QF Flight Ops Xmas Drinks

[Cockpit Door-Closed]

I see another very brave attempt at cost cutting is in progress. A very courteous invitation to all for Christmas drinks..... at $40 per head!!! Where this was once gratis, the company now shows no festive spirit at all. In fact it still continues to screw the staff.

Doubt there will be too many loyal staff at the big turnout!

Cockpit Door-Closed

[Don Esson]

You're a sad sould mate. Few if any outfits the size of QF could afford to provide FOC Xmas festivities for all of its people. The attitude you express precisely sums up why QF is where it is, and why it's looking to start new enterprises to put a halt to the cargo cult mentality. Isn't your pay sufficient reward for your toil?


Get a life, and do have a happy Xmas - even if it's self funded!!

[Agent Mulder]

I agree with Don on one thing, you are a dead set loser!

The Xmas party was organised by the ground staff of Flt Ops (people who earn much less than you), you know the clerical types whom you probably yell at all year because that makes you feel important.

These people have managed to pay $40 out of their pockets, (probably not as deep as yours), to invest in the spirit of Xmas and spread a bit of cheer. They extended the invitation to their customers (You! ********!) in the hope that they would come and share the festivities and break down a few barriers over a few beverages.

As a Flight Crew member I hope you don't turn up as no doubt you'll bring your miserable attitude with you and this is a fun night.

Over $100k a year and you complain about $40. Get a grip mate, or take your hand off it.

Due to work commitments I won't be able to attend but trust all will have a great evening in what is a great location. Rock it like Tuesday night

;) :ok:

[luna landing]

... time to go for a drive thru the car park with your wings and bars on....

[tobzalp]

I don't know about the specifics of Qantas, but Austalia's second biggest retailer and the best employer voted 2 years running has free drinks monthly, a massive chrissy bash yearly and 2 yearly/financial yearly as well as the big arse ball each year all on the house, free, nil , nada, zip and partners come on the back of the store paid from pre tax dollars.

I think that the loyalty built from this will save the company in the long run. Think of it this way. If you have a happy employee, they work hard for the company. I suggest that 1 sick day by a 737 captain would cover 5 or so attendances at this party. If this captain was happy, keeping CAR 105 (from memory), minor effect, minor ailment etc in mind, the minor part might just be expanded to exclude the itchy back due 'possible skin condition' and the driver may come to work.

Narrow minded employers deserve what they get.

[bonvol]

Bit of trivia.

Way back in the fifties Qantas used to throw a Christmas Party for all the employees kids at the Jet/1049 base.

It was the highlight of a kids year as the presents were very good and you could wander in and out of a plane or two no worries. All very relaxed.

All long gone.

[ISHIHARA]

Is it in Syd??????????

Flight Ops as in Flight Planners, Dispatchers etc?

[Cockpit Door-Closed]

Yeah, Essondon, nice dummy spit. And YES companies like Qantas CAN afford to supply Chrissy drinks for all their staff. Just ask the Execs that take home their juicy bonuses. A very small portion of which would pay for those functions.

Now A.M. when you settle down from your little tantrum and name calling, have a little think about it, even read tobzalp's post. He sees the point clearly, and I normally spill more than $40 worth down my shirtfront most nights,so it ain't a question of money. It is all about the company looking after the staff, not the staff looking after themselves. Most large corporations making good profits would be surprised to find out what they COULD be earning if they had all their employees on side.

I will be away and if my Boss doesn't buy me a drink, I will certainly shout him a few rounds. Don't forget, it's all about Company goodwill encouraging a little more staff loyalty.

[Poto]

Unfortunately the marketing theories of the late eighties/ early nineties 're: Kotler' which put employee satisfaction (particularly in the service industries) as the primary step towards increased profits and market share has escaped the stategy meetings of most major multi nationals.

The bean counters have not been able to realise bottom line increases by taking care of their staff. Whether increases exist or not, their direct relationship to satisfied staff is not really measurable and therefore cannot appear on a profit and loss sheet. It is this sheet that the stockholders see and the market uses to determine share value.

Result: no Chrissy bubbly to get messy on! :{

[Chris Higgins]

I actually have to agree with Cockpit Door Closed. He only has to select a different Flight Level next time he goes to LAX to cost/save the money the value of a Christmas party.

What Qantas has basically done is reduced it's largest Australian ambassador to a bunch of bottom lines, watched by a bean counter.

It is truly a time of the year that the bean counters should be told to back off.

At my employer, we are bought crew meals at any landing and whatever time of the day or night we want. We go millions of dollars over budget on hotels and meals every year, but the boss is scared we'll go somewhere else if he doesn't take care of us.

