A Run In With A Naative F/a...

[TWAnr]

This is copied, with the webmaster's permission, from a private TWA flight attendants' board (some details have been omitted to maintain anonymity):

July 22, 2003

I've been trying to decide whether or not to post this all day. It's still bothering me so I decided to go for it.

As I've stated on other posts, I've recently started as Asst. Mgr. at the Discovery Channel store in STL. Although it's not my dream job, I'd like to think I'm doing well, and it's going good for me. Anyway, today I had a run in with a nAAtive. Well, if that's what you can call him.

Here's what happened:

I see a man looking at a book we have and walk over to "get the sale" by saying....that's a really powerful book isn't it? He's kind of emotional (it's a huge $50 pictorial book on NYC on 9/11). He says it was a horrible day and that he lost some good friends. I validate his feelings and agree with him. Then he proceeds to say that it's horrible the way the crews were murdered. I ask if he works for an airline and he says yes...AA. I tell him that I'm sorry for his losses on 9/11 and that they are all in a better place now. I try to find some common ground by saying that I lost friends that day as well. He continues to tell me that he's an AA F/A. Then asks me outright if I worked for an airline. Weird huh?! I say that I did...as simple as that (after all, I'm at work and must be professional..not to mention I want to make a sale). He asks if I was TWA. I say yes. He then proceeds to inform me that he "got smart in the 80s and got the h*** outa TWA and went to a real airline called AA b/c he saw the writing on the wall". I just said, well, we all made choices sir. Then he just keeps going on about the 80s and how bad TWA was blah blah blah......I finally tell him that I can't debate the 80s with him as far as the aviation world goes b/c I was in grade school then (no comments please). He keeps going on and I just say that no one ever predicted what would happen to TWA back when it was the premier airline and that unfortunately with the way corporate america is today and how volatile the airline industry is, no airline, regardless how big or what they think of themselves, is safe and not to think that it can NEVER happen to AA or anyone else. He keeps going back to his 80s TWA saga...which makes me think he's trying to convince himself and not me......then I have to help another customer and he leaves the store. Twenty minutes go by and I'm dealing with UPS on a shipment and this character sticks his head in the door to my store and proceeds to tell me in front of the UPS guy and other customers that he didn't like how "poorly I treated him" and that he was going to let Discovery know about it. I replied with..."sir, I didn't treat you poorly. I struck up conversation about a book with you to hopefully make a sale, which is my job, and you took it to the next level. I remained professional the entire time". The fabulous UPS guy said he was my witness if anything ever comes of it, but what the he** is this crap?!

Bottom line...I'd like to know the names of the male F/A's that left TWA for AA during the Icahn era. He's about 5'8" or so.....balding with grey. A little stocky, but not large. He said he was on a "layover" so he may not be a STL replacement. I should not have to tolerate nAAtives coming into my non-airline job and harassing me. I feel like he'll tell them all and they'll all be in there and on my back.

I think he feels threatened and vulnerable. I just hope he stays away from my store from now on.

July 23, 2003

Oh My TWA Family....how I love you all. After reading all your comments I feel much better. Thank you. I don't know who this freak is, but I did mention to the UPS guy that I could call AA and report him for harassing ex-TWAers at non-airline jobs. I have thought of all the suggestions and decided for the time being that once again, I will be the BIGGER person and just let it go, but NOT forget.

September 3, 2003

I've waited a couple of weeks, but thought I should update you all. I no longer work for Discovery. On 8/19 I went to work as normal and when the store mgr. arrived at 1 pm he took a phone call from the district mgr and called me into the office. He handed me my final paycheck through 1:30 pm that day and told me they were "letting me go". WHAT!? I asked for reasons and he gave me none stating that he wasn't given any. I left and can't say I miss the place one bit, but I also can't help but wonder if this nAAtive F/A didn't have something to do with it. I'll never know. I'm trying to get my UI reinstated (they are investigating my case). Discovery did however send me Cobra info, which I'm not going to use b/c it's even higher than AA's. I just feel as if Discovery showed me no respect and that bothers me. If the nAAtive is the reason then just know that no matter where you are, they will try and get to you. BTW, no issues were ever brought to my attention in the 1.5 months that I worked there. As far as I knew all was well. Thanks for listening.

September 6, 2003

Thanks a bunch everybody for your kind words and encouragement.

UI called me on 9/4 for the interview concerning my loss of employment with Discovery. The lady was very nice, introduced herself and informed me that the reason they do these interviews is because companies have a bad habit of lying. She asked me questions like how long I worked there, how long was the probationary period (I had a month and 1/2 to go before my 90 days were up), my wage, what type of training I received (none), etc. Then she read Discovery's reasons for letting me go. It was a bunch of BS to say the least. I know that truth and can therefore live with myself. She also stated that they had received a letter from a customer on 8/11 on how horrible I was to him. It appears that this AA**hole followed up on his word. I just really wish that Discovery would have had the decency and respect to bring this to my attention and discuss it with me. Unfortunately it appears that Discovery hires inept people to run their retail business.

I will survive and go onto bigger and better. I will admit that I am in a bit of a panic over money right now. UI still hasn't finished their investigation (they were going to go back to Discovery and re-question them per my responses) so I have ZERO income coming in right now. I am looking for a job and refuse to go back to retail. I'm trusting in the Lord that all will work out and be ok. Again, thank you....you all are a wonderful group and I consider myself very lucky to be a part of it.

By the webmaster:

I just got off the phone with the manager of The Discovery Store.

I am furious. His response to me was that "the person who complained could have been a Drug Dealer for all the difference it would make. The bottom line is that he was a Discovery Store customer." Eeewwww am I fuming. I told him that the fact that no one even spoke to [the employee] about it or asked her for her explanation was bad management and 'shameful' at the VERY least.

