Why There Aren't No Jobs At All
You Know How I Feel About the Airlines
I have an "evil airline scum" softkey for a reason, and I've used it frequently. But they are creating "jobs," which seems to be the government-inspired goal of all business nowadays. Never mind "profit" or providing goods or services wanted by their customers! They create "jobs" and that is Good.
But one has to wonder about the jobs they are creating. The ranks of airline employees have thinned as a result of mothballing airplanes due to high fuel costs and cranky passengers such as myself who often use alternate transportation when possible in protest against the evil airline scum and their accursed rules. Where are the new jobs, then?
American Express
One of the rules I hate the most is the "change fee" which, in effect, eliminates travel flexibility. But wait! American Express is attempting to restore it by paying the change fee! I sustained an email telling of a promotion by AmEx whereby they will pay up to $200 in "incidental fees" (baggage, change, bathroom use) in a calendar year. All I have to do is "register" my credit card (as if they can't just do it themselves) and select an airline (in advance, of course, eliminating that flexibility) as if they can't just apply it to any charges. So, the airline has jobs for people who charge change fees, AmEx has jobs for people who design their promotional programs, and even I have a job: wasting my time trying to be a "good consumer" and taking advantage of programs that shouldn't be necessary in the first place. Oh yes: I have to hire someone to do whatever it is that I do so I have time for all this.
As with union "featherbedding" and the reputed WPA practice of hiring one shift of workers to dig ditches and the next shift to fill them in, there are undoubtedly millions of jobs that serve no further purpose than to provide jobs.
Where would we be without them?
Postscript: I wrote this in August but then the blogdrums assaulted me and I neglected to "publish" it. Subsequent to the writing, I actually booked a flight and then separately purchased an "extra room" seat as a test. I'll see how smooth or convoluted this process becomes and try to remember to report.
