DOCUMENT: Crime

Empire State Employees Strike Back

Motorists: New York toll takers are vulgar, rude, downright creepy

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Empire State Employees Strike Back

AUGUST 25--It's been about a year since TSG first checked in with the New York State Thruway Authority to see what kinds of complaints motorists have been lodging against Empire State toll takers (that initial batch of beefs included numerous claims of verbal harassment and one account of a run-in with a bongo-playing ripoff artist). Below you will find an entertaining assortment of new customer complaints addressing rampant vulgarity, sleeping and leering toll takers, misdirected snowballs, and one practical joke. A dizzy driver even wrote in to whine about the new color scheme in the ladies room. Of course, any motorist knows that the average toll taker is a sweet, cheery type who's quick with a warm smile and a "Have a nice day." So the nasty booth attendants depicted here must be some aberrant strain--there can be no other explanation. Our favorite letter was penned by a self-described "Christian" who had a problem with a Buffalo-area toll collector. To help Thruway brass identify the employee, the Christian noted that the guy "talks like he is mad, or could be on drugs or is trying to cover up his feminine voice to make it sound more masculine???" (16 pages)