We have to have something to do in the cruise and since the locked flight deck door came into effect inviting all the beautiful people to join us in the office is out of the window moaning and whinging is a popular alternative!
I agree we tend to moan a lot and sometimes sound like we don't appreciate the jobs we have, well I certainly do. But remember that in many cases we have no other form of employ and so when things start to get unpleasant we need somewhere to vent so we tend to use PPRUNE. We have no control over what management spring on us or the next P**s take to be imposed so the job we joined is not necessarily the job we have now. New pilots coming into the industry expect to pay for a type rating whereas 3 years ago this was an exception not the norm it is now. Now experienced pilots are being expected pay for type ratings or take draconian changes to their terms and conditions when they move on or in some cases if they want to stay.
I agree we moan a lot but show me an office that doesn't moan about the same things we do. Would an average officer worker moan if their company removed a free coffee machine and said bring your own... yes they would the difference here is we can't just pop out and get some. Does the average office worker have to be checked every six months, we do and in some cases have to pay for it ourselves. Our legal maximum working hours are often considered targets rather than limits so we often work 7 days in a row changing between earlies and lates etc etc etc. the list could go on. The point is that while the job is very nice it does have its bad points and those looking in be they the general public or wanabees don't necessarily have all the fact to be able to get past the 'well he / she's a pilot and gettin gpaid lots so why are they whining!' attitude.
Let the flaming commence
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