Last year I did a whole tour, doing short hops in the mountains in heavy snow. I got a call on the first day of the next tour and was told I would be doing 48 hours in Barbados, and that my hard work was really appreciated. I even got sent a leather jacket by a customer.

People wonder why I don't go back to Australia to fly and without knowing it, each time I go back there for an interview, I almost talk myself out of it before I get into the room. Is it any wonder.

It's not the sharks in the ocean you have to worry about, it's the ones with two feet. The management profession is justifying itself with end-over-end improvements in the bottom line and destroying the very lives of the people that make it possible.

I'm sure they would be charging for recurrent training long ago if they thought they could get away with it.

[Sheep Guts]

MESSAGE TO QF MANAGEMENT:

You QF Guys, need to wake up. You are no longer a Government driven snail, long gone are the days governement protection and lax profits. Now the shareholders and Virgin are putting on the squeeze, you are jumping to conclusions to save money. If you guys want to emulate Jet Blue with your Jet Star, first you have to look after your employees, HAPPY EMPLOYEES means happy CUSTOMERS. So get off you band wagon and pay for the CHRISTMAS DO you jerks.

SHEEP

[TIMMEEEE]

Sheep Guts - an ex girlfriend of mine that worked for Virgin Atlantic and was given a free Christmas party each year remarked that she would gladly give it all away and pay for it if she was paid a half reasonable wage!

In her inimitable words "having Richard Branson making passes at you and carrying on like a drunken pratt and making out he is so cool and a great guy just didnt cut it with me".

She enjoyed the work but in order to live closer to London she had to resign and work for BA on something like 35% more money.
Good on her, she didnt whinge and bitch about being overworked and underpaid but quietly applied to BA and was accepted.

Now she can afford to be closer to her family which is a big thing to some people.

[Nav Light]

Yeh, it's sad, but after leaving Ansett ( or having it leave me rather) i have just moved jobs again! Last Employer- a big coporation, non airline, Christmas party was $20 per staff member, and $40 for partner. This employer is $10 for staff, and $50 for staff member. (another large corp)

And no other perks, no discount travel, no discounts on anything, a weekly wage, 38hr week, ( which I actully do 40-45) no overtime, and a lot more workload than at AN.

It was great in the good old days- but they have long gone, I still think you do get some good perks in the airline industry ( imagine my shock when I had to fly back to the U.K at short notice for a funeral, and no discount at all- all full fares, no hotel discount- Travel is sure expensive out there in the real world--and uncomfortable!!!)

My days in business class are long gone!!!!!!

[cunninglinguist]

Point taken Nav, but you gotta compare apples with apples.
When the pigs are at the trough, scoffing away at their 7 figure pay packets, the other farm animals start to get a bit jacked off :yuk:

[bitter balance]

cunninglinguist, to test your theory maybe you should pay for Christmas drinks for those in your company who earn less than you? Maybe they think you are a 6 figure pay packet pig?

[Queentual]

No sane person would want to go to a QF Xmas party anyway!!

[blueloo]

If the company is making record profits through cost cutting and shrinking of staff no's at various levels - then the worker bees should be entitled to a little bonus, considering the head honcho is giving himself a whopping bonus year after year -furthermore as a shareholder in QF I want to see the staff happy and hopefully my dividends increase! (Happy staff mean hopefully more $$$ for me)

So Geoff, spend some of that profit and make the bloody staff happy, instead of lining your own pocket all the time.

[Sperm Bank]

I don't think it matters whether you get paid $35,000 a year or $250,000 a year. The company are making massive profits from the hard work of the staff. The company OWE it to the staff to extend a little gratitude once a year. Tight fisted no brainer bean counters think they are really clever in excercising fiscal restraint across the board. How dumb they really are is a matter of contention. As stated a different flight level to LAX could pay for an entire xmas bash. So could a few SYD PER sectors at the wrong level. Never mind bean counters you just keep telling yourselves you are doing a good job. Must be a sad existence knowing that not only do people not like you, but that you are also in reallity monumentally incompetent.

Merry Xmas.

[*Lancer*]

The Christmas party in Singapore is going to be enormous - understand it's been in the planning for a number of months now!

For those of you that actually didn't mind forking out $40 to hang out with the QCC and M148 gang socially for once, seeya there!

Cheers, Lancer

[Chris Higgins]

Who said anything about any of us being sane! I've never met a beer I didn't like nor been to a party that didn't like me! Will they have a lampshade I can wear on my head? What's more important, what do the women look like?

