Little things mean a lot.
When we meet you will make a lot of far-reaching assumptions just by my behaviour. Do I give a firm handshake, make eye contact, greet you by name, that sort of stuff.
I recently met a Chief Pilot for the first time. Let's call him John Doe. He came into the office to be told, "John, this is Joe Bloggs, a new Captain just joining us." A quick glance at me and on to more important matters! Wa-hey!
That was actually not so bad because that man had ZERO people skills, where Topic A here is an outfit with NEGATIVE people skills! The guy didn't go out of his way to insult or belittle me, it was just that he thought of me as a piece of wetware one inserts into an aircraft to make it function, no more, no less. Later, once I had sorted out learning a new operation, I sought him out to explain that I really needed to be treated as a human being and not just a pilot, when he did change.
I have always stood up for myself but maybe that's just me. Life is too short to grovel. It's not the way to get ahead in aviation but there is more to life than that.
Now I get a smile and a greeting when I see him, all that I want. On the other hand here we get coffee and water for free. If you ask you can even get free sandwiches! I am just sooo happy...
I read you loud and clear about how pilots often undercut other pilots. I seem to recall having experienced that myself, in fact. Twice, even! Golly, isn't that just what you were doing to SASless, though, without even knowing him or what he is writing about here? You really don't come across as someone who would stand up to management in any way, shape or form, just judging by your initial response to him or were you just having a bad day there? Now you say we should stick together. I agree but are there two of you?
You are right that it's kind of silly to moan about having to pay for coffee but I think complaining about the management attitude that thinks it's real smart to charge for coffee in the first place is spot on. There's a long history to that particular company that you might not know and that's really a big part of this back-and-forth you now are reading.
Bob Suggs was riding high when he said that he could get all the pilots he needed by waving a $5 bill on Bourbon Street but he was WRONG! Not right then perhaps but later on his contempt for his pilots helped to ruin his company. Many people just remember the quote but forget what happened to his company.