it'll be eight years.
[00:00:34] Bethany: [00:00:34] That's amazing.
[00:00:36] Chiniqua: [00:00:36] Thank you.
[00:00:36] Bethany: [00:00:36] How did you first get interested and involved in driving buses?
[00:00:42]Chiniqua: [00:00:42] I would say the economy prompted me to rethink my career.
[00:00:48] Bethany: [00:00:48] So this was back in 2011?
[00:00:50] Chiniqua: [00:00:50] Yeah.
[00:00:50] In 2011, I had to rethink what would I be doing as a woman of a certain age. And, um, honestly I rode buses as a child alone since about nine years old
[00:01:03] Bethany: [00:01:03] in New York city
[00:01:04] Chiniqua: [00:01:04] New York city from the Bronx, one 61st street and get stadium down to 86th street and York Avenue.
[00:01:10] I wrote to my school. So I feel like I've always been on buses and I've seen a lot in the city. I've been driving, not a bus, but I've been driving unofficially since 16 officially by 18 so I felt like maybe I should marry those two things together and try to make 'em a rewarding career for myself.
[00:01:36] Bethany: [00:01:36] I just spent three hours with you on your bus route and I've never seen someone be so enthusiastic to see customers. You seem like you really enjoy the work that you do.
[00:01:46] Chiniqua: [00:01:46] I do. I love, love the customers more than anything. I would say the least I like is traffic, but I do realize there's a need for traffic in order to need bus operators like myself and in a big city like New York, there's just always going to be traffic.
[00:02:00] So, but I do, I love the people. I love customers.
[00:02:04] Bethany: [00:02:04] So you must need. Kind of Zen mental States while you're on the road.
[00:02:10] [00:02:09] Chiniqua: [00:02:09] So I would joke that I need a lot of coffee while I'm at work and a lot of herbal tea when I'm not at work.
[00:02:16]Bethany: [00:02:16] so what do you do with, with the traffic and the construction? Like New York is like such an unpredictable place to drive.
[00:02:25] Chiniqua: [00:02:25] So that's true. So I think what I do, honestly, there was a certain element of thinking outside of the box if I could use that. So I try to see, because they teach us about forward planning of the MTA, looking ahead, looking side to side, seeing things that maybe you could prevent long before you get near or around them looking in your mirror to see what's coming behind you on the side of you.
[00:02:51] And then my brain, the way that it works is, I just try to think of something that will at least allow me safely. If I'm able to still move slowly but in a direction that lets the customer know that I'm intent on getting them to their destination,
[00:03:10] Bethany: [00:03:10] I love that. I think that there's so many ways that people want, a lot of professions can be forward planning and it's not always as easy as like the line of sight view that you probably have while you're sitting in traffic on 12th Avenue looking ahead. But like in my industry, forward planning is like, what do we want to do as a business in 2020 and we just make these abstract plans. But you're actually seeing your immediate short term future, like right ahead of you all the time.
[00:03:36] Chiniqua: [00:03:36] That's right. That's right. And then trying to first make sure it lines up my strategy with the MTA policy and safety and then seeing if there is room, however, for me to use a little skillset, um, as a new Yorker, as a driver, as someone who's been on the bus. With a destination to get to, um, just to see if, you know, maybe the plan that I have is doable safely.
[00:04:06] Bethany: [00:04:06] So you weren't always a bus driver, this is a newer part of your career. How did you like pivot into this?
[00:04:13] Chiniqua: [00:04:13] Um, so I, I had put my name on the test examiner had taken the exam [00:04:20] just because the economy had
[00:04:21] Bethany: [00:04:21] That's a, a bus driving exam or what
[00:04:23] Chiniqua: [00:04:23] Um, it's actually called, there were two. One is called the boss exam. That's a little more general. And then the one that I honed in on that I took, I think the name escapes me, but I felt like I wanted to work for the New York city transit authority division of MTA.
[00:04:39] And that was mostly because I had family members in my lifetime who had worked for New York city transit authority. So I kind of wanted to pay homage to them. My aunt, my uncle, they both had retired. So I didn't want to just work under the MTA umbrella, but I specifically wanted to work for New York city transit authority.
[00:04:56] Bethany: [00:04:56] Is that a competitive proces?
[00:04:58] Chiniqua: [00:04:58] I would say it's competitive. Absolutely. first you need to pass a test
[00:05:03]Bethany: [00:05:03] what's on the test?
