Agreed. If he’s serious, I just hope he doesn’t take a plane full of people with him when he reaches his breaking point.

If he’s joking/trolling, I really hope he’s not actually a legacy pilot. There’s having a warped sense of humor, and then there’s... whatever that is.

In the context of a job where you have people’s lives in your hands, demonstrating signs of mental illness is hardly funny.

 

Here’s a tip, check your brakes and your check engine light.

 

Some van drivers I have ridden with will tell you that is not necessary. The Check Engine light is glowing solid right now. So he knows it works. As far as brakes, who needs them. He corners on two wheels and throws her in reverse and floors it when he wants to stop.

 

Do you non-van-tippers not tip at restaurants as well? If someone is handling your bags it’s common knowledge you should be tipping. Same as a bar tender or server at a restaurant. A simple google search will show it’s customary in the US to throw a buck or two. Have some class. Or don’t and prove your point, but know you look like a DB to everyone else.

 

Blown away by some pilots on this thread.

My son has aspergers (now called social-pragmatic disorder). He'll never follow in my footsteps and fly mil or 121. He will drive vans. Giving is about helping the less advantaged vs some daily adjusted monetary value or long term net worth. Worship your stuff I guess. Maybe it comes down to how you value yourself.

I tip $5. SHOCKER! Over the holidays I tip more. Including minority folks cleaning up my table at the restaurants. Not because I have it, but because they need it more then I.

If this resonates with one young pilot then I'm glad I got on a soapbox.

 

Restaurants are bit different as the waitstaff don’t even get min wages, their income is heavily reliant on tips and bar tenders and bussers getting a percentage of those tips. Having working in that industry many years ago, it became apparent that I need to tip otherwise my waiter won’t make money I am pretty sure van drivers make more than your typical restaurant workers.

Back in 2001-2002, a waiter in a Jones’s Crab shack got paid 2.13/hr plus tips...... Let that sink in.

 

I know. I waited tables in that same era and made just enough hourly to get a zero’d out paycheck every other week to satisfy taxes. The best were the people who’d come in and eat a meal then not tip because they didn’t think it was necessary.

So I still stand by my post. It’s customary to tip someone who is throwing your bags and driving you to and from your hotel the same as it’s customary to tip the person cutting your hair or pouring your beers... now if the van driver is unsafe or is rude or whatever then sure, adjust accordingly. But if it’s just about you being the “I’m not tipping the van driver because I disagree with it” kind of guy/gal and that’s the hill you want to make your stand on so be it, but I’ll be the first to make a joking comment on your lack of generosity and offer to tip for you and judge you as cheap and out of touch. If you can’t afford to give the van driver a dollar tip for putting your bags into and taking them out of the vehicle then maybe it isn’t the van drivers problem and more of your own.

 

Do you mean you’ll make a joking comment on APC, or would you actually say something to me on a trip about it, in front of others? I can’t see anyone doing that.

If you were to make a comment about it out loud, then we’re going to have a problem. Flights would be checklists and briefs only kind of deal.

 

Wow.....that’s either some world class trolling or your mindset is shockingly unintentionally offensive.

I’m just curious......only “minority folks” (how quaint) clean up around tables, right? Or are they just the needy ones?

My son also has Asperger’s.....and your post has me wondering if you don’t have a slight case of it yourself.

 

I wouldn’t directly confront you about it in a hostile way....I’d find a way to make it the subject of a joke with the intent of publicly embarrassing you. And briefs and checklists is no problem to me.........