Ed note: The following commentary is a snapshot of exactly how I was feeling on December 18, 2004.  I still keep it on this site as a reminder of the frustrations experienced by a single F/A (myself) over the continual erosion of our once-grand career.  It will be archived here permanantly.

What I'm about to say in this commentary will probably upset a few people at this airline. I don't care. It needs to be said and some fellow flight attendants need a good dose of reality about the current state of our profession.

Habituation

Ever hear of Habituation? It's a behavioral term used to describe how animals are able to learn not to react to stimuli when they occur over and over again. Example: if a rat is given many low level electrical shocks, that rat will, over time, while subjected to the shocks, get used to them and build up a tolerance to the pain.

Stop for a second. Now, re-read the previous paragraph at least one more time and then think about your work life since 1999. Go ahead. I'll wait. Do it now.

Next, get a vomit bag handy---as you'll need it while you read the following paragraph published in Friday's (Dec 17) DEAR-AFA about the tentative agreement for pilot concessions:

The ALPA agreement grossly over-steps its purpose in negotiating concessions that are relative to the pilot agreement. It includes terms of concessions for Flight Attendants and other Union employees that include the termination of our pension plan and a required allocation of concessions from all other employees through either binding agreement or Court rejection of a Contract.

Easy, take a deep breath, then read on:

The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) Executive Director Bradley Belt issued the following statement today regarding the ALPA agreement: "We are concerned that this agreement sets a dangerous precedent. The company is making generous new pension promises even as it is refusing to honor its old pension promises. Equally troublesome is the notion that the pilots' union insists on the termination of the pension plans for other United employees. The company and the pilots' union have no authority to force other workers and the PBGC to accept the termination of those plans. We will be scrutinizing this agreement very closely and will take all appropriate steps to protect the financial interests of the pension insurance program."

How do you like them apples? But what else is new. The pilots always take care of the pilots. As Michael Corleone says, "It's nothing personal, just business..." Blaming the pilots isn't going to solve the problems with our own career.

Game Over

Pay attention to what I'm about to tell you. You'll thank me five years from now, I promise.

Either one of two things is going to happen next year:

1. This airline will go down the financial tubes altogether. Game Over.
   
   or
   
2. Our working conditions, pay, pensions, and benefits will deteriorate to the point that 'Flight Attendant' is no longer a viable, long-term career at UAL Corporation or most other airlines. 'Flight Attendant' will be a akin to working part-time in a restaurant (without tips) while you figure out what you want to get serious about for the rest of your life. Game Over.

That's right. Regardless of the pilot agreement or whatever other news you hear in the weeks to come, it's game over in my opinion. Let's be honest here: you had some good layovers, you had some crappy layovers. You had some good trips, you had some bad trips. But hear this, and hear it good: This job ain't never going back to what it was. In other words, it is not going back to being something anyone would seriously consider as a full-time professional career. That's gone. At least be happy that you were able to experience as much of it as you did before it got destroyed. Lots of people would have given their first-born for that privilege. Remember how great you felt when you passed the job interview?

It took the pricks over 40 years, but the airlines, traveling public, and governments have succeeded in turning back the subservient part-time job clocks on our career. Miss Trudy Baker and Miss Rachel Jones would be oh so proud as they pour more coffee for the cockpit boys. Coffee, Tea, or Me? Well guess what? Everyone choose the coffee. And since the FAA still doesn't allow automatic bag picker-upers and soda machines to replace flight attendants, you are still (barely) tolerated as being a part of the airline's operation.

Yep. That's it, dear JSN reader. Game Over. I was going to be more subtle and more hopeful as we ended 2004, but that will do this site nor its readers any good. Like it or hate it, you can't deny what is going on inside this industry any longer. Only a true dope would finish reading this article and then go back to hoping that the BSC layover comes back next year or those silly 1997 Lump Sums Dumbs get renegotiated, or that there will somehow be a secure and deserving pension/retirement to match the 40+ years of hard work and service you gave your company. Not gonna happen. Not now, not next year, and not even if this company were to ever get back on its feet. No way. Not in a million years. Accept it. Deal with it. The sooner we all pull our heads out of our asses and realize this, the better a position we will all be in to roll with any major punches that may come.

