Thursday 28 May 2009

Dublin. Just like my fun keeps. Dublin. Doubling. Do you see what i did...

So what have we learnt?
This travelling game is fun isnt it? Four weeks now in Dublin, and it is getting a little tedious. Its nice to be in a country where the people are friendly, they talk the same language and you can always get decent food (so different to America). Comes a time though when thoughts turn to home, and thats always hard. Miss my woman - a strange thing which no one seems to understand. Why is it so strange to want to be at home snuggled on the sofa or walking the dogs, talking crap and just sharing space...
Every day in the office i have to offer my advice and opinion and see the herd trample it underfoot in their efforts to do the complete opposite. And then i have to explain patiently why what they did broke the system. And then have to find a workaround so that they can carry on doing what they are doing. Ethically i have found this contract quite difficult, as various practices do not look meet my standards. I have put my concerns in writing, but no one here has a loud enough voice to make a difference, and most of them seem to like it that way. I was always trained about the "subsequent board of enquiry" - would i be able to stand in the dock and say i had no guilty conscience about the pilot being tired when he landed in the side of the hill... Maybe that's just me. By refusing to help with these things am i doing the right thing, or should i just do whatever the customer wants? Sometimes its hard to think of the crew as humans, and not just employee numbers. And here they have completely lost sight of the idea that passengers are any more than just seats filled as against seats empty. Its sad, as the future of airlines of this size rely on the passion and professionalism of its people, and you see less of both all the time. The Mothership will soon descend from the sky and swallow up this little enclave, and apart from a few dozen locals no one will shed too many tears. New jobs will be found by the majority, new careers they never dreamed of, or crappy jobs they never wanted. Their friends will rally round, and the pilots will all piss off to the next island contract where tax breaks and free housing will make this all a distant memory...
When XL went under it was the end of the world for many, lost and bewildered and not sure how to cope with not seeing so many friends every day, and wondering how to pay the bills. It was talk of the town for a week, and then people moved on. A cluster of old employees kept fighting, kept believing it would be born again... and then people moved on, and soon it became just another former airline. Another DanAir, Caledonian, Laker...
So from this downbeat mood new determination arises to start something new. To get involved in something more positive, more useful. I need to deal with people who want to change things. When project managers run away from change then I know I am in the wrong building. I need to change the world. I need to be with people who want to listen to new ideas, who want to change their minds when they meet a good idea...

Maybe i should stand for parliament?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you stand for parliament can I have a moat....?! Kitty x

dNo said...

You've got a duck house and look at the state of that!!!!

Anonymous said...

That was inherited with the pond - can I help it if it's a drive thru fast food stop for the local foxes?! K x