FedEx Pilots: Living in MEM

[AlbieF15]

VaB,

What I meant was "you must be a pretty nice guy if all these folks want to get to know you better..." I certainly didn't mean to imply anything hostile or judgemental. The "attitude" part of my post was generic--not aimed at you. As a military guy, I heard people talk all the time about how much Sumter, SC stunk. How awful Alamogordo, NM was....how bad Anchorage could be, and certainly how backward and terrible and full of hicks Panama City Florida really is. I had a great time in all those places... My point was some people (not you and not your thread) carp about their towns all the time. I've found good stuff everywhere I've been stationed...

I bid O&Bs frequently, and spend quite a bit of time during the month piddling around M-town. I will sometimes also have a day or two between trips and I'll hang out locally. Also have quite a few friends I visit up here regularly--in C-town, G-town, Mud Island, mid town, etc. Also considering purchasing a modest N Missississippi home as a crashpad. You are right--I don't live here full time. However, the time I have spent has warmed me to the place quite a bit since I first showed up 2.5 years ago.

That's all I meant...really.

Fly safe.

 

[TonyC]

Re: More on the thumpers

Albie,

All due respect, but since you don't live here, I'm not sure you're in a position to tell me what these people mean when my wife and I start getting hassled about their church. I don't want to turn this thread into something completely useless, however since you brought it up. When I have to listen to people give me their 10 minute schpiel on why there church is the best, what it can offer me, blah blah blah, and I'm telling them the entire time that I'm all set in that department and they keep rambling on, well, bro, I consider that being hassled. I see it all the time when my kids and I are at a playground and I start talking to other parents. It always starts the same way to. "Where are you from?" "How long have you been here?" and after that it's inevitable. "What church do you go to?". And if they're GTBC people, forget it. I think they must get a finders fee for new signups or something.

You are right though, alot of really nice friendly people. I try to do my part and be one of the friendly ones and make the best of living here since I think we're going to be here a while. I'm actually starting to like it. I get filled with dread when I think of driving in the Tampa traffic I saw on vacation a month or 2 ago and longed to get back to the easy Memphis traffic. Especially easy at 2 in the morning when I'm driving in for my late call trip to Narita. Sweeeet.

So, until you've lived here and seen the aforementioned action first hand, and of course depending on your own affiliation, you can't imagine the amount of annoyance caused by such a constant "assault".

Albie - In the interest of keeping this thread useful to those that want to know more about living here, maybe this conversation should be carried on via PM, with the exception of one public rebuttal to my "heathen" words. I don't want to see this head off in a direction of so many other threads I've seen.

Anyway, all you newhires, move on down to Elvis town. It's taken 3 years, but I love it here. Or should I say ya'll?

Later

I grew up in Memphis, moved away for an Air Force career, and returned to avoid commuting and to raise my family. I've listened to a lot of complaints about Memphis, and most of them I understand.

First of all, consider that the majority of FedEx pilots commute, and their experience with Memphis is, for the most part, restricted to those hours in the hub durings turns betweent 11PM and 3AM, and their time in the crash pad. I don't care where a crash pad is, there's going to be some negatives. You're away from home, away from your family, and waiting for "the call." Even if you're in a nice part of town with plenty of amusements, it's still not home.

And the time at the hub - - I hate it and I'm FROM here. Imagine all these guys standing around in the middle of the night, looking like zombies in a stupor, drinking the free coffee and eating the free popcorn - - not because they like either, but because it's something to do. They pass the time by talking to each other about the layover hotel they just left or the awful town they're headed to, they wait for the announcement over the PA "Tonight's movie is Speed 2" or for the announcement "Any crewmember on Flt 1234 to Grand Forks, come to flight coordination for a new release" (Oh, no, the dreaded new flight plan.) If that's all I knew of Memphis, I'd hate it, too.

On the other hand, as Albie has already mentioned, the town can be as good as you make it. There is plenty to do for anybody - - from culture and leisure to sports and night life. Yeah, and there's plenty of hospitality and lots of churches. (What's GTBC?) If you can't find something to do, you're just not looking.

In Memphis there are a variety of VERY nice places to live - - and there are some dangerous places to live. I wouldn't want to send my kids to Memphis City schools, and I'm not into private schools, so I don't live in Memphis. Shelby County schools, on the other hand, are quite good. Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett - - all previously mentioned - - are part of the county school system. I don't care for Germantown as a place to live - - I can get more house for my money almost anywhere else. And I don't care for Collierville - - I never enjoyed "base housing," and FedEx pilots are rampant there. I live in none of the above, in a non-incorporated part of the county north of Bartlett, my kids go to excellent county schools, and I'm very pleased. As I type, 3 of my kids are on band trips to St. Louis and Orlando. They're getting an excellent, quality education.

You might also consider, as has been mentioned, north Mississippi also. I don't esteem their schools as highly, but some might disagree. Their tax structure is different - - TN has no income tax - yet - but the property taxes are generally higher. A bit farther away are Tipton County and Fayette County to the east and north of Shelby County in TN.

There are good things, and there are bad. (What city doesn't have both?) What you focus on will determine what you see. Tonight I'll see a nice dinner on the town.

By the way, VaB - - where do you go to church?

 

[VaB]

What's GTBC?

If you lived out this way, you'd be very familiar with Germantown Baptist Church. I think those folks get the highest finders fee of them all.

One other note about the religious thing and then I swear I'm done. Just tell 'em your Catholic and supposedly they leave you alone.

I really do like it here, don't anyone mistake what I've said. They also need more multisport racing events here.

Later.

 

[busdrver]

.....and many Fedex guys have chosen to retire in this area.

 

[TonyC]

One other note about the religious thing and then I swear I'm done. Just tell 'em your Catholic and supposedly they leave you alone.

Hmmmm. Maybe they just count my kids and assume.

 

[VaB]

Hmmmm. Maybe they just count my kids and assume.

How many?

 

[PCL Flt-ops]

MEMPHIS IS DOWNRIGHT DISGUSTING.

 

[Rabid Washcloth]

I spent the first 27 years of my life in Memphis. It’s nothing but a big version of Mayberry. Every time my wife and I go back in town, we see someone we know at the first place we visit (bar, grocery store, restaurant, etc.). Memphis tends to be a second-rate town with visions of grandeur. The city gov’t will never, never make the right decisions on the way to spend the taxpayers’ money. When you watch or read the news, the slant is always racial. The city is run by/for blacks, the county is run by/for whites. Voluntary segregation is in effect.

The neighborhood I grew up in has gone from a place where my mother wouldn’t think twice about letting me ride my bike home from a friend’s house at 9PM, to a place I wouldn’t enter without a being in a tank. The problem with that is it’s all moving east, towards G’Town and C’ville (Cordova, once a great unknown area has now been trashed). Granted, G’Town and C’ville are cities of their own, but they’ve even shown a downward trend in the recent years due to the “exodus”.

To sum it up, Memphis is a cesspool. A friend in Nashville (snobby, but nice town) once referred to it as “the armpit of Tennessee.” The only reason my wife and I go back is to visit family and friends.

I’m proud to say I’ve never been to Graceland - Elvis was the first Spice Girl.

 

[VaB]

MEMPHIS IS DOWNRIGHT DISGUSTING.

To sum it up, Memphis is a cesspool

That'll about cover the flyby's.

 

[plattsburgher]

Tony C wrote: ..."Any crewmember on Flt 1234 to Grand Forks, come to flight coordination for a new release"...

If you guys think Memphis is bad, get on that 1234 to GFK in Jan or Feb.