One indisputable fact is that when conducting oneself in public, certain rules and regulations should be adhered to at all times. Nevertheless, as everyone knows, in reality, things may not go as planned and as a result how companies deal with everyday issues is far from being black and white. There is, in fact, a lot of gray. In addition to specified regulations, a dose of common sense should be stirred in as well.
Choosing to take on any job that deals with the art of customer service is stressful enough as it is. Toss in crowded airports, air sickness and being enclosed in an aircraft with strangers for hours at a time with nowhere out in sight.
Well, let’s just say both the customers and airline officials are in for one heck of a ride and a one-way ticket to migraine land. Which as I’m sure, everyone will agree was not the intended destination.
If you can’t take the heat, why agree to take the job?
It’s no secret that dealing with people from all walks of life on a daily basis takes an immense amount of patience. Passengers are naturally going to be impatient, irritated and possibly feeling ill. The last thing they need is a rule book tossed at them. However, most airline personnel have clearly skipped over the rule that with service comes empathy and making adjustments in accordance to the situation.
Has humiliation and degradation worked itself into the invisible fine print?
No one wants to or should be made to sit in a puddle of their own urine, so what exactly is going on here? This question in itself, I’m sure has taken a lot of people by surprise and have them wondering if it is indeed valid or a sick practical joke.
Sadly, I have to be the bearer of bad news that this is. In fact, the new norm for acceptable treatment when it comes to passengers, on of all airlines, is British Airways, which has always prided itself on exceptional service.
You can’t be serious -- what exactly happened?
Customer service of airline personnel reached a new low when an 87-year-old woman named Kocharik Tsamouzian aboard a British Airways flight in December of last year was denied the right to use the toilette.
The flight attendant’s outright refusal to allow her to relieve herself resulted in Ms. Tsamouzian having to endure the grueling 13-hour flight from Los Angeles to London sitting in a puddle of urine.
The disapproval was not only verbal but was accompanied a slight physical restraint as well. Ms. Tsamouzian was then blocked from leaving her seat by the flight attendant standing in the way, effectively caging her in like an animal.
No signs of remorse
Is this what we should come to expect? Doesn’t the astronomical prices of airfare mean anything to employees and their superiors? Clearly not, since once again the response is in the negative. Upon responding to the issue the spokesperson for British Airways failed to show even an ounce of remorse.
“Our highly trained cabin crew always work to make our customers as comfortable as possible, but Civil Aviation Authority safety rules stipulate everyone must remain seated with their seatbelts on after the aircraft has started moving. The safety and security of our customers is always our top priority.”
Clearly, they missed the memo that sitting in a puddle of urine doesn’t equal safety and is rather extreme punishment, humiliation and out right unsanitary conditions.
