Living the dream part III

The Cherokee_Cruiser guide of Keepin' It Real :D

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Yep I hear all these stories about "my FO did *terribly out of line thing*" "So did you have a little jetbridge chat w/ him?" "No i did nothing. Now I just complain to other people about him." .... Okay.... captain..(?) How's that mentorship thing working out for ya?

Look I get that keeping the peace is a thing, and it's a delicate matter but... There is an art to this people skills thing that you need to learn and if you don't correct bad behavior in a nice way, they'll eventually get to someone who's not gonna be as nice about it... you're actually doing them a favor by being honest and direct in an nice way. Start out by talking about what went well.. then work from there.
Or just beat them with a rolled up USA today, whatever works for ya.
As much as we would all like to believe that aviation is unique and special, people are the same everywhere, and the problem you describe is universal in workplaces (hell, outside of them too). I spent the better part of last week in a room full of professionals in industries ranging from career consulting to IT to forklift manufacturing learning about how to have these conversations in a way that gets positive results and believe me, none of us said we enjoy it.
 
As much as we would all like to believe that aviation is unique and special, people are the same everywhere, and the problem you describe is universal in workplaces (hell, outside of them too). I spent the better part of last week in a room full of professionals in industries ranging from career consulting to IT to forklift manufacturing learning about how to have these conversations in a way that gets positive results and believe me, none of us said we enjoy it.
Crucial conversations is a good approach.

However, at a certain point "inform not enforce" also doesn't work. Such as when you are hurtling to a place you don't want to go at high speed.
 
Oh crap man, I'll be in full-on winter uniform and people still think I'm a sky cap! :) So zero sympathy for an adult who signed up for a job with a strict uniform policy who shows up to the airport not in his required uniform and got upset at me for thinking he was a stew! Ha! :)
Didn't you say it was the hotel lobby? What if he superman changed in the van?
 
Didn't you say it was the hotel lobby? What if he superman changed in the van?

Strip club.

Nah, we were all getting on the shuttle to the airport. Looked exactly like a stew.

And here's my point, I know I have four or five crew members heading to the airport, I have to be able to assess that everyone is there, we're not leaving anyone behind and since we all deadheaded in the night previous, I don't know if my copilot is still asleep upstairs or got yanked off his jet by the Chicago airport police, ha! :)
 
Why would you do such a thing, anyway?

It's my first time seeing that in almost 20 years because a vast majority of people show up for work ready for action.

And he was new.

The alpha to the omega of my statement was "oh, I thought you were a flight attendant".

Then he got upset with that and I kind of let him him intellectually run around in circles without responding until he got tired and the flight attendants started laughing and asking "What's wrong with being confused with one of us? Are we beneath you? We thought you were deadheading back to Detroit!"

The situation handled itself without my intervention. Which is perfect.
 
It's my first time seeing that in almost 20 years because a vast majority of people show up for work ready for action.

And he was new.

The alpha to the omega of my statement was "oh, I thought you were a flight attendant".

Then he got upset with that and I kind of let him him intellectually run around in circles without responding until he got tired and the flight attendants started laughing and asking "What's wrong with being confused with one of us? Are we beneath you? We thought you were deadheading back to Detroit!"

The situation handled itself without my intervention. Which is perfect.
Just shy of a year of Captaincy under my belt and I love it when things fix themselves. Really, this is a great job.
 
It's like playing pinball, Apply a little "English" to the machine, things solve themselves and you don't get your hands dirty.

A gentle nudge in the appropriate direction.
 
Why would you do such a thing, anyway?
I don't wear my hat until I get off the van at the airport, and I don't wear it after I get on the van at the airport going to the hotel. Some people don't like the jacket? I know a few times I've been standing outside waiting for the van and its cold so I pull the Columbia out of my bag and put it on until the van gets there.
 
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