Yeah, But...

It's well known that the difference between winners and losers is that winners do things that losers don't want to do. Just think about that one for a moment.

Winners do things that losers don't want to do.

Losers don't want to face unpleasant news and the possibility of major life changes. No siree, it's easier to hope that things will eventually go back to how they were before. It's easier to complain about United than to learn how to write a job resume. It's easier to blame United than to research the nuts and bolts of going back to school. It's easier to just blame blame blame and perpetually focus on next month's LOF.

Stop already with the "Yeah, but..." Stop it right now, because that kind of thinking will put you on a deathbed at old age one day wondering where all the time went and regretting not having gone after what you deserve in life.

You are in charge of your destiny. It's not too late, but you've got to start right now. Today. Before you even finish reading this article. Take care of yourself for a change, because guess what, nobody else will. The next time you are on the real jumpseat, don't waste any more time talking about what new WHQ policy change is going to happen, or what a pain in the neck 4R is to work with, or how bitchy the CSR in San Francisco was. Instead, concentrate on the most important subject of all: you. On a layover? Turn off that stupid hotel TV and read up on something. Educate yourself and learn a new skill. Start planning the rest of your life now. Get a backup plan together. No more "Yeah, but..." Time waits for no one.

Changes to Jumpseatnews

Effective immediately, I'm changing this website.

From now on, Jumpseatnews will focus on providing the tools for flight attendants to bone up on their skills to be successful in a world outside of United. That's right, screw dual-aisle service flow info. You can read about that stuff in Onboard Updates. I'm going to start publishing articles like: How to Write an Effective Resume, Basic Computer Skills You Need to Know for Successful Job Employment, How to Conduct Yourself During a Job Interview, How to [INSERT TOPIC HERE--YOU GET MY POINT]. Articles and tools to help you be ready to move forward with the rest of your life and be successful---if and when that time might become necessary.

Consider this: If not now, when? If not you, then who?

It won't happen overnight, but you'll notice the changes published here during the next several months. Am I being pessimistic? No, I'm not. Frankly, I've been optimistic for too long, and we all need a dose of reality sometimes, however unpleasant. I'm sure that United will go on and I do believe that it will be choice #2 above. But enough is enough already for anyone out there thinking they can still make a long-term, viable, realistic career out of being a Stewardess at United Airlines. That's over.

Get Started

Winners do things that losers don't want to do.

Have I ever, in the over four years of publishing this website, been anything less than honest with you on these pages? I won't bullshit you now, that's for sure: We need help. We're on our own now. Repeat, we're on our own now.

Everyone has screwed us: from the Goodwins of WHQ to the pilots of the cockpit. Game Over.

Well I'm not going to screw you. But sometimes you gotta dish out a bit of tough love, and that's exactly what this article has tried to do. Sure, this isn't pleasant stuff, but you better get your head screwed on straight right now, while you still have time. Yeah, you're gonna have to make some tough decisions, get a lot of sleepless nights, ponder and take some chances but

Winners do things that losers don't want to do.

in the end you will come out on top. And you won't put up with this shitty treatment this shitty and negative round and round rat in a cage habituation anymore.

Let me repeat something I wrote on December 31, 2000:

I had absolutely no idea that I work alongside such an intelligent, diverse, and quite frankly cool group of people. You are the reason for the late nights, the hassles of site management and security, and the enormous amount of time required to maintain this crazy project.
--- Christopher and Bailey

Still feel the same way. This is the rest of your life. Get started. Now.

Don't bother replying to this commentary. That's exactly the time-wasting stuff I'm telling you to avoid. You've got more important things to do. Dust yourself off and move forward. Use your valuable time to instead focus on yourself and how you can better improve your chances for success in 2005. And if I haven't said so already, our best wishes for a successful 2005 and beyond. After all, that's our true holiday message to you.