the "dog in the manger" effect..

There once was a master carpenter, who had just recently become the president of the local guild of craftsmen.
He was generally disliked by most townspeople, but in deference to his newly acquired position, people would generally smile and greet him in a nice fashion.

This particular town had a long standing tradition of every master taking on an apprentice every five years, to ensure skills and trade secrets were always passed on generation to generation.

Now when the time came for this particular master craftsman to take one, he initially refused to.
but bowing to peer pressure, he finally took on an apprentice.

BUT, the master craftsman refused to let the young man try anything with his own hands. He insisted on doing everything himself, while the young man just looked on.
Word of this soon got around, and the master craftsman soon became the talk of the town. People sneered at him and made fun of him behind his back.

Sensing the growing ridicule, the master craftsman finally came up with a diabolical plan.He still had no intention of letting his apprentice help in his work, but at the same time he couldn't afford to remain the butt of all jokes in his town. He declared that from now on, all master craftsman will refrain from allowing their apprentices to do anything during their apprenticeship.Citing various reasons like upkeep of the quality of the work and inherent risk in allowing an apprentice in undertaking any major work.

Time passed and five years went by. The town witnessed a whole new batch of apprentices graduating into fine young craftsmen themselves.
albeit, not one had any prior experience of handling any tool in person, but had years of experience, of watching someone else do it.

Moral of the story:Sometimes,one man's lack of confidence can lead to a town's lack of confidence.
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This story ends here. But another story of an airline is still being written. Where that one will end remains to be seen...