By Amy M. Voltero

I couldn’t help but raise the volume while watching Channel 5 news in regard to the MBTA official, visibly asleep at his desk, near the Park Street T stop. According to Channel 5, A picture of the worker sleeping in a booth was taken at Park Street station and posted by an anonymous Twitter user to the MBTA’s Twitter account. Spokesperson Joe Pesaturo said, “the incident is under investigation.” He also said, “the man has been employed by the MBTA since 2003.”

Over, recent months, another veteran MBTA official was found sleeping at the Mattapan T stop, during his shift (CBS news). The media could not help but fuel the fire by including that the man had a McDonald’s bag left on the desk, where his head lay. At the Wollaston Beach stop in Quincy, another worker was caught catching some zs during the height of rush hour, in the customer service booth (Fox 25 News)
Come on!!! I can’t count how many times I’ve driven through Southie, to see a police officer behind the wheel of his car, catching a little shut-eye, or the countless times I was speeding on I 93 past a state trooper, only to find that I was home free from being issued a citation.

The important issue at hand here is, these employees of the MBTA are on desk duty, not operating heavy machinery. It’s not like they were texting while operating a green line chain, which resulted in serious injuries or death!! Who cares!! Slap them on the wrist, and keep it moving!! What kind of investigation needs to be conducted?? Yes I understand that our hard-earned dollars are constantly being used to pay these employees, but open your eyes America!! We have all blinked longer than we intended to at one point in our lives.

I would hope and pray, with all the controversy surrounded by politics, terrorism, child abuse and neglect, ect, that the media would wake up and stop wasting its creative talents on some poor guy, who most likely has a day job, and is putting two children through college, who copped a nod on the job!! Get real!

How many times have you gone out on thirsty Thursday, had one too many drinks, and found that 6:30AM alarm still buzzing in your head on your lunch break? Anyone who says they have never closed their eyes on the job is full of it!

It’s so comical, the real issues at hand regarding the MBTA like $185 million budget deficit and fare hikes, cancellation of service and routes, just to mention a few.
I understand that any type of press, whether it is good or bad, is good press. Examples of stories like the above are simply a mockery to writers and journalists trying to focus on Massachusetts’s real issues at hand! Shame on you!!