So we are on the same page. And you must agree that vocation makes a good employee, and also that for "protecting" their investment, it could have been taken into consideration, right?
I'm 26 years old. When i was a kid, my vocation (obsession) was very childish, but as i grew up it matured with me to the point of knowing that its not passion alone what flies the airplane from A to B. On that fact have agreed with me numerous pilots during the long conversations i had with them when i was cabin crew. All of them would notice immediately that someone who loves aviation will never consider it an effort to learn new things and to soak himself in knowledge and more knowledge. They also detected my positive "freakness" when while the rest of the crew was having their horizontal rest, i would spend the time reading the a/c manuals in the cockpit, sometimes even explaining them things about the aircraft which they had forgotten since their last refresher... hehe. (vocation booster) Good times.
Again, with no intentions to impress anyone, knowing that im not the only one who has been in the position im about to describe.
Do you know how it feels when a senior 777 or 340 Captain tells you things like:
-man, you are really going to love this job once you make it.
-get your ass off that fa uniform and start doing your pilot thing, you got what it takes!
-we could use a couple like you...
-if only the company saw the conversation we just had about why electric right HYD pump has to be turned on the first, and off the last.
You know, after a lifetime of wondering whether one will make it or not, and right before the eyes of Etihad, some thoughts come to one's head. How on earth am I going to prove this to them like i did to all those other pilots!