Airline CEO Christmas shopping...

[LAZYB]

Late last week, I was rushing around trying to get some last minute shopping done. I was stressed out and not thinking very fondly of the Christmas season right then. It was dark, cold, and wet in the parking lot as I was loading my car up with gifts that I felt obligated to buy. I noticed that I was missing a receipt that I might need later. So mumbling under my breath, I retraced my steps to the shopping mall entrance.

As I was searching the wet pavement for the lost receipt, I heard a quiet sobbing. The crying was coming from a poorly dressed boy of about 12 years old. He was short and thin. He had no coat. He was just wearing a ragged flannel shirt to protect him from the cold night's chill.

Oddly enough, he was holding a hundred dollar bill in his hand. Thinking that he had gotten lost from his parents, I asked him what was wrong. He told me his sad story. He said that he came from a large family. He had three brothers and four sisters. His father had died when he was nine years old. His mother was poorly educated and worked two full time jobs. She made very little to support her large family.

Nevertheless, she had managed to skimp and save two hundred dollars to buy her children Christmas presents. The young boy had been dropped off, by his mother, on the way to her second job. He was to use the money to buy presents for all his siblings and save just enough to take the bus home. He had not even entered the mall, when an older boy grabbed one of the hundred dollar bills and disappeared into the night.

Why didn't you scream for help?" I asked.

The boy said, "I did."

"And nobody came to help you?" I asked.

The boy stared at the sidewalk and sadly shook his head.

"How loud did you scream?" I inquired.

The soft-spoken boy looked up and meekly whispered, "Help me..."

I realized then that absolutely no one could have heard that poor boy cry for help . . . So I grabbed his other hundred and ran to my car.



(WARNING - Misappropriated e-mail twisted to meet personal needs, per company SOPs.)

 

[bart]

I guess an union airline captain took the first hundred...

 

[doh]

Bart, I love when guys like you who couldn't do the job try and rag on those of us who can and do! Your tag says life isn't fair and it's not supposed to be, but when we negotiate something good you cry like a little girl about how unfair that is. No Bart, we are not the ones who try and steal from those with less power, that activity is strictly management's. We are the guys who come in and clean up the mess you make.

 

[bart]

You just don't get it do you?

I am not siding with management...

I am not siding with labor...

As long as you and the people you work with insist on adversarial relations, airlines will continue to go bankrupt. Unions are a symptom of poor management. I avoid organizations that have them. People who tend to thrive in those organizations are scarcity-minded (laborers and management) like the man described in the story.

You as a part of a union band together to create the power to steal from the company you work for. Pilots at the majors that are hemmorhaging cash make the money they do through threatening the company with their collective power. How is that different from the CEO in the story?

At the end of the day you are at best another special interest group with only your own interests in mind(not unlike the management you endlessly whine about), and are as greedy as the most corrupt politician or manager. You just hide behind being poor little laborers to keep the sympathy of all the rest of the buffoons that don't take responsibility for their economic situation.

So as for pilots coming in to clean up messes, what are you going to do about Delta, United and American? How are you going to clean up the messes that your unions and management shook hands over? The people taking a bath there are the ones that invested their hard earned money in your company that you and your management promptly split up and took home.

 

[doh]

See, there you go, whining about how unfair it is. Thanks for making my point!

 

[bart]

See, there you go, whining about how unfair it is. Thanks for making my point!

No, I was pointing out that you are the problem and the incompetent managers you work for are the problem, too.

You have worked well together to create a giant mess, hope you weren't counting too heavily on that pension fund.

It is the investors fault that they trusted their money to thieves, should have known better.

 

[DoinTime]

No, I was pointing out that you are the problem and the incompetent managers you work for are the problem, too.

What you've pointed out is that we work in a business that's all F'ed up. That being said you have to pick a side. I for one will pick the side of the people that make the company operate all day every day instead of the nameless faceless pricks that pull $100 from their checking account and buy a few shares. Long after those pricks have sold your company short and moved on the men and women that have dedicated their lives to your company will still be putting in their hours. These are the people to deserve the profits, these are the people that deserve the recognition.

 

[bart]

I for one will pick the side of the people that make the company operate all day every day instead of the nameless faceless pricks that pull $100 from their checking account and buy a few shares.

You should put that in your company's annual report. That would really impress the guy that invested his kid's college fund in your company. Just who do you think owns the company you work for? Have you ever met some of your shareholders? I would bet you would be embarrassed by your remarks if they were made known to some retired schoolteacher in Des Moines that owns a couple of hundred shares.

