It's been mentioned already, but have to beat on it some more. They guy who before every altitude change says "Big Town Control, Too cool 123 request..... and the controller has to say Too cool 123 go ahead, and Too cool 123 says 'Too cool 123 reqest FL350.
When I hear some w'ker do that I expect the request to be something amazing like "can we go down and fly under that bridge inverted and then rejoin the airway?" Just ask for your blinkin' FL and stop imagining you're staring in your own movie.
And further on someone's whinge about ATC exit instructions: When I'm bouncing down your runway at 90 knots, I can't read the chart, and I haven't memorized all of the taxiway names. At best, I know I'm shooting for the first or 2nd high speed on the left or whatever (really I do have a plan) but telling me to exit B or somesuch is going to cause me consternation unless I happen to be fully familliar with your layout.
Mostly we love you guys. Thanks for the handholding all these years.
