Fumanchewd wrote:
One can say that every generation states that about the previous, but I disagree, there is a noticeable indifference and resentment concerning working with the new 16-30 generation. Speaking to employers around the country I hear them state the same thing over and over and over. They hire groups of people to train only to have them all quit after a few weeks.
I received a controller (they just send anyone who will deign to show up, so I have no say in who arrives) recently who was like that. He had one facility under his belt. One. On the very first day, he told me that he'd "accept Thur/Fri off," but would "prefer to also have Saturdays off." This was to allow him to go to Yu-Gi-Oh (sp?) card tournaments and to play online with his friends.
He then said that after he was rated, he understood if his trainer might need to pick one of the days he'd prefer, which was fine with him as long as he could work the shifts with the least traffic.
I was flabbergasted. Kid went on in training to be totally lazy, cocky, full of lip, and ultimately I summarily terminated him. He got picked up at another tower somehow, and I got a call from the ATM there just yesterday asking me, "What the f**k is wrong with the kids we're getting these days?"
This manager had called the airport to find out my number just so he could ask, as he'd had a string of kids like this. Moreover, he'd done some digging into this kid specifically, and found out that he'd lied about his CTO (controller credential thingy) to make it seem like he was from a busy place when he wasn't...in fact, he'd never even gotten a flight data/clearance delivery/ground control rating.
In conference calls with another ATC entity I interact with, they're having the same problem with their off-the-street new hires, and the ATC performance is cruddy as a result. One supervisor told me that the young controller, when he was directed to quit giving handoffs so early (massive inefficiency, less safety given the airspace and procs), literally told him to his face,
"Fuck off."
That was it. And then the union backed him up and said we can't be expecting them to be like the previous generation, and that they all need time.
My wife has been asking me to get out of ATC, and this is partially the reason. We just cycle through garbage, wasting time and energy (and adding extra risk into the system) training new hires, only to have them quit at 50% of the allotted time, or quit during EDIT extension 3. It really sucks, because it keeps us all at mandatory overtime, no ability to take vacation, etc. During peak season, when you're alone and coordinating CFR/GDP/GS crap, answering all the phones, and working everything combined, with the pseudo-TRACON down the tubes, it really is enough to burn you out. (Mostly due to frustration and anger.)