Well Das, I guess you never dealt with an Ultra. Many FBOs refused to pull the honey pot through the cabin. Even us large cabin folks deal with those rickety ladders today pulling the forward battery at the end of the day. Or dealt with restocking the aircraft as you crewmate wiped down a toilet and vacuumed the floor. All before you pinned the gear and pitot covers, and sometimes engine covers in 30 kt winds.
Extensive menus? We used to order anything we wanted. Guess you didn’t experience that either. What you see now is the result of years of effort to retain what we do have. Much better pay, great health care, crew cars, travel on company time and dime, great hotels, and tons of other bennies. Trouble is what some see as “better than others” tend to learn the hard way of changes they never thought could happen. Don’t get me wrong. I am darn proud of what we have and what we accomplished. Just be careful not to blow your horn too loud. Ask the Pan Am, Braniff, Eastern, TWA, etc folks how proud they are now. And btw, Wendy’s is a heck of a lot more reliable than some of our caterers.