Carl,
First of all, I am new here, in the sense of posting anyway. I’ve been “lurking” this forum for quite some time, since the summer of 2008 to be exact and have been able to get a fairly good foundation and understanding of where most posters are coming from. (i.e. Whether they’re trying to see things from “both sides of the fence”, or only “stating their own facts, as they see them” and not wanting to accept another poster’s ideas as a different view.)
My apologies to you concerning the “senile” comment, it was out of line, and can fully accept your viewpoint towards feeling that I was “out of ideas”. In retrospect I might’ve used a more constructive posting and urged you to look at what “Kingbird’s” opinion was also. “In a public forum, we all have the right to our own opinions, whether they’re right, wrong, or indifferent.”
How I might have communicated my intentions more accurately, were related to the previous discussions of “sick call usage”. If someone calls into crew scheduling, tells them they’re sick, when they truly aren't, (not talking about fatigued or other personal issues at home) and then spends the rest of the week in Hawaii, or wherever else they’ve traveled on their days off, to me that’s just as ingenuous and lacking of integrity, as if they were “reporting to management after union meetings”. I don’t advocate either, and having been in the military for the 19 years, two months that I have, wouldn’t want to sit beside someone else in the cockpit that needs to lower their standards of “professionalism” to “get back at the company”.
In contract negotiations between labor and management any perceived weakness is capitalized on, but in the same negotiations, any perceived lack of integrity from the labor or management is also built upon by forming a “higher barrier” between both groups at the negotiating table. (Stick with me here, I do actually have a point to make.)
And my point is………….probably thought it was never coming, is that I feel as though the rapport and level of communication that the union leadership now has with the leaders of the “Worlds Largest Air Line” is generations better than what you’ve been exposed to in the past. We both came from the same airline prior to this merger, I’ve just been fortunate enough not to have to carry the “pitchfork & flaming torch” as much as it seems you have had to. (Not meant in a derogatory sense.)
So in closing, I implore you and everyone else who reads this post, to walk away from this message board, as well as operations at the company trying to see things from “both sides of the fence”. Again, just to set the record straight, I am in now way, shape or form a sympathizer of management, and feel as though we need to give them everything they ask for, but in the same breath, better rapport, communication, and ultimate “UNITY” amongst the pilot group and as a result, between the pilot group and management will not only make our organization the “Worlds Largest Air Line”, but also the “Worlds BEST Air Line”. (I’m quite confident that it’s both of those already, but then again I’m biased as I work here too.)
The same goes for “FlyingViking” as I would have been more productive in my communication by offering a suggestion, instead of “calling him out” on the forum, all the while I was making a word usage mistake myself.
As far as the stories of “Ferd” go. From previous postings, it is my understanding that he did some time at the good ol’ Minot Air Force Base. A place near and dear to my heart, as I grew up on the outskirts of Minot watching the F-15’s fly overhead each day. YES PEOPLE DO LIVE THERE, AND YES, I DO KNOW HOW COLD IT GETS. So when you see Ferd in NRT next time, buy him a beer for me, I’ll pay ya back sometime soon.
V/R,
Vikings Fan (Minot Native)