[00:05:04] Chiniqua: [00:05:04] first you need, you pass a written test. Yeah, let me be clear. A written test. Then they'll call you back. So there are a series of things that you need to have in order
[00:05:12] Bethany: [00:05:12] Is the written test like, like how do you know the rules of the road? Or is it like, like what's up? What's on
[00:05:17] Chiniqua: [00:05:17] no. And you know, I have to think about that. Maybe come back to that answer because it's been a while for me. But no, it had nothing to do at the time. The tests that I took with driving, it's more to weed out. Um, I'm assuming here, but like your integrity, how consistent you are in making decisions. So sometimes they would ask you the same question, but in a different way.
[00:05:39] Bethany: [00:05:39] like a character
[00:05:40] Chiniqua: [00:05:40] Character behavior. Yes.
[00:05:44] Bethany: [00:05:44] We do those in sales sometimes to see like how good could someone be at selling and closing clients and how good could someone be as a manager? And if you ask them the same question in different ways, then you can sort of get to
[00:05:55] Chiniqua: [00:05:55] And so that's, I can remember that specifically. They certain questions, they actually went a different way, but they were trying to see if you're consistent in the way that you behave in certain areas of your life. So
[00:06:06] Bethany: [00:06:06] So first there's a written test. And then what?
[00:06:09] Chiniqua: [00:06:09] And then you get called back.
[00:06:12] That doesn't always happen right away depending on the need. So at the time that I applied, this seemed to be a huge need. And honestly, they were calling me a lot, and then finally when I realized that we had just come out of a recession I said, this is an excellent opportunity to work in a city where you're born and raised with good benefits.
[00:06:30] [00:06:30] You, you'd better hop on it. How many times can you say maybe, maybe wait, wait. And finally I said, yes, yes, I'm very interested.
[00:06:37] Bethany: [00:06:37] And this was, then you had to do a driving
[00:06:38] test,
[00:06:39] Chiniqua: [00:06:39] So then the next part of the process, you do a medical or physical cause they're going to see physically if you're able to perform the job.
[00:06:46] Bethany: [00:06:46] And like you were telling me on the bus, it's actually, um, it can be kind of like hazardous to your health to be sitting for so long. So there's probably a lot you have to do even as a driver today to keep your health up.
[00:06:57] Chiniqua: [00:06:57] Yes. So they want you to do whatever it takes to be, um, proactive in maintaining your health.
[00:07:04] So I try to do things like maybe go to the gym, watch what I eat. I mean, it doesn't always work, but even what's built in immediately is that you should get up each time that you get to the end of your route, stretch your legs, move your legs around a bit. Even if you have to go, you know, right back out. I think it's contractually, I think we're allowed at least three minutes to walk, look around the bus, and see what's going on in the bus, and that helps you stretch your legs and move around and get your blood
[00:07:29] Bethany: [00:07:29] I think that's a practice that we should have another places too. Every Monday we have in my, I work at a venture capital firm and we have a five hour meeting. And sometimes we don't get to take a lot of breaks, but this idea that every hour you'd have a three minute stand up and stretch break. I think it'd be really helpful. And any time there's any sort of meeting environment for two or three hours.
[00:07:49] Chiniqua: [00:07:49] I agree.
[00:07:49] Bethany: [00:07:49] So then you are accepted as a bus driver. And then how are you trained? Do they just like put you on the road
[00:07:55] Chiniqua: [00:07:55] no. So now that's intense. So, and again, I'm going from memory, so I want to be totally factual. So you go to the training, um, facility, which is up in the Bronx, it's called Zaremba. And you're going to watch a series of videotapes, um, about customer service, about what you should and should not be doing about Americans with disabilities and their rights, cause you're going to interact with them.
[00:08:20] Bethany: [00:08:20] That's a really good point.
[00:08:21] Chiniqua: [00:08:21] Um, I'm just trying to think of everything. You're going to see drivers driving some that you'll end up coming to know, cause they'll work in your work location and you'll see some of the best, and I won't say some of the worst, but they'll show you what they agree they don't prefer that you do. So don't respond this way. [00:08:40] Even if this happens, you know, even though you're a human and it doesn't feel good, that is happening. We're going to try to pre-train you on to be prepared to how to respond to it. Any event if happen
[00:08:51] Bethany: [00:08:51] because you can be any, any kind of person could walk onto your bus at any time and you have to be ready to deal that.
[00:08:58] That's
[00:08:59] Chiniqua: [00:08:59] So one thing that comes to mind is deescalation is a, and not only do you get trained initially, um, you go back every two years to reinforce what you learned, just in case you forgot it. So deescalation, either deescalate a situation
[00:09:12] Bethany: [00:09:12] like a fight.
