Lessons for the Kids

I'm not an expert on a lot of things, that goes without saying. I would, however, state that I can give reasonable advice to people on how to avoid losing their jobs, while still doing enough 'just to get by'. So I skimmed through news articles to see if anyone was fired recently, and teach the young people out there how to learn from their mistakes. Take this thoughtless duo, a pilot and co-pilot flying to Hawaii that went past the runway and had to turn the plane around to make an emergency landing. They were abruptly fired after the flight when it came to the attention of the airline that they both fell asleep in the cockpit. Tsk tsk. Rule one of sleeping on the job: Don't do it while you're FLYING A PLANE. Not a hard one to remember.

There's a difference between being lazy and stupid. Lazy people are usually branded as being below the average intelligence level, which is a terrible misunderstanding. The fact that they can be lazy and still somehow contributing to society, (however little they do) means they must be as smart or smarter than someone who donates more time and effort yet yields the same contribution. It may be easier to understand via the Work Equation: y + z = 2z - 1/4x where z is how wrinkled your suit is and y is the amount of time you spend on the internet at work. The higher your x value, the lazier you are. On days where I find the end of the internet and my suit looks like I slept in it (I probably did) my x score could be in the thousand's. Give it a shot.

Now getting back to our pilot friends. These gentlemen were not lazy, they were stupid. If they were lazy they would have stayed awake during the auto-pilot portion of the flight and played some Connect Four, or thumb wrestle. Seriously guys, we have to entertain ourselves at work while you two, depending on the size of the aircraft, could have started a four-square game if you wanted to. Improvise. I feel that there are a few no-no's in the world of the commercial airline pilot, (sleeping, drinking, barrel rolls) and if these rules are broken you lose your job, and rightfully so. Our goal during these tough economic times is to stay employed, but by working smart, not hard. Obviously I'm going to get fired if I break one of the few no-no's of the IT world (cussing out my boss, skipping work, installing viruses), and that's why I keep a low profile and simply stay afloat.

At least we can all rest assured knowing those two pilots will have plenty of time to catch up on much needed sleep. Of course, they'll be doing so in Hawaii, so I guess it all evens out...