Originally Posted by
sulkair
Ramper tells me he'll only let me out the jetway door if I give him 5 bucks. I hate that stupid joke, and I tell him "sorry I'm broke" and push through. He yells down the stairs at me: "Don't lie to me, I know what you make!" I look back and say "are you sure you do? See these three bars, I'm only a first officer" He says, "well it's gotta be near 6 figures." I say: "Try 35K dude" He just stares. I proceed and do my walk around. He catches up to me on the other side of the plane and asks me: "are you being serious about that?" I tell him: Yes, after 10 years at this place that is what I make! He sheepishly says: "Wow, I make 50"
PATHETIC.
full disclosure: I'm quoting reserve guarantee, which I bid on purpose. If I flew 85 hour lines, I might come close to 39K
Ok, I'm not one for calling people out, but there is absolutely no way this is true if this was a regional ramper and not mainline. I actually started on the ramp for Comair, which of the regional customer service groups was actually one of the "better" paid. I started at $8.50/hour and after 3-years was making $9.69 when I got hired in to my flight class. Many people I was working with that had been there 15-20 years at my outstation were topped out at $13.90/hour.
In order to raise families, most would routinely pull 70+ hour weeks to try to get as much overtime as possible. I know I pulled a couple 100+ hour weeks (6-days on, working 5 double shifts from 5am-midnight) and I wasn't the only one.
So if this is a true story, then this ramper was working some extreme overtime to come even close to that pay, or was a mainline ramper. Mainline could come close to that amount after about 7.5-years of service at Delta with a decent amount of OT, or after 10.5 years they'd be relatively close with only minimal needed OT.