[00:09:13] Chiniqua: [00:09:13] anything, just anything that can be considered not businesslike, not professional. I'm not going to serve you or the customer. Cause not just you, it's the person or you and the person. It's other people who are on the bus who may be concerned for their safety.
[00:09:26] Bethany: [00:09:26] What are some of the things that you talk about in that, or what are examples of how you use
[00:09:31] Chiniqua: [00:09:31] it?
[00:09:31] So one of the biggest things that I probably was concerned about coming in as a newbie, I was just wondering like, how will I get people to pay their fare? Cause I just always felt like if I don't, my job is going to be in jeopardy
[00:09:43] Bethany: [00:09:43] And you're the enforcer of that
[00:09:45] Chiniqua: [00:09:45] Well, so that I don't like to use that word at all. Nothing about my job is enforcement. Nothing about my job as the enforcement. So what I will say, without revealing too much of the MTAs secrets because we are a revenue base, is that they even train you how to make sure that you're going home safely every night and handling that situation as much as possible professionally and leaving your own, feelings or your own views about fair paying customers or non fair payment customers. So that's a heavy area where they really enforce you, like you really need to just follow this policy and make it less about what you're feeling and what you're seeing and what you're experiencing and kind of for the safety of all yourself going home to your family, our policies, our liabilities.
[00:10:37] Just follow this. Very clear cut and dry rules that we have regarding those issues of fair.
[00:10:43] Bethany: [00:10:43] I can see that. I actually noticed while we were driving, there were quite a few times where customers are asking you to break the policy, so [00:10:50] someone asks you to stop before the bus stop at a block ahead. Someone asks you to pick them up somewhere that wasn't allowed and every time you were very polite but firm and sort of saying like, no, I can't.
[00:11:00] I can't do that. That's the policy. I did like that. You explained why, but you must, you must have to tell people no lot.
[00:11:05] Chiniqua: [00:11:05] Yeah. So I do. And I don't also, I don't often, I'm sorry.
[00:11:09] I don't often explain why. Cause like I don't want to set a trend where every operator's expected to explain why. But if I see a look on somebody's face, that really feels slighted. So like one gentleman I had to like. Pull up way above where he was standing and he had several packages and I didn't want him to feel like it was for any other reason except something he couldn't see is that the back of my bus wasn't all the way within the white line.
[00:11:36] And on a busy thoroughfare where we were, when cars are trying to pass, just sticking out a smidgen will allow a car to like smash into the back of my bumper. And even if it's just a gentle tap, now that means I have to stop, fill out an accident report and wait, and then the bus is no longer going to move in service.
[00:11:54] So I just wanted to say to him like, you know, sir, I didn't stop exactly where you were because I was trying to pull the bus out of harm's way, for lack of a better word.
[00:12:02] Bethany: [00:12:02] So there's a lot that you're seeing as the driver. You're paying attention to the street where your bus is, everyone on the bus. That's like a lot of management and you can't even really get out of your seat when you're doing a lot that.
[00:12:14] Chiniqua: [00:12:14] That's true.`
[00:12:14] Bethany: [00:12:14] so you've been doing this for eight years now. What do you like the most about this job?
[00:12:18] Chiniqua: [00:12:18] Being a new Yorker from New York, I just love being in the heart of my city and like just helping it move. I, I don't know, I'm relying to this day on public transportation to get where I gotta go. And so I just like that it's a city that is modernized and 21st century. And you know, things happen and sometimes they're delays and they're this congestion or whatever. But I do love to see New York city work, cause I think sometimes New York gets, um, a harsh rap. Like, Oh, it's rough and it's this New York is an awesome place. So I just like to transportation and reflect that.
[00:12:54] Bethany: [00:12:54] Yeah. It's like really like a sexy thing. I love, I love that you said like being a part of the city [00:13:00] and helping it move because when you come to New York, maybe it's your first time, and we had some first-timers on the bus today, you just feel like you're part of this vibrancy and this energy and like the MTA in particular is the underlying system that's making all of that happen.
[00:13:14] Chiniqua: [00:13:14] It's like the pulse of the city. The pulse. I like to say a joke. I want none of my customers to ever want to take an Uber.
[00:13:24] Bethany: [00:13:24] I like that. I guess one of the things that, I don't know as a customer of a bus, is like, what's the time schedule? Do you have like a strict schedule that you're sort of trying to keep too?
