Believe me you'll need every week of it. (the 6 weeks leave)
Still though, the package doesn't seem that draconian , particularly if you are flogging away in a menial poorly paid job. My nephew has been working at a 4 star hotel for 18 months now. His group certificate showed his gross earnings for a year of shift work including incidental overtime was $ 28,219 aus .
He has level 2 first aid and has recently been semi automatic defibrillator trained as his hotel now has some. He has also been trained in emergency procedures regarding fire or other threat to life evacuations.
He is 21 years old . Over a beer or 3 the other night he was telling me of some of the things that he has encountered during his employment.
Aside from the normal abuse and disputes over bills , mini bar etc , which confront anyone in a front line customer service role he has had some awful experiences including:
Drunk and drug affected people harassing hotel staff and guests in the foyer whilst attempting to scrounge food, money or a comfortable lounge to sleep on for the night. One such charmer produced a meat cleaver when asked to leave .
He administered immediate first aid to a young girl who stumbled into the foyer after being beaten senseless in a nearby lane ( and as it turned out sexually assaulted as well.)
Has delivered CPR to a heroin o/d outside the hotel until paramedics arrived.
Had to get into a barricaded room with hotel security to get to a business man who was alcohol affected and had telephoned his ex wife saying he was going to jump out the window . Entry was gained just as the bloke was about to hurl a coffe table through the window which wouldn't open wide enough for him to jump out of.
But the worst of them all was a few weeks ago when he was contacted by housekeeping to check if a room was actally vacant as there was a " do not disturb " sign on the handle. The guest was due to check out early that morning. After failed contact by phone he entered the room with security to find that she had indeed checked out by taking an overdose of anti depressants and slitting her wrists in a full bath. He is still losing sleep over that one!
He has put up with more crap in 18months than I did in 20 years of flying , and I was earning 3 times the money.
If you think his application for Jetstar International is on the way you are damn right. I suspect hundreds and hundreds of others like him will be doing the same . Things don't look rosy for anyone working Q.F longhaul.
The smart ones will take the package -the others should mutate now and avoid the rush!