Originally Posted by
MelT
Well done, you really contributed to the discussion.
This allows me the opportunity to vent just a bit.
Memphis is a city with issues. Crime is one of them. That said, a lot of decent people live and work in the area and a lot of them are from the area.
Many of them drive us around on crew buses and work inside the AOC or out on the ramp. Many of them happen to enjoy living in the Memphis area and many of them may not have the means to move if they wanted to get out of the area.
Some of us pilots have decided to live in the area and raise our families here, and many of us are quite content with the decision.
I'm not from this area so you aren't hurting my feelings when you disparage the idea of living in Memphis with off hand comments like the above.
The "Oh I'm sorry" comments from other pilots when they hear I am headed home to Memphis roll off my back too. I get it, you don't like Memphis and want to live somewhere else. Good for you.
Many of you live in areas I can't stand and would never choose to live. When I hear you are from one of those areas I don't say, Oh that place sucks, or I'm sorry or anything else that might be offensive. I typically say man thats nice I bet you guys really enjoy being able to live where you choose to live for whatever reasons you state. I'm happy for you.
Enough about me and on to the main reason for my rant. When you guys sit on the crew bus, ramp or the jumpseat area and spew loudly about how you hate Memphis and how messed up it is in front of our bus drivers, ramp workers or AOC personnel you are insulting those who live here. They (nor I) don't really need to hear your disparaging comments about everything Memphis.
Theres been a couple of times I've felt like I needed to apologize to the drivers for the crap they had to listen to while driving us around the area. Yes its that bad and yes you are that loud.
So how bout you think for a minute or two about the audience around you next time you start to knock every aspect of Memphis and how messed up it is around here.
Thanks
I'm actually from Memphis. I was born there and lived there for about 6 years as a kid.
My parents were born there. My grandparents are from there, and most of my great-grandparents were also born there.
The vast majority of my extended family is from Memphis and has been since the late 1800s and early 1900s.
So I have a lot of heritage in the place. And I have been back to visit a lot. I'm not an outsider making these comments.
There is a lot of nice area surrounding Memphis, north Mississippi, outside of the city on the north and east sides, Corinth, Oxford, Dyersburg, etc.
And Memphis itself used to be a nice place. My parents at the age of 7 years old took the government run bus system downtown to catch matinees and they were perfectly safe. It used to be a great city and was one of the nicest in the country.
But now the government is corrupt, you've had middle class flight out of town, and the place is a dump. Not only that but it is unsafe. If you want to get mugged or get your stuff ripped off, yeah hang out there.
The smart people have left that town because there is no fix in sight. It may never recover from the last 50 year downturn. Worse yet it seems to be growing. Police in Jackson, TN have discussed that crime has seriously increased in the last 10 years as criminals are even exporting themselves out of Memphis.
That's not to say there aren't a few great things about the place. BBQ and food are amazing so is the music and culture. But neither of those are worth the cost of living in such a hellhole.