[pullock]

I hear a lot of people talking of staff travel as being a perk - it's not - it is part of my remuneration package that I negociated with the company when I was initially employed. It's not a privilege - it's part of my pay. It even says that on my letter of employment (now covered in dust........)

On the subject of Christmas parties though, I find the tendency for large companies to treat the concept of spreading good will once a year with distain to be a sign of the short sightedness of management in current times.

Whilst I work for an airline I am also in business for myself - and I throw parties and give decent presents to people who deserve them - a bottle of moet buys a lot of good will long after the bottle is empty. It has been my observation that the most successful people in business know the value of showing people that you appreciate them rather than treating them like a liability. Paying to get in to a company party and then buying your own drinks STINKS.

Simple as that.

[zzyyxx]

My 15 yo works for a multi-national fast food chain a couple of evenings a week - for Christmas they brought in staff from another store to work the evening shift, and then took all the kids out for dinner. They were allowed to spend up to $30 each on their meal, paid for by management. The goodwill generated extended not only to the kids but to their parents as well.

[DutchRoll]

It'd be kinda nice to see QF return some of the goodwill that their core employees have shown through the last year or two (goodwill which, if withdrawn, would rapidly cause their operational costs to spiral upwards). Alas, I don't think I'll live to see it.

Don, Mulder, who gives a stuff how much C-D-C earns? QF made several hundred million dollars profit despite wars, SARS, etc. Is forking out a little symbolic goodwill towards their employees at the end of the year too much to ask? Or could that money be better spent lining the pockets of the board members? If your employer can't afford to pay for staff chrissy drinks, that's unfortunate. But many employers can and do.

[Continental-520]

I would've thought they could subsidise it for their staff, especially seeing that QF have their own catering department, meaning all the food and booze at cost price, yah?

520.

[vortsa]

It is interesting to here that this has been past practice, ground staff have never had these type of privledges, may be thats the point they have their feet on the ground and don't have their heads in the clouds, we learnt along time ago there's no such thing as a free ride.

If your that desperate for a drink why don't you throw a few extra cans in your crew bags when you leave the aircraft?
I see most crew usually take at least 2 cans of the aircraft on an overnight.

If you choose not to respond I will understand.

Giving is more appreciated when it comes to those who don't expect it.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

[Keg]

vortsa, we pay for those drinks that we 'take' off the aircraft. The limit is two per crew member. The bottle of wine used to be good value until the changed to the small bottles!

[Ushuaia]

vortsa,

Yes, Keg is absolutely correct. Crew can purchase beer or wine from what stock remains at the end of a sector. There is indeed a limit on cans/bottles per person. It is approved at Corporate level and is fully documented.

I emphasise this because your post can be read as if you are alleging theft. That is very definitely not the case. Your post smacks of the "tall poppy", "I-can't-have-it-so-why-should-they?", "divide-conquer" attitude that pervades QF. Worse, if you or your colleagues don't know these facts, it can result in a crew-member having to do a "please-explain" to his boss because some ground-staffer has decided to say something to someone.....

Mate, get your facts straight before you start casting aspersions or writing loose statements here on PPrune.

[rockarpee]

Vorsta, youve had two replys mine would be the third, nothing on board is free those drinks are PAID for by crew each and every time, be very careful when making such comments on these types of forums, Merry Xmas , Rockarpee...

[VTM]

I guess the Xmas cheers and beers depends on which Dept you work for, looks like it is not extended to flight ops, sorry guys.

[Cactus Jack]

Heard a funny (and apparently true) story recently. Richard Branson standing at the bar buying drinks for his very pretty cabin crew.

He notices a Qantas Flight Attendent nearby and says "I'll bet your CEO doesn't personally buy you drinks!"

Her very quick and cutting reply was "No, my CEO pays me enough to be able to buy my own!"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Perhaps just a little off the thread I guess, but funny just the same.

And for the record QF Captains are permitted to buy their crew drinks at QF expense on Xmas day where appropriate.

Good to see that the twilight fringe dwellers like Cruze and vortsa are still hanging around....

Merry Xmas to all....

[Whiskery]

That was a true story Cactus, but it was Freddy Laker buying drinks for a DC-10 crew at a local pub near LHR.

One of the Skytrain hosties said to her BA pursar friend

"I'll bet your boss doesn't pay for your drinks at the bar after a hard days work"
to which the Pursar replied "No, he's pays us enough to buy our own drinks!"

But it is a great story.;)

[*Lancer*]

Let's hope lots of skippers read the INTAM as drinkS :ok: ;)