Originally Posted by
TheProfessor
Just so we avoid the implication to the contrary, I genuinely appreciate the negotiation efforts, pain, and suffering the pilot group went through before I got to Delta to produce the nice contract we have today. Seriously.
The killing them with kindness routine is not to get flight ops to be nice to us. I completely agree that will have no effect and it’s not the intention. And I agree that hats off or bright colored lanyards will annoy them and more importantly shows unity.
But being nice to passengers while the operation is continually a dumpster fire isn’t going to “produce nice results” for flight ops. Non-cancelled and on time trips are infinitely more important than a tiny NPS boost from me saying bye to a passenger. Continuing to be a decent person reduces the credibility of a narrative that says pilots are greedy, difficult people. So we win by not being viewed unnecessarily in a negative light without giving up any significant negotiating position.
I do not see how being difficult with passengers and other employees is going to get us anything. Other employees do have power to make our lives more or less pleasant in small ways (no matter how much the captain is in charge or has the parking brake). Why increase animosity with them when we aren’t negotiating with them and they have no ability to influence the outcome? It’s pretty obvious flight ops is going to continue trying to malign us as a group and I’m simply advocating to improve—or at least not worsen—things outside of the section 6 battlefield. I may be new here, but I’m not new at being a human being or dealing with people.
Hold on to that perspective. It's easy to, and many guys do get cynical and jaded when you work for a company with a hostile management, as we have here at Delta today. Once that happens, then you'll lose the enjoyment of the job and, more importantly, the wonder that we get to work flying airplanes.
I've seen guys who were in my new hire class decades ago turn into real curmudgeons. The key is to enjoy the work, which for most means doing a good job for the passengers while not being naïve about the company's management.
The environment at Delta used to be very different; the CPO's office was some place that you could go to get help solving a problem, and the senior leadership was actually interested in running an airline, not milking a business for every penny. Perhaps it will be different in the future.
I don't mean to sound like I'm lecturing you, I appreciate your perspective and hope that you can hold on to it. I'm just trying to help you avoid the trap that I've seen many fall into.