Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
I'll rephrase: "So since we cannot fully control our environment, we should adjust our expectations to 50% of what they were when we got into this career?"
Maybe we should start with goals vs expectations. My goal was to marry a supermodel. Based on some early success in my youth, my expectation of reaching my goal was encouraged. Tammy Patterson had the same hair style as Farrah, and Kathy O'Neil kinda looked like Cheryl Tiegs from behind...in low light. But at some point I had to adjust my expectations, and settled for a girl that was only about 68% supermodel. That adjusted expectation has gotten easier to accept as I've watched my peers write monthly alimony checks to their 95% supermodels, and as I've learned how apparently difficult some of my "goal" girls are to live with.
Our collective goal should be high. Our expectations should be adjusted. I can't give you a percentage of the adjustments because it varies. Priorities shift.
Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
You should be able to tell from many of my posts that I am fully aware of and acknowledging reality... but without using a difficult environment as an excuse for giving up on restoration. If anything, I think the factual information I have posted in terms of past and current pay rates and inflation have added some much needed reality to the discussion of where we as a pilot group need to go, and what it will take to get there.
Nobody is giving up on restoration. When do you want it?
Some think we should have gotten it in the merger contract. Some think we should get it NOW! Some think we should wait for the end of the next contract to get there. Some can't think of a timeline.
To keep a group with that range of expectations unified, some of us are going to have to adjust our expectations to be more in line with our
collective goal. The alternative is to try to achieve ANY goal with a dis-unified group.
The DPA's advisors have a long history of selling their snake oil with the logic, "What you want is reasonable and righteous. You've been screwed by ALPA (IBT, IAM, etc)! Everybody will agree with
your reasonable and righteous expectations, and be totally unified once you've gotten rid of ALPA (IBT, IAM, etc)."
Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
When you look at the actual results of DALPA's efforts versus the other pilot groups, there isn't really that much difference in the big picture. We're all far below where any of us reasonably expected to be at this point in our careers!
So there must be
something to this "environment" thing! Delta ALPA is doing better than it's peers...who are all failing to meet the "reasonable expectations" of some.
If only 1,531 Delta pilots have to adjust their expectations to 68% of a supermodel, we might be doing ok.