[00:13:35] Chiniqua: [00:13:35] Well, safety is always the first thing paramount. So I don't have a schedule with what we call in my business as a paddle. And it gives me my time points of where I start and at what time, where I should be by a certain time, but of course, you know, with traffic and things that are beyond our control.
[00:13:55] Bethany: [00:13:55] the UN's in session,
[00:13:57] Chiniqua: [00:13:57] Yeah, that's a great example. The black Fridays is coming up after that. All that's kind of out the window. So you just have to keep in mind where you would be starting a starting point where you may be, would be taking your lunch, if that's okay, you know when that time comes. So you have a pad on, it has a time points that the MTA has expertly been able to gauge that it takes about this much time, um, normal traffic. And even with extra traffic, at least by this point, you should be from point a to point B, point B to point C, so on and so forth. And so you kinda use your paddle as a Bible
[00:14:35] Bethany: [00:14:35] and there's a different paddle for every route,
[00:14:38] Chiniqua: [00:14:38] Every run cause their routes are usually similar. And I am not an expert, but the routes are usually the same route, but each run is different. So run one, the route is where we are. The M 12 was my route, but I was run six. So the person who run one
[00:14:54] Bethany: [00:14:54] or run is like the time of the day
[00:14:56] Chiniqua: [00:14:56] Um, and not necessarily, cause sometimes people start early and finish later, but it's just each run is carved out uniquely based on the real experts of the MTA who have figured out
[00:15:06] Bethany: [00:15:06] What the traffic patterns
[00:15:08] Chiniqua: [00:15:08] and the, it's something else called a [00:15:10] headway. Which, I don't want to give too much, cause some of it is the MTA is on private business, but, but they have it all figured out. And so they give you a paddle, which she kinda got to use it like, um, I won't keep saying Bible, but you gotta use it as a blueprint and you should be going as much according to it as possible, keeping in mind the safety factor, the reasonability factor,
[00:15:31] Bethany: [00:15:31] And then you have a number of runs that you will complete on your eight or nine hour shift.
[00:15:37] Chiniqua: [00:15:37] So then that's different. So that's not your run. Those are trips,
[00:15:40] Bethany: [00:15:40] trips.
[00:15:41] Chiniqua: [00:15:41] So like I'm the run six. On the 12th today, route 12 and then the question is how many trips did I have today? And I think on a Sunday I have about, I believe eight trips or so, but again, within reason. So if something were to happen and I couldn't safely make all those trips, that's where I collaborate well with a dispatcher, either by radio or sometimes they're right along the road side at certain points and they come in and they will adjust and fix as need be.
[00:16:11] Bethany: [00:16:11] Did you do any of that on our route today?
[00:16:13] Chiniqua: [00:16:13] Actually, so far I hadn't had to because, because it was Sunday, I want to say, um, for many different reasons, but we just got lucky. You know, everything kind of just went smoothly today, so
[00:16:24] Bethany: [00:16:24] But typically you are communicating with the customers, I guess on the bus all the time. In some way, eye contact alerting which stops, and then you're also in some way in touch with the dispatcher.
[00:16:34] Chiniqua: [00:16:34] Yes, so I can be in touch with the dispatcher by radio. He can contact me if he needs to. He makes 'em a call and I hear it and I pick it up on the phone or I can call him if I need to.
[00:16:46]Bethany: [00:16:46] Your route, by the way, was very fun. We started on 12th Avenue when all the way up to Columbus circle down past Chelsea market. I felt like we got to see the Christmas lights around Columbus circle. We got to see the tourists down, up and down top Avenue. I'm like, how does this, how is this? As far as routes go,
[00:17:07] Chiniqua: [00:17:07] that's actually a really cool route. I feel very blessed, honored, refreshed, revived, all those kinds of words. It's very welcome because some of the routes can be a little more challenging. [00:17:20] I would not kid you. So I, um, I've, I've been on this route for two months and I'm actually really enjoying it. I really am.
[00:17:28] Bethany: [00:17:28] So like what's a, what's considered like a bad route
[00:17:32] Chiniqua: [00:17:32] there are no bad routes. I'm not going to say that there are no bad routes in MTA
[00:17:36] Bethany: [00:17:36] but there are better routes.
[00:17:37] Chiniqua: [00:17:37] it's not bad or good. It's just from your point of view as an operator, what is it that you want to do each day? What time do you want to start working? What time do you want to be off work? I mean, within reason, because it's not going to be exactly the way that you prefer, but you kind of seek out, what fits, what fits your lifestyle outside of work? Because the thing about it is work after a while daily, we'll just eventually take a toll on you. And so what route will allow you best the time, the location that when you finish. Um, for me, I'll use me as an example. What route will allow me to get home the quickest to reboot and rejuvenate myself. Whereas if I pick another route, am I going to be far away from pulling into the Depot? And then I gotta cut into my commute time, which is more of my sleep time, which is more of my time for myself. So it just, just, just depends on the driver though.
