TomBascom said:
Gee, that sounds almost exactly like what we, your customers, are doing on your planes week after week after week...
Gee, you non-rev too? [/QUOTE]
Funny thing about that -- I
pay for the privilege of being away from home 4 or 5 or 6 days out of 7. Almost every week of the year. For year after year after year.
The point being that flight crews aren't the only people who spend a lot of time away from home. There's no special entitlement for people who choose to work in jobs that involve travel (if there is please send me some info on how to get mine...)
To elaborate a bit... I've worked with people who whined and complained about all the travel. And I've worked with people who don't. Moving on is healthy -- if you don't like it make a change. But it goes with the territory in some jobs and it sounds pretty silly to complain about it. You have choices just like I do -- if you don't want to be commuting move. You have your reasons why you don't want to do that? Me too. [/quote]
I may be out of sync with this thread but I'm trying to figure out each point of view and I think each point of view is valid.
You as the customer - business owner, salesman, consultant or etc. knew what you were getting into when the job description called for travel as part of the job. You're committed to travel around the country not for pleasure but for business purposes. Your versatility, enjoyment or tolerance for the necessity of Travel has brought rewarding gains to the Company you own or the Company you represent.
Your spend your time productively while remotely out of town. You bring credit to your Company and the executives who are your superiors, as you realize the satisfaction of giving your best effort in doing your part in achieving Corporate Goals and Objectives. Your time alone, away from you family, in a Hotel Room, preparing for a presentation, or with a Client at dinner, or standing at a podium, or sitting in a waiting room for an eternity before finally being admitted to the inner sanctum of a potential clients office --- All these things have a purpose. You have a purpose. Your are productive. Your productivity will be recognized by your Corporation. If it’s your Business, your productive efforts will be recognized in your bottom line – If not, you wouldn’t be there on the road, in the first place.
You as a Rated Flight Officer – You’re committed to travel around the country not for pleasure but for business purposes. You knew the nature of the job when you filled out the application. Your special versatility, enjoyment or tolerance for the lifestyle which goes with the profession ultimately has a purpose to it. You’re a part of a team which has it’s special rewards. You strive to bring credit to your Airline by surpassing rigid requirements and qualifications of aptitude, skill, health and a special dedication to the care, comfort and service of your clients who are your traveling public.
You as the Customer – Arrive home with the satisfaction and knowledge that your sojourn was profitable, productive and rewarding. Your love or dedication to the lifestyle which you have chosen will additionally bear reward by deserved recognition from your superiors, stockholders, clients or business partners. This is not a special recognition for pleasure travel as your profession. This is worthy recognition for your productivity, hard work and the contributions you bring to the company as a direct result of you travels. Your special lifestyle is satisfying for it’s purposefulness and for the special appreciation by those who matter most in your personal and professional life.
You as the Fight Officer – are employed by a Nationally recognized Air Carrier. Your employer is often nationally recognized as a leader in the Industry as one of the best places to work. Your CEO establishes clear goals and objectives for you and your team of professionals. Your company is growing and prospering. Your Executive Leadership has given you a Business Model which allows you the tools you need to be productive. You spend the vast majority of time each month away from your home and family. You are rewarded with the sense that you are wholly essential and productive on the job. As a small part of a large well oiled machine, you are given the valuable tools you need for a rewarding career. Your company has solid Management and you have a good product. You time is spent productively and efficiently generating maximum wealth for your employer. You enjoy the deserved rewards and recognition bestowed on you and your fellow team of professional. You are recognized by your employer and superiors as the organizations most valuable asset. You look forward each week to the enrichment of a Corporate Culture which makes work as pleasurable as Play.
You as the Customer – You’ve dedicated 20 years of your life to your company. It has become as much a part of you as you are a part of it. You’ve attained a career’s worth of job progressions – promotions, advancements, raises, benefits and have just begun to capitalize on the most personally productive years of your life in terms of obtaining a certain well deserved security and comfort in your post retirement years for you and loved ones. Your Corporation has the misfortune of inheriting a leadership without vision. You Company fails to adapt to a changing market. You travel about trying to promote and sell your product. The product has not quite kept pace with the changing demands of consumers. Management, Marketing and R&D can’t seem to give you the tools you need to be successful. Your Plant employees are some of the lowest paid in the industry but your manufacturing costs are high due to a Business Model which has failed to evolve resulting in low productivity and inefficiency. The Marketing and Sales Department sends you out on these business trips with few leads and few clients to call upon. Your Company is in the press nearly every day, reported as miserably lagging the industry. Your time spent away form home and family is unproductive and unrewarding. Your employer or your supervisor points the accusing finger at you for the lack of value you bring to the company because of your lack of productivity while away from home. You are given a cut in pay. You are given another cut in pay. You lose your pension. You’re given another cut in pay. Your told to spend more time on the road to make up for your inefficiency. But you still spend hours and sometimes days sitting in a Motel Room without the tools to effectively do your job productively. You watch the productive sales force of your competitors described in paragraph one and two above. You know your Company has the same market, the same machinery and the same people skills – But your company lacks the same visionary management. You want to be more productive but it’s not the function of a Traveling Sales Representative to change the Business Model. You lament the value of your time is wasted on the road. You contemplate a career change, but the risk/reward ratio is high at your stage of life. A lateral move in your industry is impossible due to the specialized nature of your job. So you sit tight and wait for current or new Management to acquire some vision for the future of your company before the doors close permanently. In the mean time you spend 36hours in a Hotel, lamenting the unproductive waste of the special skills you possess. You come home expressing dissatisfaction that the time you spend away form home and family has not enriched your professional or personal being. Someone quips, “Didn’t you read the fine print in you application about...â€
You’re a Flight Officer – See the above paragraph.
The point... No One often laments the precious few minutes they have on this planet when their lives are full, productive and enriched. USAirways has been home to the dedicated Employees for nearly a lifetime of commitment. On the other hand the Employees have seen a revolving door of transient Senior Executives who have done well under the colorful canopy of a full and rewarding parachute -- But have brought little vision to the future of the Company. The empoloyees are personally and professionally committed to stay and fight. Management, in it's short tenure, has expressed no passion for a legacy which is a home to so many and a part of the communities of hundreds of thousands.
The employees realize that it is you, the Customer, who is the most valued. They want to give you the product which best fits your needs. You deserve efficient, safe, comfortable, convenient service for the premium you pay. The employees aspire to be once again included in the cadre of industry professionals who feel their time away from home has productively enriched their professional careers and personal lives.
