As if fees weren't enough

In his Sept. 7th New York Times column On the Road, Joe Sharkey discusses the airlines' newest method of saying "screw you" to their customers.

Numerous fees for every thing under the sun are no longer enough. Now in an effort to get people off the planes as quickly as possible and then clean the planes even faster, so they can be turned around for another flight, some airlines are prohibiting people from putting anything in the seat pocket in front of them!

In other words, you may not put your paperback book in the seat in front of you. You may not put your pack of tissues, your reading glasses, the magazine you bought at the airport, nothing, nada, zip, zero. Whatever you have with you either goes in your bag under your seat or in the overhead compartment. Screw you if you need them and can't reach them because the seats are too packed together so you can't reach under your seat or there's a bit of turbulence so you may not stand up to get to the overhead bin.

The airline Sharkey experienced this wonderful new rule on was SkyWest, one of the many regional airlines that operates as a subcontractor for some of the large, legacy airlines including United, Delta and Midwest. What's more, the flight attendent who enforced the rule with frigthening efficiency claimed the rule was a safety precaution. Since clearly my pack of tissues and People magazine pose no danger (I can't think of a single circumstance where they might), the "safety" rule is a ruse for some other reason. I can't help but wonder if this flight attendent actually believed she was ensuring the safety of her passengers by enforcing this inane new rule.

Sharkey goes on in his column to say that so far this rule has only been encountered by his readers on regional airlines. He adds that after speaking with the other airlines, they all said that by banning personal belongings in the seat pockets the airline can speed up the cleaning process.

But while this rule so far seems confined to the regional airlines, Sharkey brings up a valid point. Many people who fly regional flights actually booked their tickets with a major carrier, which then subcontracted a route it did not feel warranted one of its own planes to a regional carrier that specializes in the area. These fliers booked a ticket with the major carrier, they paid the major carrier, they expect the rules and regulations that are listed on that major carrier's Web site to prevail. But they don't, nor does the major carrier stick up for its passengers and demand that the regional airlines treat their passengers the way the larger airline would.

I find this hard to believe and once again I'm amazed at how the usual rules don't apply to airlines. If I go to a deli in New York City and order a bagel and that bagel has a piece of glass in it when I bite into it, the deli is responsible for my injury -- even if the deli didn't bake the bagel itself but instead bought the bagel from a bakery. So even though technically they subcontracted the production of their bagels to another company, because I bought the bagel from the deli, they are responsible. How come it's not the same with the airlines?

Is it because airlines offer a service, not a product. Is the company that does the subcontracting not responsible for service provided by the subcontractor it hires?

If I pay Airline A, if they are getting my money, then shouldn't I be subject to their rules? Shouldn't I get all the amenities they offer? Why is it o.k. for them to put a disclaimer in saying, we're not responsible for anything our subcontractors do?

As usual, the airlines leave me with a bitter taste in my mouth, praying for the day when the consumer is finally in a position to say "screw you" back to the airlines.

An interview with the founder of the Love Your Job Search classes

For women, especially young women, looking for a job is a frightening prospect, especially when so many women aren't aware of what their own strengths are or what job would bring them the most fulfilling life. And even for those women who know what they "want to be when they grow up," finding the right job is difficult, especially during these tough times. But help is available. Suzanne Grossman, the founder of Love Your Job (LYJ), a blog and job search class, offers the expertise she has gained from years of working with young women to empower them in our world, as well as the knowledge and know-how her own job and self seeking experiences have taught her.

Gink's Thoughts recently spoke with Suzanne about LYJ and what makes her uniquely qualified to teach women about finding a job they'll love for the rest of their lives.

What is LYJ?

LYJ stands for Love Your Job. LYJ started as a group blog I began with like-minded friends and colleagues. It came about after a group of us were talking, writing and thinking about topics related to career and how having a life that was fulfilling through your work was important and possible. Around the same time, I was putting together career topics for my CUNY students and I realized this information would be equally helpful to women job seekers outside of the university setting. So earlier this year I launched LYJ Search, which is a five week class for women jobseekers in New York City. A version of the class also will be available in Washington, D.C. in October, taught by my colleague Alyssa Best.

