Doug - you could not be more wrong. There are exact analogies between us and the surgeon. Like us 99% of his time is routine and he does a job that is fairly straight forward - indeed in Africa they train 'surgeons' to do 5 basic operations in 18 months and most of the time they do just fine. The problem is that if they branch outside those 5 ops then both they and their patients are stuffed. You are paying that guy for the day of the big race - I know a number of surgeons and they will tell you just that. Remember we are not paid to be businessmen - we are paid to be pilots of commercial aircraft and that is what we aim to excel at.
I am also delighted to hear how much better the grass is outside Doug - just go for it. Do not waste another moment of your life hating easyJet - just leave now. I have no problem with you hating it, but don't become a sad man who ruins every First Officer's day by going on about how bad life in the company is. Just leave and make way for the literally thousands of pilots who are trying to join us. We all know easyJet is not perfect, but it is a whole lot better than most of the options out there right now. If you have a better option then just fill your boots. You could have a job with Astaeus right now - they would bite your hand off. Go for it and I look forward to hearing your posts about the exciting new world you are in and the dreadful one you have left behind. We are all up for fighting for our futures at easyJet - the good news is that there is a future to fight for.