For UpperDeck

[Mitch Cronin]

UpperDeck,

In another thread you said "You'll get little sympathy and even less understanding from most contributors to this forum who share a common "prejudice" ----FA's are overpaid; unskilled; lazy; whiners."

Because of that, I'd like to make my thoughts clear:

Overpaid? I don't think so. I think in comparison, AME's, and some pilots are underpaid. That's all.

Unskilled? Relative to pilots and AME's? Yep. Obviously communication skills are essential, and language skills are a huge asset... and certainly good FA's develop some rather beneficial and unique skills in dealing with a variety of situations with people, ... but as far as I understand, there are few skills required in order to be hired for the job. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Lazy? Please!... Obviously some will be and some won't be. FA's won't have any monopoly on that!

Whiners? Same answer as for Lazy... Being in the aviation industry at all seems to give us all a bit of a boost in that direction. (not completely without justification, I might add)

Please add those comments to "the record" ...for what they're worth. I don't like to be misunderstood any more than you do.

In your last comment in that other thread you mentioned my name and my "nickels & dimes" comment... I'm not sure why that seemed to annoy you, but I'd like to tell you where I was coming from there...

All my working life I've seen people pour over their paycheques, complaining about the taxes and deductions... calculating and comparing it with their expectations, etc... I'm sure there are good reasons, especially in some places of employment, but I've always seen that as a contribution to a negative, or unhappy countenance. I personally prefer to look at the bottom line on may pay stub and look at it as something more than I had before receiving it. I almost never question the result, and for me, that's helped to keep me a little less sour than others who I see adding up the nickels and dimes... Maybe it's cost me a lot over the years? If so, oh well. If it's saved me a few headaches and managed to enable a more readily available smile, that's worth some money to me.

No disrespect for FA's was intended in those remarks.

Cheers,

Mitch

[moeman]

Well said Mitch.

I also share your feelings with regards to counting every nickel and dime. I take a look at what I made on the 17th and if it's pretty close to what I was expecting to make, I'm happy. If there's a huge discrepancy, I'll take a closer look, but otherwise I really can't be bothered.

The expense issue is one that I haven't really checked too closely of late. I did for a few months but it was such a pain that I gave up. I have many friends that do and they tell me how much they're out every month and that I should really check mine too. I'm sure they're right and that I could recoup some money by doing so. But as you said so eloquently, at the end of the day I'm getting paid a decent income to do what I really enjoy, so it's all good. Fretting over all the nickels and dimes and getting all bitter about it isn't my thing. I'm a little annoyed at Mr. Drake due to his tactics, but I'll just do what feels right when it comes down to it. Life's too short as it is and it ain't worth a few new grey hairs worrying over.

Thanks again for your comments.

[UpperDeck]

Mitch...

A reasonable response and welcome clarification though , at the end of the day, we can agree to disagree about "skill assessments". I'm not an FA but I have a great deal of respect for their generally shared ability to meet sometimes overwhelming demands without physically or verbally abusing the clientele. I confess that I had not sensed a similar degree of "admiration" of the "profession" in your posts.

I do not share your approach to earnings. I care about every single penny both incoming and otherwise and have for many years. The 1st and 15th of the month are not dates that I anticipate with any concern and I attribute that comfort to my "habits of frugality" but that is a lifestyle choice and causes no harm and should occasion no offence.