[00:18:30] Bethany: [00:18:30] And do you change your routes often?
[00:18:32] Chiniqua: [00:18:32] I do, I'm, I'm not what you call a veteran driver, so it'd behooves me to change often, just to try to reinvent. And see what works for to keep my lifestyle outside of work. Yeah.
[00:18:42] Bethany: [00:18:42] Is that
[00:18:43] something you like volunteer for or does that just like kind of happen systematically?
[00:18:47] Chiniqua: [00:18:47] Well, it happens systematically because we have what's called the pic, and so each couple of months you get to go and you pick
[00:18:53] Bethany: [00:18:53] like a draft.
[00:18:54] Chiniqua: [00:18:54] Um, well, it's a draft, but it's opposite. Instead sending them, drafting you in your mind, you think you're drafting them, but, but the route drafts you. Like the M 12 when I went to look in at this time, it was already gone, which is fine. It just means somebody with more time, um, decided that they would like to, you know.
[00:19:11] Bethany: [00:19:11] so the more years of experience you have, the more, um, higher in the draft pick, you get to rank your preference?
[00:19:18] Chiniqua: [00:19:18] Or at least ,you just get to get to the pickings before others, that's the way
[00:19:21] Bethany: [00:19:21] It's like, it's choosing class classes in college.
[00:19:24]Chiniqua: [00:19:24] Exactly. So what's ever left, the way that you see it as good or bad or indifferent, [00:19:30] you're going to definitely follow your number that you are hired on the date to the letter, and then whatever's there and it's your turn to pick,have it.
[00:19:38]Bethany: [00:19:38] one thing I'm hearing is that there's a lot more that goes into this, both in terms of how you even get a job as a bus operator to the amount of attention that you must be paying to everything around you. That's, it's really impressive.
[00:19:52] I agree.
[00:19:52] Chiniqua: [00:19:52] I agree. Sometimes I can believe it myself. I applaud my coworkers every day. The system, the system is amazing. It's hard to not take something for granted that you're used to, but when you really step outside and see what we're moving and how we're doing it, I agree. It's an awesome system. I
[00:20:07] love it.
[00:20:08] Bethany: [00:20:08] Do you think there's a certain disposition you need to have to be a good bus operator
[00:20:12]Chiniqua: [00:20:12] I think you need to be honest with yourself and say, you know, yes, I'm human. Yes, things annoy me. Um, you know, yes, things can be challenging. But am I clear that the customer is always right, that the customer is the reason that I am here? And I feel like at least if you start there and use those as your focal points, I mean, even if you just have to do a pep talk every 10 minutes, if you need to, then the rest you should be able to do, you know.
[00:20:38] Bethany: [00:20:38] You're basically practicing mindful meditation the whole time.
[00:20:41] Chiniqua: [00:20:41] I, yes. And I don't mean to act like I do all the time because it's a work in a work in progress. Does it feel to say that? But, but generally it's the way that I. Try to, um, try to be anything just do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That's a pretty, I mean, I know it's cliche, but it's pretty reasonable and buses, it really is. So it means even if I have a car now, the latest model, most expensive car, at some point, if I rode a bus, I'm thinking probably every bus driver that has written a bus to get to a job, to get to an interview, to get to. It's like, even if you haven't had to do that for years. It's like, do you remember when you had to, you want to be treated as a human treated as fairly as possible, um, respectfully as possible, safely as possible.
[00:21:29] Bethany: [00:21:29] One of my very first jobs was working in retail at JC penny in the men's department, and I worked there for three or four years, and I have so much empathy for people who work [00:21:40] retail, particularly around the holidays, particularly around really busy times because, yeah, you're right, you do remember what that's like. I imagine though, um, some people might think that as a bus operator, you're seeing like the best, but also the worst of New York. So how has this made you like jaded at all? Or does it keep you optimistic about the city?
[00:21:59] Chiniqua: [00:21:59] Um, I'll, I'll say that I'm optimistic about life, which then affords me to be optimistic about the city just because life happens to all of us in one way or another. And so. Um, knowing that you live in a world with humans and that things are going to happen, I mean, you just try to leave X each experience as that, an experience with that individual or that location at that time and move forward to this experience at this time with this individual.
