Seniority

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I found an interesting article on some problems with the seniority system used by most work groups at most US airlines, with special focus on the pilots at Delta and Northwest. Those airlines’ potential merger is on hold and potentially dead because their pilots can’t figure out how to play nicely together.

Seniority plays a role at my job, but it’s not quite as important. We bid for our work schedules and vacations by seniority once a year (don’t ask). Many of my colleagues look forward to the year they become senior enough to work the day shift or get Christmas off. The bottom 20 percent of the seniority list (I’m scheduled to rise above that threshold in May) are designated as “reserves” and aren’t guaranteed a consistent start time or the standard 6 on-3 off-6 on-3 off-6 on-6 off rotation that everyone else has. In addition, our pay is completely based on our job title and length of service, which is related to seniority. In other words, whether I’m a fantastic dispatcher or an average one, I get paid the same. Finally, when you’re in training, seniority within your class helps determine when you get to upgrade from Assistant Dispatcher to Dispatcher and work your own flights. It’s not a terrible system, and it seems to work fairly well for us, but I definitely see more value in rewarding merit rather than seniority.

I think part of the problem for seniority-based positions is that it’s difficult to fairly measure merit. Pilots spend most of their time flying throughout the system without a supervisor watching them. It’s just not practical to have that much oversight, which makes it difficult to evaluate which pilots are great and which are just OK. Similarly, I work with very little supervision. In fact, since I work overnight, the managers generally are not there when I’m there. They trust us and empower us to do the right thing, relying heavily on our good judgment. A chief sits with us once a year to review some of the policies and make sure we still know what we’re doing, but it’s certainly not a true performance evaluation like most employees at Headquarters receive. Right or wrong, basing pay on seniority keeps things simpler and keeps the unions happier.

The Power of Words

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Words are among our most powerful tools. They link people together, helping them understand each other, building relationships, and conveying useful information. The words “I do” transform a man and woman into a single unit in God’s eyes and men’s. “You can do it” can give a child the confidence to try something new. Words can also wound people, damaging in seconds a relationship or career that took years to build, whether you meant to cause harm or not.

Words are tricky. Most of them have extra information (the “connotation”) attached beyond the literal meaning (“denotation”), hints of color and association that affect how other people understand what we mean. Consider the word “brother”. Literally it means a male child who shares the same parents as another child. But depending on the speaker and context, it could also mean a member of one’s same college fraternity, a man of the one’s same race, a man of one’s own religion (often Christian), or simply a man who shares some other quality or belief, and any of those meanings could have positive or negative emotions associated with it. Words’ meanings can change over time and from country to country or region to region, as well. For example, a “toboggan” is a type of flat-bottomed sled, but some people use it to mean a type of hat. The word “bloody” means “covered in blood” in America but is an offensive swear word in the UK. The word “gay” used to mean “happy”. English is so complex that it’s a wonder we can communicate at all!

I try to choose the right words to convey my point with accuracy and color, especially when I write. Sometimes I succeed and produce a piece that truly moves someone, or makes them question one of their sacred cows, or wins the grant, or helps clarify something at work. Other times I fail, and my words confuse people even more or accidentally hurt their feelings, and I’m sorry for those mistakes. Thanks to all of you for indulging my need to express myself here. Since I’m not a talkative person, this site helps keep me sane, happy, and self-actualized. I hope you continue to gain something from it as well.

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New Parents and New Toys

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This week we’ve taken food to two different couples from our church who just had their first babies. We enjoyed seeing how excited they were despite the stress, endless dirty diapers, constant feedings, and lack of sleep. One mom said her marketing job for Verizon was a cakewalk compared to caring for a newborn, but her joy and love for her new daughter completely filled the room. After seeing lots of new parents over the last couple of years, we’re intrigued and amused by the variety of parenting approaches among our friends. One couple is on the structured end of the spectrum, documenting every detail of their daughter’s life from the number of diapers to how long she nurses on each side. They obviously adore her and spend most of their free time focusing on her. Another couple is on the laid-back end of the spectrum. They take their newborns out in public within a couple of weeks, don’t obsess over germs, and try to arrange their babies’ schedules around their own instead of the other way around. They obviously love their kids as well but have a much different approach. We have much to learn and don’t know yet which approach we will take.

I’ve worked so much overtime over the last couple of weeks that we decided to get ourselves a little present, something we’d wanted and debated for a long time but kept putting off: a Playstation 3. We have an RPG called Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and a martial arts hack & slash called Ninja Gaiden Sigma, both of which we really like so far. A PS3 also plays Blu-Ray movies (high-def format), so I converted part of our Blockbuster Online movie queue to Blu-Ray format. We don’t have tons of time to play right now, but this week has been quiet enough to squeeze in some time. It’s amazing to think back to the old days of gaming, when I played Jungle Hunt and Missile Command on Atari and then Kung Fu and Kid Icarus on original Nintendo. We’ve also ordered a Wii (Nintendo’s motion-sensitive gaming system) for Jenny’s birthday, and it should arrive in April. I married well, don’t you think?