You are still missing my point.

It is the exact us vs. them attitude that labor and management hold in the airline industry that makes it such a dreadful place to work. It also goes a long way toward creating a dysfunctional organization that is unprofitable and inefficient.

The responsibility is on both sides. Your whole attitude of "you have to pick a side" is the root of the problem. You work for the same company!?! You are on the same team. It is like the fullback tackling the quarterback. I am sure you are now saying that management has all the power, they started it, etc, etc. I guess you enjoy that kind of dysfunctional blame game or you would have never chosen the industry to work in.

So have fun with it. But don't think for one second that you are not an integral part of the overall problem and going back to the story that it wasn't a union captain that took the first hundred from the kid.

 

[DoinTime]

The responsibility is on both sides. Your whole attitude of "you have to pick a side" is the root of the problem.

It must be nice to exist in your fairytail world where everything is perfect. I, for one, live in the real world where things aren't so nice. Change is enacted from the top down and until corporate executives attitudes on who the most important people in the company are nothing will ever change and I will always stay on my side. I worked in retail management for many years and even I know that if you take care of your employees your employees will take care of everything else.

 

[Flying Illini]

Bart,
You seem very passionate about this and some of your points make sense, however so do some of DoinTime's points.
My question to you, Bart, is how would YOU go about fixing the system?

 

[GogglesPisano]

Read his ratings, guys. He's got an MBA. He's infected.

 

[doh]

No really, Bart, tell us who you work for and how to fix this mess. I really will listen. My own company does not allow pilots a forum to talk to management. Oh, by the way, I am a Comair guy so I don't have a pension. Only management are "human" and get them. We are just "work inputs" (not even good enough to be called animals) so we don't have retirements.

 

[capt. megadeth]

The bottom line is that "Bart" obviously never worked his butt off, got somewhere, took a paycut, got furloughed, got a $17,000 a year F/O job at a commuter because that's all that was out there (in the meantime his company went out of business)......you know the rest boys (and girls)

He's purely clueless

 

[bart]

You are absolutely right. I never worked my butt of, got somewhere, took a pay cut, got furloughed and took $17K job.

I worked my butt off, got somewhere, and when they cut my pay, I quit. I was pissed initially, but I did not blame them, it was a business decision on their part, they get to live with it, I chose not to. My decision was a business decision, too. I would not take a $17K a year job or even twice that when I can go make 10 times that. Companies get away with that kinfd of poor decision-making because guys like you sign up for it again and again. You will not quit and leave their crap behind, so you organize with like minded people to force them to do things the way you want them to.

Please don't try to tell me that the $17K FO job was your only option. It may have been your only FLYING option, but that is a choice you made, not one you were forced into.

I prefer not to work in that environment and don't. It is ridiculous to waste time pointing to someone else to solve my problems, so I don't. As for my flying work, I provide pilot services on a contract basis as my time allows. I set my pay rates. If someone lowballs me an offer, I send them to my competition. When I am not flying, I manage the finance function for a mortgage company and I sell loans for a living.

I guess I could have put all my energy into bitching about low pay and bad-mouthing management of the company I worked for, and tried to organize the pilots to force them to give us what we wanted, instead I took control of my part and solved my own problem. I think you have made the decision you want to fly for a living and given that decision will not change, decided that someone owes you a decent living for making that choice.

I have news for you, the free market says otherwise. The free market says that entry level first officers in flying jobs should make next to nothing and will continue to as long as CP in boxes have 1,000s of qualified applicant resumes in them from people who would not only accept low pay, but some will PAY to be there.

As for the people in a company who are important, the number one person is the customer. Period. They pay the bills. They drive revenue and pay your salary. It is obvious in your comapny that noone has figured this out, or they might be able to pay you more.

As for solving the airline industries problems, the free market will do that. I do know that union-management warfare will not move any organization closer to the solution and only distracts from managing the real challenges in the business. It is a shame that both management and labor fail to see that.

My solution is to leave it behind for someone who enjoys that kind of struggle. If I were you, which I am not, I would leave and find work that is more highly valued, working for a company that values my contributions as more than work inputs. I don't believe that any amount of force applied to management is going to chnage their line of thinking. So go find a team to play on that works for you.

 

[TurboS7]

What you forgot to add was that the boy loved shopping for Christmas presents and was just happy to be at the mall.