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Plan B

It was announced on Aug 27, 2008 that United will fire (oh, excuse me, I mean "furlough" or "trim" or whatever) about 10% of the flight attendants as part of a plan to eliminate 7,000 jobs by end of 2009.

How do you like them apples?

More bad airline news and more UAL employees getting screwed.

Habituation

Skinner BoxEver hear of Habituation? It's a behavioral term used to describe how animals are able to learn not to react to stimuli when they occur over and over again. Example: if a rat is given many low level electrical shocks, that rat will, over time, while subjected to the shocks, get used to them and build up a tolerance to the pain.

Stop for a second. Now, re-read the previous paragraph at least one more time and then think about your work life. Go ahead. I'll wait. Do it now.

It’s 2008.  I think it’s high time to wake up a few people to the realities of this job and the necessity of putting yourself as #1. It was nothing more that I've been saying in various flavors on this web site since 2000.  But let’s revisit the subject again.

  1. Every employee at this airline should have a Plan B. Just in case. That doesn't mean go out and quit tomorrow. That would be a dumb idea. It doesn't mean go out and quit next year. Rather, it means have a backup plan so that, in a worst case scenario, you aren't stuck with a shitty career or no career. Who knows, maybe your backup plan may turn out to be your lifelong dream? As smarter people than I have said: The difference between a dream and a goal?  A plan.
  2. The employees at this airline do not deserve to be stuck in an unhappy job with crappy pay. If the work conditions we have in 2008 were suddenly thrust all at once upon us back in, say, 1999, there would be looting and rioting. The problem is, so much continual erosion of pay/benefits/conditions has occurred that it seems that we're all just getting numb to this kind of thing. Habituation. And that's not what any career should be about.
  3. You have a grand total of one honest, no-BS, unequivocal person on this planet that you can completely trust 100%. This person was there for you when you were born; they will be there for you the moment you die.  That would be you. My point? Take care of that person by asking important and difficult questions right now about your life, your work, and your dreams. Too many people forget to do that. And too many dreams become just that. 

Yeah, but...

It's well known that the difference between winners and losers is that winners do things that losers don't want to do. Just think about that one for a moment.

Winners do things that losers don't want to do.

Losers don't want to face unpleasant news and the possibility of major life changes. No siree, it's easier to hope that things will eventually go back to how they were before. It's easier to complain about United than to learn how to write a job resume. It's easier to blame airline industry than to research the nuts and bolts of going back to school or network with people in the field you have a passion for. It's easier to just blame blame blame and perpetually focus on next month's LOF (together with other people also miserable and focusing on next month's LOF).

Stop already with the "Yeah, but..." Stop it right now, because that kind of thinking will put you on a deathbed at old age one day wondering where all the time went and regretting not having gone after what you deserve in life.

roadYou are in charge of your destiny. It's not too late, but you've got to start right now. Today. Before you even finish reading this article. Take care of yourself for a change, because guess what, nobody else will. The next time you are on the real jumpseat, don't waste any more time talking about whatever new WHQ policy change is going to happen, or what a pain in the neck 4R is to work with, how bitchy the CSR in San Francisco was, or how bad of a dingleberry senior leader [INSERT YOUR PREFERENCE HERE] is. Instead, concentrate on the most important subject of all: you.

On a layover? Turn off that stupid hotel TV and read up on something. Educate yourself and learn a new skill. Start planning the rest of your life now. Get a backup plan together. No more "Yeah, but..." Time waits for no one.

And, at the end of the day, if you still want to hang on for the ride and stay with the airline industry, then be at peace with your decision. And that's cool too. Really.

Here's a true story: I applied for the flight attendant job three different times at United Airlines. I was promptly rejected all three times and did not even make it to the 2nd interview in Chicago. I even wore the same dumb suit and same dumb tie to all three interviews and said basically the same stuff. No dice.

For some unexplainable reason, the fourth year and fourth time around I got accepted---maybe the person at the group interview in LAX was in a good mood that day, who knows? It sure wasn't the same suit and tie I wore to the other three past interviews.

When they called to tell me about my 'successful application', I asked the person who telephoned to please read back to me my Social Security number in their company or whatever file folder because I didn't believe I'd just gotten the job.

But even after SS# confirmation, I still didn't believe I would have been able to get hired as a Flight Attendant. I therefore immediately left for South America with nothing more than a small backpack; believing, really believing, that I would never actually get called back to appear at the Training Center. Don't ask me why, but rambling around South America just seemed like the thing to do at the time.

End of March 1996 - Amazon Basin, Brazil

From my 1996 diary entry:

"How many bugs can there be on this f--king boat? They just go everywhere. And what's with Jim [name changed] moving my hammock over near the bag? He reminds me of that guy from Chico and the Man. Chico, not The Man. What was his name? I can't remember. Maybe one of these bugs knows? The Shadow knows, maybe the bugs do also.”

Shortly after, I completed a 7-day boat journey down the Amazon river from Belem. I was covered with mosquito bites, had slept in a hammock on the boat with no shower for 5 days, and was generally pretty out of it. It's like jet lag and the worst lavatory smell you can imagine all rolled into one thick head-choking haze.

I found a touch-tone telephone (one actually worked in Manaus in 1996 in the hostel dump I stayed at) and I checked my answering machine messages in Los Angeles. And yes, dreams do come true (if you apply for the same job four times, that is) as I heard a message on my machine telling me to now report to the Training Center on April 7.

The next few days were a blur. Airplane to La Paz. Bus ride in the middle of the night through the Andes. Some strange airport experience (don’t ask, thanks) in Lima. And back to Miami, fly to Los Angeles put down backpack take shower cut hair pick up suitcase back to airport to hop to Chicago and straight to WHQ Training Center in time for salty pizza dinner to meet my classmates. Whew!

My head was spinning, but I had done it. I looked down at the pizza I was eating on that first evening and saw the mosquito bites from the Amazon jungle still on my hands. And for some reason, everything felt okay. I felt like I could accomplish anything.

It's a good feeling.

Don't you remember? (that is, getting this job with United, not mosquito bites)

I felt like I was opening up a new chapter in my life.

I want everyone to feel like that again. Here at United Airlines or wherever your dreams + action plan = goal takes you.

Answers next exit

Let me repeat something I wrote on December 31, 2000:

I had absolutely no idea that I work alongside such an intelligent, diverse, and quite frankly cool group of people. You are the reason for the late nights, the hassles of site management and security, and the enormous amount of time required to maintain this crazy project.
    --- Christopher and Bailey

Still feel the same way. This is the rest of your life. Get started. Now.

Don't bother replying to this commentary. That's exactly the time-wasting stuff I'm telling you to avoid. You've got more important things to do. Dust yourself off and move forward. Use your valuable time to instead focus on yourself and how you can better improve your chances for success in 2009. And if I haven't said so already, our best wishes for a successful remainder of this year and beyond.

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