What types of skills LYJ Search students learn?

The class incorporates important job seeking skills including resume writing, interviewing, networking and salary negotiation.

Because I don’t believe anyone should be doing a job search without first having a clear idea of what they want to be doing and where, I also take my students through a series of thoughtful exercises through which they envision their ideal work setting and focus on their strengths in order to develop clarity on where they should be directing their job seeking efforts.

I also work very hard to match each woman in the class with professional acquaintances who can be helpful to each woman’s job search.

How did you get involved in the creation of LYJ Search?

I have a significant background in teaching leadership to women, including having worked at the Institute for Women’s Leadership at Rutgers University and the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership. My efforts at both organizations helped me to develop a variety of skills related to job seeking and helping women reach their full potential. Along my journey, I’ve learned the importance of a solid resume and how informational interviews can lead to jobs that I can then pass on to the women in my classes.

I, myself, did many of the same exercises that I use in the class and came to see that one of my strengths is helping others find jobs and encouraging them to aim for work that is truly going to make them happy. I realized I could put this to good use, especially at a time when so many people are struggling with unemployment.

Who can benefit the most from LYJ Search?

The class tends to draw women in their twenties and thirties who are unemployed or ready for a change from their current situation. Having been in the working world for more than twelve years, I can help this demographic the best, partly because I relate to the particular challenges they are facing.

However, I also believe the LYJ Search class can benefit women with more experience in the working world because the skills the class addresses apply universally to any jobseeker. I also am open to working one-to-one with male clients, though for now the classes are for women only.

What do you like best about LYJ, the blog and the Search class?

I enjoy having a space for women to come together and support each other with their job searches. As one participant said before the class, she felt like she was alone against the world with her job search and that can be an overwhelming feeling. With LYJ each of the women in my class receives positive encouragement not only from me but also from each other.

Where can people find out more about LYJ and LYJ Search?

To find out more, visit http://lyjnow.wordpress.com/ or http://lyjnow.wordpress.com/lyj-search/.

Book Review: Sand Sharks by Margaret Maron

Sand Sharks is author Margaret Maron's 15th Deborah Knott Mystery and the first one I've ever read. But after finishing reading it, you can be sure it won't be the last one I'll read. I really liked the character of Deborah Knott and I loved the fact that I had no idea until the last couple of chapters who the killer really was.

In Sand Sharks Judge Deborah Knott attends a summer conference for North Carolina district judges. The conference is at a beach hotel and Deborah is looking forward to seeing old friends and spending all her free time relaxing on the beach. So she's not very happy when she stumbles on the strangled body of another judge. She quickly learns a lot of people disliked the man, whose unethical behavior has hurt a lot people and given the Bench a bad name.

Deborah quickly gets involved in helping to solve the crime when a local police detective asks for her help, since she knows most of the people involved. The investigation gets much more personal when a close friend is run down, and the two crimes seem to be linked.

The best part of Sand Sharks is Deborah herself. She's a very likeable character and realistically written, as are most of the characters in the book. I'd actually go so far as to say characterization is Maron's strongest skill set, at least as far as Sand Sharks goes. I truly enjoyed getting to know each of the characters in the book, and definitely want to go back and read more about them. Although Deborah is happily married in this novel, it is clear she has quite a checkered past where men are concerned, and I'm looking forward to finding out more about all her experiences.

I was a little confused by some of the dialogue in the book. I'm not sure if some of the strange grammar and word structure was supposed to mimic the way people speak in North Carolina, or if it was just bad editing. However, I didn't come across too much of the odd wording, so the few instances of it were easy to ignore.

The plot of Sand Sharks is simple and easy to follow, though I felt Maron was too liberal with red herrings. There were so many red herrings I often felt that some of them must have started out as sub-plots that never got developed. But they were developed enough that at the end of the book there were a couple of story lines I felt were left unresolved and so I was left a bit unsatisfied.

However, perhaps because there were so many red herrings I was never able to figure out who the killer was until very near the end. And that’s always a good thing when reading a mystery!

In the end, it was the character of Deborah who really pulled me in and hooked me enough to want to read more. There’s no higher praise than that, is there?