The following passage is rated (R) for language. Not advised for children.

Training at this facitlity during the busy season is not worth the time or the money. This blows, it really does. I just cannot handle the shear volume of traffic on CD/FD with only 55 hrs (Really about 30 hrs) of OJT time. The last few days, I was feeling pretty good about the position. Well, my ass was handed to me on a silver platter for 1 hour this afternoon on FD/CD. My trainer let me go down the shitter and I stayed there until about a minute before I was relieved. The fucking volume of calls, shit to do, and crap to remember is just ridiculous at PBI.

The clearances that we have to issue for guys going south into Miami’s airspace is a fucking joke. If there was some pre-defined routes for these frequently used airports, life would be much less complicated. PBI airspace also sucks ass which complicates these clearances and routes. The shit to remember for this position is fucking ridiculous. Probably more than any other facitlity. And if you don’t know everything like the back of your hand - and you have to think about something - then you just lost a few seconds of time and guess what? You are already behind and it doesn’t get better. If you have to call miami center for something, thats time that you are not talking to aircraft - though they are still calling.

Because I have a TRACON at PBI, my first pay raise isn’t till I check out on all 3 positions upstairs in the tower. Whereas most stand alone tower facilities, the first pay raise comes after the first 2 positions. Eventually, I’ll recieve that pay raise of about $7,000 but I can tell you….its not worth it at PBI. The money I’m earning at PBI is not worth it for me. I would much rather work at DAB which is a TRACON and Tower Level 9 facility like PBI than continue at PBI any day. The airspace here is ridiculous. Give me a level 7 facility like PIE or Daytona or even Midway, and I’ll be a happy man. I much rather earn an easier $55,000 than work my ass off at a screwed up facility like PBI for $75,000. It’s just not worth it for that money.

How bad is the money situation? I’m working part time weather observing on my days off just to make ends meet. I work 6-7 days per week. If I didn’t have the part time job, I would be belly up financially in less than 2 months. I work part time to put food on the table and pay bills. I profit about $100-$200 extra per month now b/c of the part time job. BTW, even if I worked overtime at PBI, per hour, it still wouldn’t pay more than weather observing!

I have no life. I have no friends except a few guys at work - thats it. I work 6-7 days a week. I rarely go out. I’m mentally drained from work each day. I’m broke. Cost of living and expenses here in West palm beach are much higher than Daytona. My GF lives nearly 4 hours away which I see every 2 weeks. I’m almost depressed though I try to remain positive and look towards the future. This sucks. This is not what I had remotely envisioned. Yeah, I’m in the warm weather during the winter months, but I’d gladly give that up for the aeformentioned in this paragraph.

Other than that, I’m doing well. haha.