While there have been many memoirs published over the years by railwaymen it appears that the majority of them have been written by loco-drivers. Whilst these are very interesting accounts, the author of Can't You Find A Better Job Than This? The Trials And Tribulations Of A Railway Booking-Clerk, Kenneth Chadwick, felt that the role of the booking-clerk had been much ignored. In 2021 a book was published which claimed to be the career memoirs of a booking-clerk, however Kenneth felt that, as the clerk in question had only worked on the railway for three years, and that during that time nothing untoward had happened to him, it did not show the true depth of the job. Therefore Kenneth felt impelled to write his own memoirs so that the ordinary man on the street would not think that the profession of booking-clerk was an undemanding and mundane job.
Can't You Find A Better Job Than This? The Trials And Tribulations Of A Railway Booking-Clerk was written by Kenneth during 2022, in it he looks back on his career, which in his words
“was certainly no cake-walk and there were many bad moments, it was a very interesting journey, I met some very nice people, and some downright evil people. Whilst in many places I was always somewhat of an un-welcome Pariah, in reality I was more sinned against than sinner!”
By 2022 many booking-offices had been closed and replaced by self-service ticket-machines. Much of the rest of the railway network had become un-staffed, and in some quarters there was even talk about driver-less trains! So, with all of the booking-office closures planned regrettably it looked like the job of railway booking-clerk would soon cease to exist.
150 colour and 29 black & white illustrations. 180 pages.