AV8R4,
At no time did I (or anyone else) trash line personnel. As far as your gripes, most of the FBO's I go to have no problem performing any of their duties with a smile on their face. Crew Cars...it pisses me off too when I get in a car that is trashed from other crews. That's not professional and I ALWAYS take in a few pieces that have been left in the car. I have NEVER left my trash in a crew car, nor have any of the guys I have flown with. I think it's unprofessional to do that and think that other people should clean up after you. However, I'm not going to vacuum a car, dust a car, wash a car, or put fuel into a car that I am only going to have for a few hours (you can't get far in that time, so you aren't using much fuel). I admit, I've gone over the time limit before BUT we asked before we left if we could be gone X number of hours. If I purchase $1200 worth of fuel, I EXPECT good amenities and EXCELLENT customer service (and I won't put ANY gas in a crew car...ever. It's not my job, nor my responsibility. The car is provided as an amenity). IF you can't smile and put on a good face at your job, then you shouldn't be there. PERIOD. Your job involves direct contact with customers and you are the first face seen as that door opens. Greet the pax and the pilots with a "hi, how are ya? What services will you require?" and do your job. If you don't like being nice and smiling all of the time, don't take the job. I can tell you that if I didn't put on a good face for my pax, I wouldn't last long at the job. Most days are great, but other days drag on or you just aren't in a smiling mood, but that doesn't matter, your job (and mine, as a pilot) involves direct customer contact, therefore, suck it up and put on a good face.
As far as trash, I always carry my own unless someone offers to take it in. I have no problem dragging my own coffee and ice to the airplane but usually those items, the ice in particular, aren't accessible to pilots so we HAVE to ask the people behind the counter for it, they in turn, call you line guys.
I expect nothing from line service other than a professional attitude and the willingness to help me do whatever I need to do to make my pax happy. If they aren't happy, we hear about it. If we (pilots) aren't happy, the FBO hears about it...or they don't, but I guarantee we won't be going to that FBO again.
Bottom line, the job of a line-man IS customer service. Any line person who thinks otherwise is in the wrong. The job of the FBO is to provide pilot and pax services. Happy pax=happy crew. Happy crew=a fuel purchase=return business.
Now, after this rant it may seem like I hate line-personnel, that's untrue. There are many very good line people out there and they can make all the difference in how my day goes.
There are also many good FBO's out there, they are the ones that realize that crew cars are an expense to doing business and that they exist to server the customer. The bad ones are the ones that think that what they do is just another job. It is very easy to tell as soon as you get off the plane which place you are at.
And believe me, I could tell you some stories about going completely beyond the call of duty and not even having it acknowedged. I don't mean to knock the wind out of your sails, but if you plan on eventually flying for a living you have a few more disappointments left ahead of you besides getting stiffed on tips. Remember, if it weren't for those rich guys we would be out of work.
