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"The new employee was very arrogant and, I would say, rather casual. He didn't care about the rules and did the checks on a very irregular basis, at times that only he considered to be fit. He didn't care about the schedule and, what was really frightening, he didn't care about the safety rules. On Monday morning we discovered that he didn't shut the first vault and when we told him about it he said that that was not a big deal. All the personnel serving the station were in shock because of the new employee's irresponsible demeanor."

How is "serving the station" in the example above different from "maintaining the station"? Which verb would sound more natural in that context?

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  • What is the source of this quote please? A title and author, with a link if possible, would be useful, and in any case quotes should be properly attributed.
    – David Siegel
    Commented Jun 27, 2021 at 23:28
  • @DavidSiegel - That was just an example that I came up with. The station in focus is an electric power station or any other similar facility.
    – brilliant
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 0:27
  • "Maintaining" means doing maintenance. In the context of an electric power station, "serving the station" means working at the station, which may include doing maintenance.
    – gotube ♦
    Commented Jun 29, 2021 at 1:58

1 Answer 1

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More context would be helpful. For one thing it might clarify just what "the station" is in this use.

That said, I think that "serving the station" here means "working at the station". It probably includes "maintaining" and also "operating". It may include interaction with customers.

The best verb to use depends on just what activities the various employees who were "in shock" normally were responsible for. The quote as given does not describe those.

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  • It's an electric power station or any other similar facility. There are no customers there, only workers.
    – brilliant
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 0:28
  • @brilliant in that case it's probably an employee assigned for servicing the station along with other employees by the power utility company. Duties include: regular maintenance check, repairing, monitoring, and upgrades.
    – GratefulDisciple
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 5:26
  • @GratefulDisciple - Thank you! But can I drop "assigned for"? I mean can I just say "All the personal servicing the station were in shock" instead? Or will it sound weird then?
    – brilliant
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 5:32
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    @brilliant As the answer says, it depends on the nuance you're trying to communicate; no choice will sound weird. Serving emphasizes the work assignment (since there's no customer), servicing implies making specific repair (or the duty of making repair as needed), working at emphasizes the presence of the person & the collaboration (such as "working at the office"), operating implies doing things to make the station runs correctly ("operating a car" is a common phrase), maintaining suggests taking care of the condition of the equipment (cleanliness, enough fuel, lubrication, etc.)
    – GratefulDisciple
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 5:40
  • I see. Thank you very much for all these explanations. It looks like "operating" is what fits my intended meaning the best.
    – brilliant
    Commented Jun 28, 2021 at 5:43

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