Well howdy folks, it has been a minute since I have posted anything on here. I figured it was about time to update you fine people on what has been going on in my life.
Since my new job as a Crew Scheduler I have been pretty much working non stop. The normal schedule is four 10 hour shifts. At the time I had a pretty decent schedule too. I worked 11:30-21:30 Sun-Wed. So for once I had a set schedule that had weekends off. Unfortunately I did not have enough time to enjoy it. I start my new schedule tomorrow where i work Thurs-Sun 15:30-01:30. The time is great because I can go back to my normal sleep cycle of staying up late and sleeping in, and I will still have time to do things in the afternoon before work like go to the gym. I just wish I had the seniority to have the weekends off then that would be the perfect schedule as far as the office goes.
This job has taught me so much in my very short time there. I used to think that Crew Schedulers were idiots, had no clue of how an operation should run, and all they do is watch TV and eat pizza instead of work......WRONG WRONG WRONG! Schedulers get a bad rep because they are the middle man and catch so much flak. All Pilots and Flight Attendants think that every thing happens to them and only them, that there are schedulers out to get them. What they (crews) don't understand is that the schedulers are paid to staff a flight. So that means make sure that there is a Captain, First Officer and one or two Flight Attendants depending on the size of the airplane. So as we get sick calls, fatigue calls, flights get stuck in outstations, crew time out, flights cancel, flights divert, flights come in late....we as schedulers have to keep track of every crew member to make sure that they are good on their duty times, and make sure each flight is staffed properly and try to get everyone out on time. Now that may not sound that hard in these high technology times, but its not so easy when you have 850+ flights a day, lots of crews and a computer system that has a mind of its own. Now I admit we are all people, and we make mistakes just like everyone else does. To crew members once a scheduler made a mistake they are deemed an incompetent idiot who should not be able to work for our company or any airline again and should go work at Mc D's where their skill set will not be as challenged. Previously as a FO, I thought this and I know I was wrong and there are still a bunch of crews who think this way and do not care when anyone tells them different. There is a solution to this insane problem. If the airline was to do a day in the life of program and have a crew member and a scheduler change places for a day I think more people will understand how each side of the operation works and maybe just maybe everyone will get a long better. The problem is everyone is to lazy and wont do it unless they get paid for it which in times like this why would a company go waste money just for people to go sit around and watch others work.
Another issue I am having is all these crew members complain about simple assignments and start yelling at me for "messing with their life" and how their quality of life has gone to shit........wow really guys????? My quality of life has gone to shit since when I got furloughed and what pisses me off is these people are so ungrateful, and have no clue what they have. I would give anything to sit ready reserve again or even go to crappy overnights and stay in crappy hotels. I know I used to bitch before, but I was ignorant then. I didn't know what I had till I was furloughed and now who knows when it will be before I get to enjoy my life dream again.
Now please don't take any of this as me bitching and ungrateful for my job. I am glad to have a job especially in these times where people will stay unemployed for a year or longer waiting for anything. My intention of this post is to do two things, update people about my work life and explain to crew members if any actually read this that there is more to life than bitching that you have a Huntsville round trip that will get you home maybe an hour and a half or 2 hours later. As always until next time thanks for stopping in to the Tavern and remember drink the kool-aid responsibly and don't drink and drive. (this has been another public service announcement brought to you by Tex).
