I was reading this again... and thinking about how much things have changed in this industry. Not just here, but throughout the industry.
20 years ago our ticket counters, catering trucks, cleaning trucks and airfreight facilities were maned by highly motivated, loyal, and very proud employees (of the company, not some contract group). They were
well paid, valued members of a team, their pay checks reflected it.
They lived a middle class lifestyle and their career choice was respected by their customers, neighbors and friends. A "20 something year old" new hire was "excited" about his "future" and looked forward to being able to "support a family" someday.
And then retiring and using his travel privileges to do some traveling .
EVERYONE took a service failure personal and bust their butts to smooth it over. Crews were eager to board and dept on time. They looked forward to meeting new customers on each leg. Customers enjoyed being waited on by someone excited about their job
and future.
Today employees wonder how they will survive until next payday and fear their job will be outsourced before it gets here. Customers and employees seem like only numbers ... a necessary evil. Middle class is only a dream and
retirement comes when you qualify for disability.
Don't get me wrong, IM not US Airways bashing ..... There is a race to the bottom going on in this
INDUSTRY. It's sad when a company employees 15 or 20 thousand customer service front line employees and only a dozen enjoy middle class? I guess I was lucky .... a lot of my employment fail under the good ole days.
This use to be a job you wanted to pass down to a younger member of the family, NO More?
Thank goodness several years ago I saw it coming and focused on MY business. My exit is secure! 
And don't worry about someone else's kids!
