Originally Posted by Herkflyr

Let me guess. You think you deserve $300/hr (or more)? Act like it. I don't think that the OP was being a jerk about it (and he IS retired FedEx/Delta) and maybe should have just shook his head and forgotten all about it.

But at some point you either warrant that uniform, 3 or 4 stripes and the money we all claim we deserve, or we don't. Very few pilots are "spoiling" for anything other than a routine trip, but there are times when we need to step up just a little bit, even if it is a bit of a hassle and not necessarily within the confines of the airplane. I really don't give a...flip....what any snowflake in HR thinks either. The pax can video me all day long, because all they will record is someone acting in an even-tempered, professional manner.

I had a passenger that literally had the "F" word in large print on the back of her t-shirt, while waiting in the gate area for the flight I was flying. I walked up to her and very politely (and discreetly) said, "If you want to fly on this plane you will have to cover that up." I didn't raise my voice, nor make a "scene." She did comply and put another shirt on over it and that was the end of it. The gate agent thanked me, by the way.

I think we can at least do that much. And yes, there are no doubt a handful of guys out there "spoiling" for a scene or confrontation. Most of us aren't.