Playing it cool

[Grose Weight]

Can you offer any advice to me on how to keep a relatively low profile in a GA company whose staff are very close knit?

I love to joke with the boys over a beer, but it seems the internal politics are inescapable no matter where you work.

What do ya do to stay neutral?

GW

[mattyj]

..its a traditional classic GA preoccupation..the only way to steer away from internal politicing is to coment on what a poor operation there is 3 doors down..safety blah blah..cost cutting culture blah blah..never changes

[Sunfish]

Good idea to stay away from office politics, you never know when your words are going to come back and bite you on your backside! Never, ever, disparage anyone or the company, or exhibit anything other than absolute and unquestioning loyalty. Do not tell anyone your real thoughts or that you are just doing this cr@p job to get enough hours to get into Qantas.

Trust me! I learnt the hard way:{

Always change the subject, and always "reframe" the topic in the best possible light if you cannot.

[Onan the Clumsy]

Trust me! I learnt the hard way Me too, but I am unrepentant.

[Rich-Fine-Green]

...Don't let yourself be dragged into other peoples games either.

As Sunfish said; Do the right thing, get your hours and/or experiance and move on when the time is right.

You never know if one day a colleague, competitor, boss or cleaning lady may one day be interviewing you or recommending you for a position in another job or sitting to the left or right of you in the pointy end.

[cjam]

In GA I found that it was almost impossible to stay out of office politics, at one company in particular you had to be actively involved to get any flying....go figure.
I'd suggest just trying to have a positive outlook on everything....nothing positive ever came from being negative.
That is all gwasshoppa.

[the looka]

Get the biggest jet pilot sticker you can find and stick it on your car, slightly smaller one for the nav bag.
Phuck one of the other boys wife/girlfriend.
Srcape a tail but don't tell anyone and blame the bloke before or after. Same works for large prop nicks and windscreen scrachtes.
Tell the boss one of your work mates is a bit suss and needs a surprise base check/ route check.
Tell everyone your got a job with qantas, there just waiting for you to get 500 hours before they put you on.
Follow these 5 easy steps and you'll be in and out GA quicker than you can say " you guys are all GA lifers". By the way the guys you work with now will be the ones that help you climb the greasy poll later. Have fun.

[chicken6]

If everyone's close knit, then why stay neutral? Why not show yourself to be the most reliable, dependable, will-ask-rather-than-stuff-up kind of person around? You don't have to take sides at all if you focus everything you do at work on the work itself rather than the people doing it. Then when they're asked for references they'll be able to say "XXXX is the complete professional, asked for help on the few occasions s/he needed to, did their job very well" etc etc.

Remember everyone does things for a reason, if you're not sure what someone's reason is then ask them in some quiet time. Don't say anything yourself, just get info from them. The 'players' will show themselves quickly.

Most importantly, get flying and love it, as Sunfish said, find the positive.