This blog wanders a bit from our normal direct rail related path. However, it is pertinent with the recent events that are occurring around the world and in particular in the U.S.A. The Tealinc team, as well as many of you, have recently gotten back on the road, airplane or train to see current and new customers, to attend conventions where peers meet and discuss the current state of affairs, to seek new opportunities to add to our business portfolio, inspect railcars and conduct due diligence for consulting assignments and to check on the health and care of loved ones that we were previously restricted in visiting.
I’ve noticed during these travels that there is the undertone of a movement to bring economic stability back to the U.S. This movement is being led by those who want to work, are going back to work, have gone back to work and continue to work even though they land in jobs where they are short-handed and lack the complete library of services and tools previously available to them pre-pandemic. My observations are that they seem to be undervalued by most as they provide limited services with pride and a smile. These people are clerks and busboys, cleaning staff and management, railcar inspectors and rail mechanics, waiters and waitresses, staff at railroads particularly those that work on-the-ground every day in hot, cold, windy, smoky environments and the general working man or women that want to make a difference in our country’s economic health.
I’ve been to restaurants that have one item on the menu because they’re short staffed in the kitchen and in the dining room, to hotels that will clean your room once every five days due to the same reason – lack of staff, met with railcar inspectors that work 10 days-worth of hours in 5 days so the information, timing and breadth of service requirements are completed on-time and have discussed on-call for railroad personnel that haven’t had a day off in “forever” so they can continue to deliver their railroads commitment to service. I just want to bring this to the forefront so that we all recognize the pulse of our great country. To them my hats off and I offer a poem fitting for them, delivered by Theodore Roosevelt during his speech entitle “Citizens in a Republic” at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910. The speech is popularly known as “The Man in the Arena.