Originally Posted by
Markie
Personally I volunteer in a number of areas - not just Flyertalk. I sit as an (unpaid) School Governor, (unpaid) Justice of the Peace, (unpaid) Assessor for Chartered Membership of the British Computer Society. I personally don't feel that any of your views, about being unpaid somehow making the experience wrong, to be true.
In short, you volunteer for local government offices and for a professional organization (to which, I presume, you belong).
That is fine and commendable. I do, however, see a great difference between that and if you had told me you do volunteer work as a claims adjuster for an insurance company, an engineer for BP, or a pilot for BA.
Frankly, if I put in an insurance claim, am a driller on an oil rig, or am a passenger of a plane, I would feel much more comfortable knowing that a professional whose income depends on him doing good work is the person on the job.