You drive like a granny.:D

You don't really "play" soccer, as its not really even a sport. I did jog around a field with a soccer ball on it for a couple years. Boooooooooring.

I do respect parents that volunteer to be soccer "coaches" (again, not really the right term). Not because there's anything validating about soccer, but because volunteering to organize and supervise a bunch of kids in anything is a Herculean effort.

Don't get me wrong, I would have loved the US to win that pathetic, uninspiring little participation trophy. Mostly so we could brag about it while not really giving a darn, and that's exactly what that "sport" deserves.

Funny thing is, once the US puts our minds to something, we're pretty much unbeatable. Even though its about as exciting as a game of Jenga, the US is casually getting into it. I bet in a decade or so we're the dominant nation.

But until then, there's two reasons to watch soccer: to roll our eyes at the nations that don't have a real national sport, and to be thankful we have all the great ones.

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Wow, if true that's very interesting. I didn't think it would work, but I didn't think it wouldn't work as bad as it apparently isn't working.

I just assumed they would lower the standards (or increase the tolerances, however one would like to phrase it) but if those numbers were anywhere near correct, they could triple their success rate and still not make a dent.

As for the other side of that stratedgy, how's morale been with the troops with the arrival of the first of the "golden children"?

I have to agree with Purple in one of his points. The above and beyond is something that bean counters have no way to a monetary value on so it doesn't exist in their world. You are talking about a job action, B.O.B. (block or better for those that don't know), I, and I believe Purple, are talking about the extra stuff that makes the daily operation go sooo much smoother than it should in reality.

I will give you an example from my own experience. I was on Express, our 737 operation in MCO, crew scheduling knew that if they called me I could/would be to the airport in 20 minutes because I lived in Orlando. They would call all the time to see if I could get there quickly in order to do FCF's to get an airplane back into service. They knew that I would park in the hyatt parking lot, on my own dime, and be there faster than anyone other than someone sitting at the airport. I did this because I thought that Delta would always take care of me. I had heard the stories about the Delta family. Then came force majeur, furlough, bankruptcy and continually backward negotiations. It was made very apparent that ultimately you are just a number to the bean counters, because they can put a monetary value on a furlough. Heck they even knew the exact amount of days a pilot had to be out in order for it to be cost effective.

So long story short, after 3 years of furlough they lost that drive in me to go way beyond. I fly my trips, I still get stroller for moms in the jetway (not because it helps Delta but because it's the right thing to do), I hand out wings to kids and invite them to see the cockpit (this is one of my favorite things about the job).

The funny thing is that for the pilots not getting furloughed the time that the furloughees were on the street were some of the best years of money making and they have a very different slant on Delta and that time period. Those lucky enough to stay on property had C2K rates for 3 years and the ability, if they chose to do so, to greenslip much more which many took advantage of at the time.

Not saying I agree with it, but I thought the whole goal of a corporation is to "increase shareholder wealth." Paying dividends and driving up the stock price seems to be in line with that idea.

So where do you sit on the 4th floor?

And it is no coincidence that most of management is paid in....

shares of stock.

Any wonder why they always want -you- to pick up the tab? :rolleyes:

I like that. Jack Lambert.

How about filing his car up with gas, I kid you not..

Did you miss the part about "not saying I agree with it."

My only point is that the CEO is doing what you would expect a CEO to do, increase shareholder wealth. So I don't agree with the premise that the company is giving back money to the shareholders because they have nothing else to do with the cash. For the most part, giving it to us does not meet the goals of the shareholders, otherwise it would be easy at contract time right?

I bet most on this forum own stock. I know I shoot for ones that will appreciate and pay an ever increasing dividend. As a "stakeholder" here, my goals are obviously different, although nothing prevents us from being both.

Not sure how stating a business principle puts me on the 4th floor? But this is the "ready, fire, aim" forum most of the time.