[00:22:30] So as I process it, I mean, I have to do it quicker. When I'm dealing with customers back to back, you know, you, you processing this quickly, like, okay, this is a different experience. Even if they look the same, act the same, seem the same. But I'm like, life is just like that. Every experience is just that, a different unique experience.
[00:22:47] So again, and the customers pay to have that afforded to them. If nothing else. I mean, that's not the reason why I do it, but if nothing else makes it clearer, the customers are paying. And so a joke that I'll give is if you think they're not paying at that time, for whatever reason, they pay taxes, someone in their family pay taxes, subsidies or whatever, so somebody paying for their experience. And it's not for me to decide, you know, that they should be treated any less than as a paying customer, as I would want to be treated.
[00:23:19] Bethany: [00:23:19] That's, that's really astute. So you've had previous jobs before this one. What sort of experiences do you carry with you and how do you apply that in what you do everyday
[00:23:29] Chiniqua: [00:23:29] That's a great question. Great question. So I know for sure. I hand handed out flyers. Um, at one point in my life when I was trying to sell memberships to a club, uh, a living world lady fitness club. So I am no longer afraid to like [00:23:50] engage people. A lot of people, I mean, I've always been a talker, but I don't mind engaging people quickly. I also had to do switchboard operating on two jobs simultaneously. So one for the phone company. Back then it was New York telephone, and then I worked in retail at Barneys New York. I worked the switchboard and those were the, so in the phone company that would just for one one inquiries, but in Barneys, those were high paying customers. So if you flubbed anything there, you'd get a call directly. Not from some big corporation, but the manager was at the time, I don't know if I should say his name, he was an elderly man, Fred Pressman. He was hands-on cause it's like a company that his parents built.
[00:24:35] So he would call like for the money room or call, and you didn't want to do anything to mess up a client coming in. And maybe. Dropping a couple of thousand dollars down easily on whatever it is they normally shopped at Barneys for us. So I mean, yeah, so you just learn how to switch, what operating, you learn how to handle a volume of calls quickly as well. I think what I want to say is the quickness, the quickness that's required. Quick, quick, quick for me came from handing out flyers from Manning switchboards two times, um, at both of those jobs.
[00:25:06] Bethany: [00:25:06] so it's interesting, a lot of the jobs that you've had, it sounds like have strict systems or protocols underlying them. Sometimes what I've been in jobs that have a lot of structure, I can feel like it's hard for me to express myself in the, on the process or on the job. How do you find time to feel like yourself along the way while fitting into this structured system?
[00:25:28] Chiniqua: [00:25:28] That's a great question. And so I'll say in eight years, um, I'm not so sure that I, well, I have found time. So do the ebbs and flows. And so I have to remind myself to do more of the rebuilding because it just being a creature of habit and working a lot, you just tend to go through your normal routine. But I find I function best and optimally when I. Over, indulge, not overindulge. [00:26:00] I said the wrong word, but when I give myself a lot of memories of enjoyment, just in case, I'm going to have long stretches of a lot of work. So for example, the holiday season is upon us. It's probably going to be a pretty tough holiday season because people shop from like the day after Thanksgiving, straight through to the new years when the ball drops.
[00:26:18] So knowing that on the sidelines, I'm like. When I'm planning my own vacation, so I have to look forward to when it's all over. But before that, I'll take like little weekend, steal away moments or whatever I can doing. I mean, things that are simple South Sudan seeing, or a movie that I really want to see, or just anything that I feel that fortifies my soul so that no matter what's going on, once I'm in the driver's seat, I mean, I can't check out.
[00:26:46]But at least when I get a moment. To stand up, and even if it's the three minutes to stretch my legs, then I can reflect on that great, wonderful experience. And until I get another one of those again.
[00:26:57] Bethany: [00:26:57] Well, that's interesting that you bring that up because we actually met on one of those experiences we met three or four years ago on a trip to Puerto Rico where I was in between jobs and you were taking a break we met on a kayaking adventure in Puerto Rico kayaking through a mangrove forest
[00:27:11]Chiniqua: [00:27:11] Late, late night pitch black,
[00:27:14] Bethany: [00:27:14] one of the most harrowing travel of in my life
[00:27:16] Chiniqua: [00:27:16] I do agree,
[00:27:17] Bethany: [00:27:17] But that was a, that was a recharge for you.
[00:27:20] Chiniqua: [00:27:20] It was a recharge. That whole experience was awesome
[00:27:23]Bethany: [00:27:23] there's a lot you can probably take from travel journeys and the empathy that you build by seeing other people visiting new places that you can maybe carry with you on your bus route.
