I've failed

[The Old Fogducker]

Interesting twist this thread is taking.

Randleman, I agree fully..... but many AvCanada Forum readers won't because their perception that everything should be given to them based exclusively on date of hire, and have absolutely zero to do with personal initiative, drive and ambition, performance, or a desire to succeed personally, and excel at what they do.

Rather, barely meeting the status quo of minimum standards is quite sufficient, and is all an employer has any right to expect, regardless of company size or scope.

In fact, such personality traits are often seen as something to be stomped out of "ladder climbers" in an organization by means of social pressure, being ostracized, or professionally back-stabbed through lies and deceitful games worthy of grade six students.

To them, a staff member who is a snarling, growling cur who spreads demoralization through everyone with whom they interact holds an equal corporate value, entitlement to advancement, and recognition as one who is consistently pleasant, cheerful, and happy with life.

I don't think so.

Trying to do a tiny bit more than those around them is seen not as a benefit to their collective situation by providing some new ideas, but only as being "a boot-licker" for management.

One such example occurred a few years ago when I was working on checklists ... just resizing them to better fit the control column so they didn't hit my knees. As I was running the 6 or 7 pages through the plastic laminator, I was approached by one of "the senior pilots" .... ten years my junior ... and told in no uncertain terms "that's not your job, stop it right now."

So me being me .... I simply laughed and carried on. From that moment on however, I was labelled as a troublemaker by a select few self-appointed leaders in the operational section of the organization.

For some persons, doing anything microscopically greater than the bare minimum required to remain employed is seen as something unacceptable..... "a sell out to the man." The word "merit" to members of this group is a filthy word ranking equally with "scab."

I'm sure the strong union advocates reading this will have their vision narrow to the diameter of a dime, face turn purple with rage, and wreck a keyboard pounding out a reply, but that's the way I see it.

The Old Fogducker

[RFlyer]

Interesting twist this thread is taking.

I'm sure the strong union advocates reading this will have their vision narrow to the diameter of a dime, face turn purple with rage, and wreck a keyboard pounding out a reply, but that's the way I see it.

The Old Fogducker

I wondered how long it would take before Unions were mentioned in this thread. The whole idea smacks of [my impression] of what it must be like to work in a union. I work in telecoms and years ago, working in a subsidiary of BCTel, I was shocked to be told I couldn't wield a screwdriver - that was "the union's job" and here's your guy. He followed me around that morning doing nothing except unscrewing and screwing

[The Old Fogducker]

RF ... I helped replace a pair of water-cooled PA tubes in an old 50 Kw RCA broadcast transmitter in 1970.

We had to hire a plummer, and his helper to undo the water connections on the old low emission tubes and then connect up the new ones before we powered up the filaments for the burn-in period before applying B+ to them babies, and beginning the tune up procedure.

The plummer and helper claimed a minimum after hours call out of 5 hours each at double time.

That was my first contact with just how stupid some angles and circumstances of working in a union shop could be.

OFD

[iflyforpie]

People who choose to put in the extra effort =

I'm with you OFD. I hate that union 'work to rule' crap that won't pick up a piece of garbage on the tarmac 'because that's not my job'. Like others have said; we should leave equipment better than when we found it and be proactive at saving the company money and ensuring our employment.


However....

Employers who expect this extra effort to be put in without compensation =

Pilots are bullied and taken advantage of more because they want to ensure they still have a seat when the music stops or want to be upgraded to that next level. Make sure you know your rights.

If I am called back into work after I am done for the day, I am putting four hours on my time sheet. That's what the employment standards for this province say I am entitled to, and for good reasons. Gas and wear and tear isn't cheap, neither is daycare, time away from home, and the extra stress of coming back in.

I have never been called back in the three years I've been here, but I have returned for five minutes to take care of something I forgot. I didn't bother with the time sheet since it was my own dumb fault and it didn't take that long to fix...