aDrenais' Book of Shadows

Mr DLink, like Singaporeans, ceased to function as well following lavish praise. Since my last post, the wireless connection in my room became erratic, and I was only able to connect to the Internet for no more than 5 minutes at a time. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

I'm graduating next week on 2 Aug, thank God! Training is fading into a blur of exams, practicals and long boring lectures, I'd be glad when I start flying and leave all the fancy theory behind. While I'm really excited to be part of this spanking new company, Etihad is showing signs of strain at having taken in so many Gulf Air crew during the recruitment exercise.

Our housing situation is seriously quite shitty, with about a hundred of us living in hotels because the Etihad leased buildings intended for us are not ready yet. I have no idea when I'd be moving into my permanent accommodation, which is quite frustrating when half the items in my luggage was intended for household use (toilet brush, water dispenser, etc). My stuff is only semi-unpacked because I don't know when I'd be given notice to move, and there have been instances when girls got less than 4 hours notice to pack up and move.

There is also talk that existing Etihad crew are unhappy about the preferential treatment that ex-Gulf Air crew is getting. Our training is 4 weeks instead of 8, and Cabin Managers from Gulf Air join Etihad as managers without having to work through the ranks. As a result of the discontentment, the training in First and Business Class service that was intended as part of our accelerated course has been removed after the first 2 batches. This would be fine, if it didn't exist a vast difference in salary for those who are trained and those who aren't. It's almost SGD$400 difference per month can, how to let it go?!

It doesn't seem like we have much of a choice now; the company has the right to place us wherever they can, as long as it's decent living conditions. As for the service training, it's probably in the company's interest to pacify the greater majority of their existing crew. It sucks being a newbie! I can only take consolation in the fact that the new CEO of Gulf Air resigned after less than 6 months in office, so things aren't rosy either in the other camp. I need to start planning my exit..