I used to be a fairly empathetic person. I'd still like to think I am but there are seriously days when this is tested to the utmost extreme. Customer service will do that to you. It's crazy. A few late passengers and you can actually feel your entire personality shifting.
It's becoming a trend for people to rock up to our international flights with barely a half hour to spare. I have no sympathy for late runners - even my own family nearly missed their flight home from Melbourne earlier this year thanks to Dad's genius idea of taking a shortcut, and I could only laugh. You should be at the airport eons before your flight and if you're not then sorry but cry me a river. Even before I got this job I would be camped out in the check-in at least an hour before a domestic flight. Nerdy? Maybe, but better than being that passenger everyone glares at as you shuffle down the aisle fully aware you've held 130 other people up.
Today I had the pleasure of dealing with a woman on a Singapore passport who wanted to convince me that she did not need a visa to get into Australia. "I travel lots, I never need visa." Oh right, sorry! My mistake - so because you travel heaps I'll totally bypass the Australian customs regulations and get my ass in trouble when the fines come through. Duh! Stupid me. She made the wise idea of turning up for this flight 45 minutes before departure. Feel the blood boiling already? Oh yes.
After arguing for five minutes that she didn't need a passport and that I was obviously wrong despite the fact I do this every day for a living, she finally trudged into the ticketing office to get a visa. The queue was a mile long. YET WE HELD THE FLIGHT FOR HER.
This pisses me off. People who are disorganised enough to turn up late to check-in and then have the gall to dispute an international law should be bumped so that the other 150 law-abiding, organised passengers can go on time. I don't understand why my supervisor didn't just tell her it was too late and that she'd have to go on the next flight. I swear if I were a supervisor or had the authority to take people off flights, a lot more people would be learning a harsh lesson in punctuality.
Alas, I'm not a supervisor. I don't particularly want to be one either. I deal with enough crap as it is, let alone having to have the buck passed on to me when the CSAs find it beyond their control. You'd think after two and a half years in this job I'd maybe want to "climb the ladder" a bit...but it's never really been a goal of mine. I know my parents would be thrilled to see me get promoted or put into a "stable" department in the company (e.g. boring droll "same-shit-different-day" locked in a box admin). They don't say it outright, just little hints here and there. And it's like, you know what? I have never had a more fun, diverse and interesting job. Never has a position riveted me so. So why don't they just accept that this is what I love?
A lot of our passengers look down on us but in the end we do have the power and the right to refuse to check them in. It's not like my job is completely thankless and menial. I get paid well, get plenty of perks, flexible shifts (although the 4ams still kill me) and the people I work with are awesome. Why would I want to give that up so I can wear a little badge that says "Team Manager" and exercise just a little more power? Flag that.
One more week until Christmas. The loads are full and will be swelling to oversold tomorrow with the end of the school year. Unaccompanied minors and families galore. Can't wait...hahaha.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Restarting after 18 months!
Oops...I guess I let this slide in a big way. And that's not because my job has become boring - the complete opposite, actually. A lot has changed. My pay rate has gone up but so has the staff travel, which I suppose had to happen. The company has started hiring a whole lot of dimwits, mostly aged around 18-20 years old, and separated those of us who are trained and those of us who only have limited skills into what they call a cluster system. It's stupid and I knew from the get-go it wouldn't work and has only made me resent working for my actual employer.
So I joined the Qantas pool. Now this airline I can mention because I'm not actually employed by them, we're just contracted to do their ground handling (check-in, boarding etc). This has given me a sense of working for a proper airline where people still check-in face-to-face instead of solely through a machine, and that those working there are properly trained and know what they're doing.
Well...for the most part. Some people in my job are really starting to grate on me, to the point that if I see I'm working for them I can feel a headache coming on before I even start. Now obviously I'm not going to name names, but there is definitely a group who are "in" with the managerial side of things and therefore get away with murder. I can only imagine the unbelievable trouble I would be in if I refused to do anything but sit on my ass making the boarding calls, or chatting to my mates non-stop. Yet this select group get to do whatever they want and management turn a blind eye to it.
Hmm. But I get a talking to for calling a manager a bitch after she humiliated me in front of dozens of passengers? Yeah, fair call. To be honest I thought I let her off lightly, I could have called her a lot worse - that's not the first time she's gone out of her way to make me feel 2 inches tall.
Then there's two particular drama queens who are nothing short of rude and in love with themselves. I've been called fat and ugly TO MY FACE by one. I didn't think she was much to look at but still, she had the gall to point out that a group of rugby boys didn't want to be checked in by me because of how I look. Thanks, my tiny ego just DIED right there. Then there's the constant talk talk talk about "me me me" that you personally just don't care about or want to know.
Now don't get me wrong, there are a lot of people at my work that I do get on with and a lot I am lucky to call friends. I've actually hit the jackpot in that department and made some of the best friends I think I'll ever have, solely through this job. But still! I thought this company had some sort of integrity when it came to their recruitment, that the reason we went through so many interviews and checks was to ensure we made a good name for this airline. I got told that only 2% of applicants actually successfully gained employment with this company, which would make you think they're very picky.
They're having trouble proving that right now. Nearly every week another group of sullen-eyed, disinterested, gum-chewing school leavers put on that uniform and are somehow expected to show the world that we are a world-class airline. Go figure.
