R_S,
Completely agree. It has saved me countless times, asking a pilot "confirm assigned nin-ER thousand", as that is a level we assign a lot (base of E
).
I will bite and say that I am one of the few that uses "tree", but only in assigning FLs and frequency changes. I have found it does eliminate the majority of incorrect readbacks.
RT is definitely becoming slacker on both sides of the fence, and like you I will often be one to initiate a "G'day" on transfer. But for those pilots out there, if we ask you to "say again cleared level" or "clipped transmission, say again", don't get annoyed and readback "NIN-ER THOU-SAND, AIR-LINE TWO THIR-TY TWO"; it's not because we really love hearing your voice and wasting time, we are trying to protect us both!! (and save, at a minimum, an embarrasing stand-down and wrist slap, but what could be much worse....
). We're all playing the same game here!!
Blastoid.