[00:27:31] Chiniqua: [00:27:31] Absolutely. Absolutely. And I was even impressed when we were in Puerto Rico with their transportation system. Now this is prior to hurricane Maria, but yes, first and foremost, they had pink buses. That was enough to make me fall in love, pink, pink buses. I mean, as a female you got to know that. I'm like, Oh, hello, how do I get one of these back home?
[00:27:50] But, um, yeah, I would say that experiences there cause you're going in someone else's territory to vacate, which kind of means you're coming with all of your, whatever, your baggage and your issues and you want to just let it, let it hang out. And I don't know if you drink or dance or party, but people are actually living their lives every [00:28:10] day and moving around like you just left back home. So it's like, you know, you come and you get to witness their grind, so to speak, even though you're leaving your grind behind. And of course, I mean, you're going to learn to appreciate way more. Remind yourself, cause I don't need to learn it, but I just need to, you need to remind yourself sometimes to appreciate some of the more advanced things that you have.
[00:28:36] Yeah. So the abundance of things that you have versus some of the things people have, but then some of the general traditions that you even have back at home, but sometimes it takes going out of your environment to remind yourself. So people are always sharing good food, laughter, um, comradery like you described.
[00:28:54] Like what my fellow brothers and sisters at the MTA, just that you know, people on their worst or best day, if you put out some good food, a couple of good drinks, even if it's not liquor, if it's . Some kind of eggnog or something. People just want to really laugh, have a good time, and forget. Even if their job is very hard or whatever, it's like, Hey, I know what I have to do. I'm going to make, do what I have to do, but in the meantime, let let some relate a little bit and just have a fun.
[00:29:20] Bethany: [00:29:20] That's really cool. All right. I know we're coming up on time. I have a couple more questions. Number one is, what do you wish people knew about the MTA or being a bus operator?
[00:29:31]Chiniqua: [00:29:31] What I will say is from riding the bus as a child all the way full circle to now driving the bus , what I wish people knew is driving the bus is quite complicated because some people do say things like, Oh, how hard is it? All you're doing is sitting down all day. No, it's way more than that. Our stimuli is on 8000.2 or whatever, if there's such a thing. Um, and I don't know, maybe I'm just speaking for myself.
[00:30:01] Bethany: [00:30:01] but it's hard and people probably underestimate how
[00:30:04] hard it is
[00:30:04] Yeah. It's
[00:30:05] Chiniqua: [00:30:05] a very hard, hard and rewarding at the same time, but it's not for the faint at heart. Let me, let me say that it's not for the faint at heart.
[00:30:14] Bethany: [00:30:14] And then what's another job or profession you really admire?
[00:30:17] Chiniqua: [00:30:17] that I admire. [00:30:20] There's too many to single out one.
[00:30:22] As a customer or a consumer, I prefer human interaction any day over automated robots. I mean, they can sometimes do the job quicker. They can sometimes. You know, they don't talk back or whatever it is. I don't know what it is that, uh, corporations admire the most, but I feel like given a fair opportunity to perform satisfactorily wholeheartedly, I feel like there's nothing better than a human performing any job. And so that, and so that I love all jobs. I respect all jobs. I try to, if I ever find myself like getting annoyed with someone in a particular field, I kind of do like a self check and say, wait a minute. One, are you sure you could do that job and put up with it too? Two, I say they're before the grace of God, go, I, you didn't have to do that particular job, but you remember another job you didn't like that you had to do So make sure you know you just go and do something with the person but you're not like really getting too serious with them But but that's it I love any job that allows humans to bring to it their human nature And serve one another and serve one
[00:31:27] Bethany: [00:31:27] That's excellent perspective for us all to have. Well, I think that's all the time we have for today. Chiniqua, it was fantastic to see you again.
[00:31:34] Chiniqua: [00:31:34] You too. You too, my darling
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OUTRO
Bethany: [00:00:00] [00:00:00] I wasn't able to get in touch with Sheniqua for a follow-up interview. The last I heard from her was in June of 2020, when she'd stepped away from her job due to non COVID related health issues. While I've called texted and emailed since, I haven't heard anything back from her for months now, I even reached out to the MTA directly to try and connect with her. I really hope she's okay.
[00:00:25]Transit workers have been among the hardest hit since the pandemic took on New York city at last count, more than 130 transit workers have died from COVID-19. You can see a Memorial for many of these workers at the MTA pulled together. I'll link to it in my episode notes, it's quite touching. Thousands more have been infected themselves or lost friends and family to the disease.