I know people think that I joined the Qantas pool either because it's a lot less work or because my best mate pretty much solely works down there, which means we have a lot of fun if we're working together. But actually it was neither of those reasons. I wanted to be in the Qantas pool because inevitably one day I'm going to leave New Zealand - the goal is 2010. I still want to work in the airline industry and at the rate my current employer is going, I think it's going to look far more impressive if I have Qantas behind me. They are the second oldest airline in the world and one of the biggest, and despite the fact that they are...ugh...Australian, I can't help but feel a little bit proud when I'm working for them.
Even though the disrupts, cancellations and general mayhem is about ten-fold what I get down the other end. Seriously Qantas, time to start buying some new planes...
It's like working for a proper airline, which is how I used to feel about my employers. Even the uniform is a million times more professional. It doesn't feel like a hideous bland sack. It's actually nice and flattering and stands out.
Anyway. My employers have a lot to answer for at the moment. I'm not going anywhere and I still feel extremely lucky to have my job but that doesn't mean I'm hugely impressed with what they're doing. We're pretty much going to be replaced by machines and the people they're hiring are nothing to be desired. Lazy, arrogant, rude and totally clueless about the aviation industry. "Um...what's a 737?" How do you not roll your eyes at that?
I think this rant is coming to a close, particularly as it's my day off so I have no real specific incidents to report. I managed to have the manager of the Wellington Phoenix abuse me over a cellphone yesterday which was exciting, because I pretty much told his friend who had passed him over to me that he would not be travelling if he kept that attitude up, and that I had told my manager who was looking out for him. Hahaha, BURN.
Fingers crossed we keep our jobs. Don't keep hiring losers when they're all going to be replaced anyway!
So I joined the Qantas pool. Now this airline I can mention because I'm not actually employed by them, we're just contracted to do their ground handling (check-in, boarding etc). This has given me a sense of working for a proper airline where people still check-in face-to-face instead of solely through a machine, and that those working there are properly trained and know what they're doing.
Well...for the most part. Some people in my job are really starting to grate on me, to the point that if I see I'm working for them I can feel a headache coming on before I even start. Now obviously I'm not going to name names, but there is definitely a group who are "in" with the managerial side of things and therefore get away with murder. I can only imagine the unbelievable trouble I would be in if I refused to do anything but sit on my ass making the boarding calls, or chatting to my mates non-stop. Yet this select group get to do whatever they want and management turn a blind eye to it.
Hmm. But I get a talking to for calling a manager a bitch after she humiliated me in front of dozens of passengers? Yeah, fair call. To be honest I thought I let her off lightly, I could have called her a lot worse - that's not the first time she's gone out of her way to make me feel 2 inches tall.
Then there's two particular drama queens who are nothing short of rude and in love with themselves. I've been called fat and ugly TO MY FACE by one. I didn't think she was much to look at but still, she had the gall to point out that a group of rugby boys didn't want to be checked in by me because of how I look. Thanks, my tiny ego just DIED right there. Then there's the constant talk talk talk about "me me me" that you personally just don't care about or want to know.
Now don't get me wrong, there are a lot of people at my work that I do get on with and a lot I am lucky to call friends. I've actually hit the jackpot in that department and made some of the best friends I think I'll ever have, solely through this job. But still! I thought this company had some sort of integrity when it came to their recruitment, that the reason we went through so many interviews and checks was to ensure we made a good name for this airline. I got told that only 2% of applicants actually successfully gained employment with this company, which would make you think they're very picky.
They're having trouble proving that right now. Nearly every week another group of sullen-eyed, disinterested, gum-chewing school leavers put on that uniform and are somehow expected to show the world that we are a world-class airline. Go figure.
I know people think that I joined the Qantas pool either because it's a lot less work or because my best mate pretty much solely works down there, which means we have a lot of fun if we're working together. But actually it was neither of those reasons. I wanted to be in the Qantas pool because inevitably one day I'm going to leave New Zealand - the goal is 2010. I still want to work in the airline industry and at the rate my current employer is going, I think it's going to look far more impressive if I have Qantas behind me. They are the second oldest airline in the world and one of the biggest, and despite the fact that they are...ugh...Australian, I can't help but feel a little bit proud when I'm working for them.
Even though the disrupts, cancellations and general mayhem is about ten-fold what I get down the other end. Seriously Qantas, time to start buying some new planes...
It's like working for a proper airline, which is how I used to feel about my employers. Even the uniform is a million times more professional. It doesn't feel like a hideous bland sack. It's actually nice and flattering and stands out.
Anyway. My employers have a lot to answer for at the moment. I'm not going anywhere and I still feel extremely lucky to have my job but that doesn't mean I'm hugely impressed with what they're doing. We're pretty much going to be replaced by machines and the people they're hiring are nothing to be desired. Lazy, arrogant, rude and totally clueless about the aviation industry. "Um...what's a 737?" How do you not roll your eyes at that?
I think this rant is coming to a close, particularly as it's my day off so I have no real specific incidents to report. I managed to have the manager of the Wellington Phoenix abuse me over a cellphone yesterday which was exciting, because I pretty much told his friend who had passed him over to me that he would not be travelling if he kept that attitude up, and that I had told my manager who was looking out for him. Hahaha, BURN.
Fingers crossed we keep our jobs. Don't keep hiring losers when they're all going to be replaced anyway!
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