(for the record, I have no experience with Air Cargo Carriers except for a buddy I met who tied down next to my 208)
"To be honest I wasnt too impressed at the panel interview portion, everyone seemed like they didnt want to be there and the head of training was chewing tobacco and spitting it in a cup sitting right next to me...I mean if you need a chew that bad, take a break! In a interview, you have to be kidding me"
Congratulations, you just need to get fitted for your double breasted uniform. You already have the "these people are below me" attitude required for the old school Delta.
Have you ever been to a national union meeting (I'll guess no)? They are held in the afternoon and several of the freight guys are nodding off. Why? Because the rest of the world works when the sun is shining and freight dawgs don't. At a prior company, we did all of our training from sunset to sunrise to insure the new hire knew what he was getting into.
If it were up to me, every pilot would fly boxes (or haul jumpers, tow banners, or be the company president's b!tch). It teaches one that we are not just a bunch of 9-5ers: we will be away from home, work crappy hours, and miss little Billy's soccer game (Waaaa!).
This job requires a bunch of sacrifices. Some of us understand them and are willing to make them. But the crybabies and homebodies that only see "I will be making a zillion dollars and have free travel" have torn down the industry because they thought they found a shortcut.
Professionalism has many definitions. Chewing Tobacco isn't in my definition (assuming he hits the spittoon).
By the way, many 121 companies won't be able to tell you which base you will get.... some won't even be able to tell you which airframe.
