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The Many Personalities and the Temperaments That Come with Them in Public Transportation.

Lessons from a Challenging First Day: How Adversity Built Three Decades of Public Transit Experience

September 8, 2026 1 min read

Kaled Abdelal, Customer Service Representative on Notable Men

Kaled Abdelal

Customer Service Representative, Chicago Transit Authority

The Many Personalities and the Temperaments That Come with Them in Public Transportation.

It was in the early ’90s, and patience was a must. There was a delay on my first day of employment in public transit. All I can say is, wow, what a day it was—from a train derailment to a sick customer and, finally, an arrogant and prejudiced supervisor.

This ticket agent supervisor turned my register off and did what you call a random verification of my money counter. Everything checked out fine.

Then came the questions about my Prophet and his religion. These are all experiences that came together to create three decades of experience that I want to share, along with the lessons in life that came with them.

What doesn’t break you will, for sure, make you stronger. The most important thing is to take life one day at a time.

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