WHO’S IN CHARGE HERE? - All Aboard: The Complete North American Train Travel Guide - page 125

Lounge-Car Attendant
The specifics of this job vary somewhat according to the kind
of equipment involved. On eastern trains, especially the short-
haul trains without a dining car, it's a particularly busy job. The
attendant operates behind a counter in a galley located in the
middle of the lounge car and provides hot and cold sandwiches
and a variety of beverages for passengers. On western trains, the
attendant is located in a similar facility on the lower level of the
Superliner lounge car.
The lounge-car attendant's schedule is a killer: On the long-
distance trains, he or she will be up at 5:30 A.M., making coffee
and preparing the little galley to open at 6:00. The attendant
takes three 45-minute meal breaks during the day and finally
closes down around midnight. For most of that 18-hour day,
the lounge-car attendant is on his or her feet serving a constant
stream of passengers and performing a variety of tasks: heating
packaged meals in the galley's microwave oven, serving potato
chips and other snacks, pouring cold drinks, selling decks of cards
or coloring books, and making change. All the while a cheerful
disposition must be maintained.
Before outlawing it altogether, Amtrak permitted smoking
only in the lounge car. Most passengers were glad to have the
rest of the train be nonsmoking, but it made life miserable for
the lounge-car attendants, who found themselves working that
grueling schedule in a constant haze of tobacco smoke. When the
total ban on smoking took effect, no one was happier than the
lounge-car attendants.
Station Agent
While not part of the onboard crew, these people deserve at least
some mention since they're often the first Amtrak employee a pas-
sengers encounters. Depending on the size of the station, the sta-