Originally Posted by
gtechpilot
I thought I had a great back-up: I'm and engineer with years of experience in the field....right now I can't even find entry level job openings!
And yes, I have sat Ready Reserve a lot lately - on three separate occasions I heard senior captains speaking loudly enough for anyone to hear that we needed to let more go so that they wouldn't have to go back to flying guarantee again this fall. I was near enough to toss a sarcastic barb at one but he wasn't interested in engaging to world around him so it fell on deaf ears.
People are incredibly selfish. I have an uncle working in a low level government position and he and a bunch of the more senior workers refused a 2 day reduction a month to save the jobs of some of their fellow workers. Nearly 50 people lost their jobs because he and others like him were way to selfish to give up 2 days of pay a month. He didn't really need the money either, he simply didn't want to have to give up a cruise he takes every year for a vacation. Instead of showinf a little empathy and giving up a cruise he now gets to watch his coworkers lose their houses. Real classy......
It's selfishness and a lack of financial planning that result in attitides like that. Those captains are either dicks or make poor life choices and have 2-3 alimonies to pay. If you can't make ends meet making 100K+ in a cheap area like the south you are doing something very wrong.
One thing that every pilot (actually every American) should learn is to plan your life around guarentee pay. All per diem and hours over guarentee should be considered a bonus. Go ahead and use some of that "bonus" money to splurge a little but save most of it for a rainy day. That way when you do lose your job, want buy a house, or send your kids to college you have something there to help out. NEVER ever count on anyone for anything like social security or pension because chances are it'll get taken away.