Sass, "Free alcohol & warm nuts"...............er, where do I sign up ? Damn, dragging this into the toilet ! Sorry. Can't help it. Always been like that. Seriously though, congratulations on a fabulous post. A little heavy handed & one sided in some areas but overall, I don't think I have read such a warm, humerous, well meaning post. You SHOULD write that book.
We don't HAVE to agree with everything you say & I daresay that is not what you would wish for anyway. One area gripes a bit & I need to comment; I lost my job at a time when I was at peak. B757 Commander, young, world at his feet.Overnight, I was walking the steets. House for sale, kids in the welfare section for school dinners, marriage well & truly over. I was told by a major Operator that if I were to get "the type rating", I would be employed. It cost me dearly, but I told him that I regarded the offer to be "unprofessional" & that when professional pilots start paying for type ratings, it ceases, by very definition , to be professional. I stood up, shook his bemused hand and carried on down to the Welfare Office. And no, I didn't ask any employed pilots who did not go down that route but remained employed, for a hand out.
Those who accept your advice & will " do anything" for that prized job have soured the industry standard.What will we degenerate into next, the "casting Couch" ? I came from a world of very heavy selection but once through the hoop & deemed worthy, everything was paid for. Standards were very high. I have total sympathy for those who paid to fly & were referred to as "self improvers" but regret to say that the "standard" did start to lower. There was, do you see, no "selection".
Of course, generalisation is a poor yardstick & amongst the many self improvers I flew with, there were quite a few very exceptional cases, In the highly contested selection world, if available, these people would have made it anyway. Now, if you have the dosh (don't care how you get it) you will succeed.Not good career motivation & it is showing up on the flightdeck now.
I too am one who had the best. Had to fight damn hard for it. Faced three spells of unemployment but never paid for anything. Because, by definition, that would have been unprofessional.
Good fortune to you & yours. Sound like wonderful people to me with, a fierce sense of humour; a highly required qualification these days.