[sensen]

I commuted via train for years when I lived in Chicago and a refund policy like Italy's definitely would've been amazing. Perhaps the trains would be more reliable with refunds, all we received was a late slip when the train was delayed by 2 hours..

[BeeOnRope]

What is a late slip?

[Larrikin]

An absolute requirement in Japan if you are more than a few minutes late in Japan. A thirty minute delay during morning rush hour used to have train staff with a stack of papers handing them out to everyone going out of the gate kiosk. I used to get them after any delay at all on my commute.

I assume now annoying bosses can check online, but it's Japan so an old person in charge might ask for the paper slip as well just in case you overslept when you were in a nearby business hotel after a rather awful stint of over time the night before.

[nobody9999]

>What is a late slip?

I imagine (I don't live in the Chicagoland area, so guessing here, perhaps someone from the 'burbs there can chime in) it's a note from the CTA saying the train was delayed so you can limit your negative exposure when you boss wants to know why you're two hours late.

Which is actually much more than NYC does. Although that has its advantages as well. The linked fortune[0] (actually an excerpt from a NYT 'Metropolitan Diary'[1] piece ca. 1980) details this:

   I for one cannot protest the recent M.T.A. fare hike and the accompanying
   promises that this would in no way improve service.  For the transit system,
   as it now operates, has hidden advantages that can't be measured in monetary 
   terms.

   Personally, I feel that it is well worth 75 cents or even $1 to have that 
   unimpeachable excuse whenever I am late to anything: "I came by subway."
   Those four words have such magic in them that if Godot should someday show up    
   and mumble them, any audience would instantly understand his long delay.

[0] https://motd.ambians.com/quotes.php/name/freebsd_fortunes/to...

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/column/metropolitan-diary

[alwa]

To be fair, NYC’s MTA writes tardy slips too: https://delayverification.mta.info/

I shudder to imagine the working relationship where that’s relevant.

But I very much appreciate the advantages you point out. I felt a little sense of loss when, on work in that city, I noticed that some degree of cellular service had reached the stations…

[nobody9999]

>To be fair, NYC’s MTA writes tardy slips too: https://delayverification.mta.info/

Wow. TIL. I'm a life-long NYer and never knew that.

Thanks!

>But I very much appreciate the advantages you point out. I felt a little sense of loss when, on work in that city, I noticed that some degree of cellular service had reached the stations…

If it makes you feel any better, such signal isn't very common, although the MTA is looking to change that[0]

[0] https://www.mta.info/press-release/mta-announces-5g-wireless...

Edit: Added quote that I replied to.

[Kon-Peki]

CTA never did that; I don’t think they could if the wanted to.

Metra did it, I’m 99.9% sure they stopped years ago. But yeah, there would be a person at the platform when the train arrived downtown with a piece of paper saying that the train was delayed. A late slip.

Nowadays, you have real-time location tracking of the train. If it’s late, you can tell your employer what train you’re on and they could verify it. At least to a better degree than with the late slips. Still not perfect. But if you’ve got an employer that would want to verify such things, you’ve got worse problems.

[nobody9999]

>CTA never did that; I don’t think they could if the wanted to.

>Metra did it, I’m 99.9% sure they stopped years ago. But yeah, there would be a person at the platform when the train arrived downtown with a piece of paper saying that the train was delayed. A late slip.

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't 100% sure about who the relevant agency was (as I mentioned, I don't live there -- although I do have family that does).

>Nowadays, you have real-time location tracking of the train. If it’s late, you can tell your employer what train you’re on and they could verify it. At least to a better degree than with the late slips. Still not perfect. But if you’ve got an employer that would want to verify such things, you’ve got worse problems.

A fair point, but there are some circumstances where both employee and employer may need to justify/document such circumstances -- but on the whole, you're spot on.

[Ray20]

>A fair point, but there are some circumstances where both employee and employer may need to justify/document such circumstances -- but on the whole, you're spot on.

I think we should also make it common practice to share grocery lists with your employer, as well as the date and time of sexual acts. This is even more justifiable than the status of the train that takes you to work.

I mean, trains are late not often enough to make any significant difference. Whereas unhealthy diet, or say, sleepless nights of lovemaking, can dramatically affect a worker's productivity almost permanently.

[nobody9999]

>I think we should also make it common practice to share grocery lists with your employer, as well as the date and time of sexual acts. This is even more justifiable than the status of the train that takes you to work.

>I mean, trains are late not often enough to make any significant difference. Whereas unhealthy diet, or say, sleepless nights of lovemaking, can dramatically affect a worker's productivity almost permanently.

You misunderstand me completely -- is that on purpose, are you only focused on your situation and assume no other situation could possible exist?

Or are you just dumb?

Contracts that an organization may have with their customers may require that personnel be onsite at particular times, with the caveat that penalties in the contract may be lessened or eliminated if the lapse was an event outside the contractor's control.

In such situations, it can be important (assuming you want to get paid) to be able to document such events.

[Spare_account]

Somewhere else in the thread, it was suggested that these 'late slips' might be useful for proving to one's employer why they were late to work.

Is this the only use for them?

I am reminded, once again, how lucky I am to have been employed by people who trust me.

[tmtvl]

The only use for a late slip is to prove to someone (doesn't necessarily have to be an employer) that you were late due to no fault of your own.