For awhile now we've been thinking that there was something awfully familiar about the faked signal reports scandal that has been working its way through the New York City Transit system. We couldn't quite put our finger on what it was about people going out of their way not to do their work (in this case checking to make sure that the very necessary signals on our subway tracks were working properly) and then today, when word came out that NYCT has started checking inspectors lockers for evidence, we got it: the Signals Division are the bad kids at MTA High School.
Seriously. How else do you explain the fact that—despite public scrutiny and City Council hearings—unauthorized photocopies of bar codes from subway signals (which can be used to pretend you've checked a signal you haven't) were found in eight of the 32 lockers checked? Those crazy Signals kids, hiding crib sheets in their lockers and always skipping gym to smoke cloves under the bleachers.
But there is a plus this. These discoveries may actually help get the practice of fake signal reports in check as they should lead to some disciplinary actions. The practice had been so widespread previously, the issue was called a "culture problem," that such an action had been rejected as untenable. Simply too many inspectors were faking their reports. But now Principal Walder has good reason to threaten those kids with expulsion...