[00:00:48] I wanted to interview Chiniqua for this podcast because of how much I learned from her --first in our Epic kayaking journey together. And second, from our equally Epic day, when I wrote along her bus route for about four hours with her. These are the stories that don't get surfaced often enough. And I wanted to amplify her story for others as well, but I never expected her role in society to take on such a meteoric rise and importance in such a short time.
[00:01:17] One of my favorite quotes from our interview is the one I use at the beginning of the episode that she just loves the role bus operators play in helping the city move. Looking back on 2020, there's certainly was a time in which buses were the only thing moving in the city. At least it felt that way.
[00:01:34] Moving our city's essential workers, grocery store employees, hospital workers, other caregivers from point a to point B. Also the rest of us could eat and gain access to health care. In those early months, March, April, may, June many buses stood empty. I remember standing on street corners, masked up, watching buses go past three, four, maybe five total passengers. I wondered, how do you have the guts and the bravery to get up and go to work each day when this uncertainty, this is your [00:02:10] everyday reality.
[00:02:12]The New York times ran a special on transit workers over the summer profiling three folks who'd been hit particularly tough due to COVID-19 one bus operator who lost his father, who was also a bus operator to the virus. Another whose husband was infected, but survived. And a third who quarantined himself away from his wife and his entire family, just to protect the household while he kept driving.
[00:02:39] These are sacrifices, no one expects to make coming into work each day. I know a lot of people in my own industry, the tech and startup world, who have given up or quit when the stakes were a lot lower. To me, it really says something about resiliency and steadfastness in these individuals that I hadn't picked up on in our first conversation.
[00:03:00] One thing that does still stand out today to me about that conversation with Chiniqua is how she always reminded herself to put herself in the shoes of her customers.
[00:03:09] You may have picked up on how, when she travels, she likes to watch the grind of other people while she's leaving her grinds behind. There's something kind of lovely about paying attention to what others are doing, even when you're in a completely different operating mode. It's clear to me that she applies the same level of empathy for every passenger, that board her bus.
[00:03:32] While I didn't have a chance to talk with Chiniqua since the fall of 2019, we did text a bit. In late March of 2020, right when things were at their worst with the pandemic, I checked in to see how she was doing. And that carefree attitude, the same one you heard in this conversation still rang loud and true.
[00:03:51] She said, "I'm still working my regular shift, which is kind of late, but there haven't been any reductions yet on my route. To quote one of my customers, though, 'all we see out here are tumbleweeds.' I'm staying prayed up, sprayed up as in Lysol. And still showing up to avoid getting sick."
[00:04:10] By the way, there were also a few emojis in there that I couldn't quite reflect in this audio only form. This embodies to me so much of a personality and what I learned from her [00:04:20] along the way, finding space to be herself, even within a constrained system.
[00:04:25] I imagine that when working within any system that has a lot of protocols, like the MTA, it can be pretty easy to sort of check out and forget who you are. But Chiniqua inserted her personality every step of the way in the way she made announcements on the bus to how she greets customers and colleagues, just so much energy. Rather than feel stuck within that big system, she found a way to make it work for her. And I think this is something we can all apply in whatever system, organization, or team we might feel stuck in.
[00:04:56]In June, we texted a bit again about my new baby, about how she was doing, and about some of her thoughts on the black lives matter movement happening around us.
[00:05:06] She said, "I'm sheltered in dealing with a couple of health issues, but considering all the other things people are dealing with, I'm not complaining. We will definitely catch up soon, once all the chaos, pandemic and tyranny of government pass over this country.
[00:05:22] I'm quite impressed and encouraged by the younger people's determination to get right what other generations attempted at, but just never followed through on. These young folks aren't kidding around when it comes to their civil liberties. Honestly, I had all but lost hope prior to this last month, especially with COVID-19 my own personal experiences, all the isms and community workplaces, et cetera, people are very mean-spirited overall nowadays. I'm eager to see how long this unity will last in society overall."
[00:05:53] I'm still not sure what happened to Chiniqua. I may never know, but I hope that her story and the importance of her job stands out to you a little bit more just as it did for me. Now, more than ever bus operators all over could probably use a friendly face, even if it's still behind a mask. .
[00:06:11] Thanks for tuning into this episode of everyday experts.
[00:06:14] Next week, we're going to shift gears and jump into the entertainment sector to hear from Gary Ferrar, a magician and mentalist who has proved you can be just as good at reading minds when it happens behind a zoom screen. That's it for now. I'll see you next time. [00:06:30]