Making Room for BB

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Looks like Lunch has won the baby name poll, followed closely by Suggestion. But we’re not ready to choose just yet, so I posted some more options. Vote now! I also updated the Baby Box page. Over the weekend we finally cleared out a ton of stuff from BB’s room, formerly known as the Pit of Despair since it was our dumping ground for things that didn’t fit anywhere else. We took a nice overstuffed chair to Jenny’s sister Katy and lots of electronics, a bookshelf, a long table, and other items to Jenny’s parents for an upcoming garage sale. Now you can see most of the carpet in there, and we have an idea about how we’ll set up the nursery. We feel better already!

I worked a rare day shift yesterday as overtime. My sector was longhauls from the west to the east, such as LAS-MDW and SAN-AUS. Longhaul desks have fewer flights to plan, but they are obviously in the air longer and require more attention to the route. One factor I check is the upper-level winds and how they line up with the default route that we use. Sometimes a different route provides a better tailwind or weaker headwind, saving time and money even if the actual distance flown is greater. With jet fuel around $3.00/gallon, and our planes burning over 700 gallons per hour, every gallon counts. Yesterday I easily paid my salary for the day in fuel savings just by doing a little extra work on many of the flights.

Rockin’ Out and Standing Up

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We have digital cable from Time Warner, which includes over 40 channels of digital music. One station is all 80s music. We had some friends from church over for dinner and played 80s music. It was great! They just played Terrance Trent D’arby’s “Wishing Well”, which I hadn’t heard in a LONG time. I vary the station by my mood. When I’m reading my Bible during breakfast, I like the soothing piano/new age station. In the evening if I’m hanging out alone, I often jam with the smooth jazz station. During the day I might switch to one of the rock, gospel, or bluegrass stations. It’s great!

You might have heard that the FAA has proposed a $10 million fine for Southwest for missing some maintenance inspections on dozens of aircraft and then continuing to fly them for a few days afterward. Yes, we screwed up by missing those inspections, and last March we voluntarily admitted it to the FAA. After realizing this, we worked out a plan with the FAA and Boeing to inspect those aircraft over a 10-day period. For both proactive inspections like these and minor aircraft repairs, it is common to have a short grace period to complete the work, such as a certain number of days or flights. Boeing and our FAA inspectors approved our plan, we inspected the aircraft, and the FAA considered the case closed in April. Apparently a couple of other FAA employees disagreed and took their “story” to an influential Minnesota congressman who is making a huge deal about it. I am very confident in the safety of our aircraft and maintenance program. I’ve dispatched tens of thousands of flights carrying hundreds of thousands of people; sent my wife, family, and friends on our flights; and personally flown Southwest many, many times with full confidence that each aircraft was safe. I hope and expect that the FAA will at least reduce this ridiculous fine if not cancel it once they hear the full story. You can read some of Southwest’s official response on southwest.com.

I had recurrent training this week, which meant 3 days of going in at 7:00am to hear about various topics. Jenny and I carpooled all three days, just like in the old days when I worked in Technology. I enjoy recurrent training because it’s a chance to be with coworkers in a different setting, get refreshed on some things I’ve forgotten, and learn about what’s ahead. Dispatch has a new weather and flight plotting system scheduled for this summer, better access to a high-tech radar system at several airports, and a new type of navigational capability called RNP that should save us time and fuel plus improve safety and reliability. There’s always something brewing, it seems, and I like that.

March Already?

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Wow, it’s already March! Jenny is at 18 weeks now, so check the Baby Box page for the latest in his development. And don’t forget to vote for his name. =) I had an unexpectedly busy weekend, working three overtime shifts on the assistant desk at work, a nice surprise. Jenny and Lisa went to Canton on Sunday, where pregnant Lisa apparently devoured an entire store’s supply of fried pies.

We had three CARES events last week. First was Coffee and Pie Night, where we provided 4 different kinds of pie and had great conversations with several of our residents. Our eagerly awaited International Potluck Dinner, a resident’s suggestion, turned out to be a flop when not one person brought a dish and only a few came to eat what we had brought. But we made up for it on Saturday with brunch, aided by an army of volunteers from the Thrive class at IBC. They did a great job cooking and hanging out with the residents and were a huge help. We hope they’ll come back to future events. Around 35 people came, our best turnout in some time. I posted our March events calendar on the CARES page.

Our project for this week is going through our stuff and finding as many items as possible to donate to Jenny’s mom’s upcoming garage sale. BB’s room is currently full of all kinds of stuff – some junk, some good things in need of a good home, such as a nice TV. I also have recurrent training at work Wed-Fri, which means I’m working 7:00-4:00 each day. This might be the last chance Jenny and I have to carpool to Southwest. It’s weird to think that we’re almost at the halfway mark, and in about 5 months Jenny should be retired and home with the baby. We have a lot of work to do!