Blog-TOWER OF BABEL

I have become quite sentimental over the last few months. I have pondered the last twenty years of corporate work. When you showed up for on interview, people told you that they were thankful that you could make it. They laughed and joked, told old stories of bizarre flights and they hired you right away. They gave you a uniform that you were not ashamed to wear, like Brooks Brothers, or Ann or Calvin Klein, you were given an expense account (not that of a supermodel) where you could actually eat and maybe wash the great food down with a few glasses of vintage red.

Crews had your best interest at heart. You got two weeks off if you got married and as long as you needed to have a baby. The carpets and interiors of the jets were new and the wood sparkled. The supplies to perform you job were unlimited, and if you got sick, they filed nothing and you still got paid. Catering was whatever the passengers and crew wanted. The crew ate what the pax ate. There was never a compartmentalized box lunch with mystery meat and polyester bread, with token shrunk plum and saran wrapped brownie from 2009. The hotels smelled good, the lobby with marble flooring and a great staff. They remembered you and what you drank, and your room number without reminding them, people acted looked better and stood taller back then. Room service was an event to witness and you could leave your shoes outside your room to be shined. The bathroom was larger than my present hotel room. There were sometime heated towel racks and hot pipes to warm up the bathroom floor. All these things required thoughts of the guest.

Now, it is suggested we live on 25-50 dollars a day. whether in Chicago or London, no dry cleaning, no movie, no snack and no love. If catering is over 50.00 per person, they do not want to pay for it. No magazines, no cell phone, not internet,  imported chocolates or bathroom amenities, no floral, no eyeshades, no linen, no fine china, no mileage, no tolls, no no no no.

Are we headed to a socialist flying position? Am I supposed to fill up on the vending machine honey bun or Oreos packet? The FBO provides popcorn, apples, cookies, creamers, coffee, tea bas. pens, and mints. If I fill up on these comp items, will I be dead by next year? Or will I live long enough to be told I do not get any Medicare or Social Security, because the government ran out of money? What a choice.

When you see that 25 year old flight attendant in the FBO, you can smile at them and know that they will never know what we had. It is sad in a way. Her life will be filled with only cut rate hotels with see thru towels with no fabric softener,  Applebee's, Ponderosa, a dirty uniform from Cintas catalog, a cell phone bill, no movie, no pillow chocolate, 40 watt bulbs, a banner across the toilet saying it has been sanitized, a broken alarm clock  and a broken attitude.

We knew what the days of Camelot were, and the memory is forever mine. I have lived at the Peninsula, The Mandarin. the Ritz, the Greenbrier Resort,The Park Lane London, The Hotel Gansevoort, they were all the bomb. I can see for miles in my memories.
 

Corporate flying is slow right now, or the timing is off. I got a call at 300 am 2 weeks ago to fly, we had 23 inches of snow, un-shoveled, an asap trip. Needless to say, it was a no go for me. Then I was offered a 1 week trip SINT MAARTEN - trip, while I had a 2 day Ireland turn. Then, I had a juicy cushy 5 days in DC trip, during the time the movers were coming. If you cancel on movers 10 hours prior It can get costly. I moved my movers twice due to snow. I could not do it again, besides, I had a deadline to get out of where I was. 

So to be frustrated or not? What good would it do? The only cure to this is to jockey for more trips in the future. To say, "I could have made $6,000.00 in February” will only make you want to kick your dog. It is what it is. Fate, luck and go forward with plans. We all know that January and February are a bit slow. 

For the 10 days I could not work in February, I will make them up next month. Money is money, and you just have to stockpile a bit in your savings for lean months. August always is slow for me. So in the past two years, i worked like a pig dog in July and go away in August. I do not even sweat August anymore. 

So if you know your trend and the trend of private flying, you will stay abreast. be more sane and not have to worry about nothing coming in. It is my theory on corporate prepare and repair.