My Two Cents Worth
By Randy Mains
going on in a person’s ‘back story’ of their life. To give you an example, I was flying in a Bell 412 one day with my good friend, Jerry, in the Zakum oil field in the Persian Gulf. I’d known Jerry since we flew together in Iran as instructor pilots thirty years prior. He was unusually grumpy that day com plaining about this and that, all that was wrong with the company, what this pilot did, what that pilot did, in short, he was complaining about every thing. I finally had had enough and said
A story highlighting the importance
of attitude was told to more than 100 flight instructors, of which I was one, working for Bell Helicopter International in Iran. We were attend ing a twoday flight instructor refresher seminar put on by the A.O.P.A. for the twoyear renewal of our CFI’s. I have never forgotten that story. The rele vance and strong message it delivered really hit home how important attitude is in whatever we do in life, especially for us if we were to be successful flight instructors. The story goes like this: A newlywed
couple on their honeymoon are remov ing their clothes making preparations to consummate their marriage. Think soft, low light. Romantic music drifting on perfumed air. A chilled bottle of Dom Perignon sitting by the bedside. The husband steps out of his trousers and says to his petite new bride, “Honey, will you do me a favor?” “Sure sweetheart, anything, what is
it?”
“Would you put on my pants?” Thinking it an odd request but eager
to please him she says, “Sure, OK.” Stepping into them she pulls them up waist high then holds the waistband out in front of her about ten inches and says, “Sweetheart, you know, I don’t think this’ll work. I can’t fit into your pants.” The husband says, “And that’s what I
want to make clear from the getgo. I want you to remember that I wear the
8 August 2012
pants in the family, I make the deci sions.” She pauses, taking in what he’d just
said, nods, steps demurely out of his pants folds them neatly and places them on the bedroom chair. She turns and says, “Sweetheart, would you do ME a favor?” “Of course honey, anything, just
name it.” “Would you please put on MY
panties?” Thinking it an odd request but want
ing to please her he takes her panties from her finely manicured hand placing first one leg, then his other leg into them and tries to pull them up. He manages to get them about mid thigh until they will go no higher. He looks up at her in bewilderment and says, “Honey, I can’t get into your panties.” And she answers, “And that’s right,
buster, and you aren’t going to unless you change that attitude!” We have the power to choose how
we react to any situation. We can choose to be happy or we can choose to be sad. We can choose to find the positive or choose to dwell on the neg ative. Attitude is within our control. A positive attitude will help to get you hired. A negative or bad attitude will get you fired. The right attitude will get you, well…where you want to be. The wrong attitude will, like the newlywed husband, earn you a cold shower. I’ve discovered that a sour attitude usually has more to do with what is
over the intercom, “You know, Jerry, normally flying with you is fun but today you’re a grumpy, kingsize pain in the butt.” Jerry sulked for a moment then said,
“Yeah, well what are you so happy about then?” “Well, I’m alive! Everything works,
no aches and pains. The company has given two good friends who’ve known one another for 30 years a multimillion dollar helicopter to fly in the sunshine. What’s not to be happy about? It’s not like you to be so grumpy.” He got real quiet. I continued in a
gentler tone. “You know, Jerry, when you get mad at your wife for not put ting the toothpaste lid on the tooth paste, it’s got nothing to do at all with the toothpaste lid. Now what’s really going on?” He thought for a moment then con
fided in me telling me that his wife, who was back home in the States, was about to go in for surgery. “Well that makes sense then, Jerry.” As we flew he talked about it. His attitude changed by opening up, mak ing the rest of the day much brighter for both of us. At least his whining stopped which did a world of good for my attitude.
Randy is an Author of several books, a public speaker, and CRM / AMRM
Consultant who continues to work in the
helicopter industry after a long career of aviation adventure. He currently works as a Bell 412EP flight simulator
instructor / examiner for Abu Dhabi Aviation.He may be contacted at
info@randymains.com
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