 

[FA Mikey]

Well, we like every other carrier have are slime. Its hard to believe someone is so low as this. I hope I never have to work with that person. I doubt it would go over well. I had the pure displeasure of working with a f/a the other day who had so much contempt for each person who dared walk through the door of the plane. It made for the longest turn I have worked in a long time.

Dont count on the fact that the person was ex TWA. If they would lie and try to get a person fired. They could have made that up about being ex TWA. Odds are if the F/A actually was, they had probley been fired. Now has a bone to pick with all those ex TWA. My guess.

 

[extwacaptain]

TWANR,

During WW11, there were stories going around about the enemy shooting at our airmen who had bailed out of their aircraft after being shot down, and were floating to earth for their “second” chance at life.

There were other stories about those who fought “A gentleman’s war” and would wave and smile at one another after having been the “Victor” in combat.

Regarding the individual who shot down our flight attendant the second time…..
You’re only expected to shoot down the enemy while in combat, not after the truce has been signed.


Randy Kramer


FAMikey,

I tend to agree with you, regarding the belief that this person was not formerly with TWA, and appreciate you saying those words.

(Edited by moderator since the edit buttons have reappeared)

 

[s80dude]

How sad! Just goes to show that there are bad apples in every bunch.

 

[TWAPurser]

The behaviour of this AA F/A is totally unacceptable. Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of AA F/As behave in the same manner: arrogant, complex of superiority, snobism. This reflects on the perception passengers have of AA service in general; it is the general opinion.

 

[operaations]

I am naative AA not a flight attendant but Naative as you call it. And i agree 100% with their attitude. They think they are bigger than they really are. They think they are better than they really are. They have little class. But you and I both know it is the few trhat display this little class but it is them we remember. I bet there are alot of great AA flight attendants as there were TWA and I am sure TWA had some rotten ones as well

 

[JS]

The saying "one bad apple spoils the bunch" does not apply to AA. How about "one good apple gets spoiled by a bunch of bad apples".

This is the kind of treatment levied upon AA passengers every day -- maybe not as extreme as getting fired, but the way AA flight attendants treat their passengers borders on verbal abuse. It's like entering boot camp but you pay for the privilege rather than being paid.

Sure, there are some nice AA flight attendants, but based on my experience, the probability of running into a so-called "bad apple" at AA is about ten times that of any other airline.

 

[operaations]

If that statement is true that is sad. And I hope that the AA Flight Service department takes notice and does something about it. Please write letter after letter to try and have this problem corrected. As a company we unfortunatley let them get away with murder. This is not AA. We are a proud Airline and I will not let the flight attendants that you speak of make it a horrible airline to fly.

 

[FA Mikey]

If that statement were true we would not be the largest airline, we would not have the largest market share. If you want a take, on the feeling of AA's bread and butter the PL's and EXP's see the Frequent Flyer message board.

AA's flight service staff does ghost rides all over the system all year long. The problems are greatly exaggerated.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

I find it interesting that Discovery would tell anyone, let alone in writing the reasons that this person was terminated, because it's not really legal to do so.

Employers are limited to verification of employment information that includes date of hire, date of termination, confirmation of salary, and whether or not the person is someone they would re-hire, and that's it.

If Discovery coughed up other info, then they are interfering with this person's right to work, and what the former employer did is absolutely actionable.

 

[TWAnr]

I find it interesting that Discovery would tell anyone, let alone in writing the reasons that this person was terminated, because it's not really legal to do so.

Employers are limited to verification of employment information that includes date of hire, date of termination, confirmation of salary, and whether or not the person is someone they would re-hire, and that's it.

If Discovery coughed up other info, then they are interfering with this person's right to work, and what the former employer did is absolutely actionable.

The Discovery Store supplied that information to the Missouri agency which administers unemployment insurance benefits. It was done in an attempt to prevent the furloughed TWA flight attendant from collecting her lawful benefits after losing her job as an assistant manager there. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for companies to try to justify "for cause" terminations in order to deny benefits to separated employees. I surmise that if the employer is successful in establishing that the firing was called for, it affects the rate of the premium or tax that the employer is charged for unemployment insurance coverage for its employees.

You are right that in other instances employers are limited to providing only dates of hire, dates of termination and confirmations of salary. I am not sure if such information is limited by law or simply by reasons of avoiding potential liability from law suits.

 

[operaations]

Mikey you and me both know ghost rides mean nothing and do nothing. They have their hands tied. AA management needs to grow some balls and fire the worthless flight attendants. I have no idea why flight service is scared to fire the worthless ones and keep the good ones. As long as they allow the trash to keep bringing usd down I will never have respect for flight service. They allow the flight attendants to screw the passengers the company and anyone else they want and do nothing about it. Do not write me back and lie and say plenty is done. You and I both know the real facts

 

[FA Mikey]

Why do ghost rides mean nothing? I got called in after a physco FSM gave me onea couple years ago. I know the physco part because her reputation follows her. having done some home work on her. I can say I have never had a paying passenger act up and be obnoxious as she was to me and the girl I was working with. Her credibility was lost on the not only her actions in flight but that a EXP sitting in row one, knowing nothing about what was happening in row six wrote a glowing report of how he enjoyed the flight and the service. Thank God for small miracles.

A bad ride goes in to your file. Then will generate another unannounced ride. The problem with management is they are goofs when it comes to firing people. They over react in many situations. Under react in truley serious ones. They don't follow procedure and lose in arbitration's for punishments that don't fit the crime, or simply not following set company procedure. It would be easy to knock APFA out of the win column by following the predetermined corporate policy. As well, as having all the documentation as prescribed.

There will always be that level of trash. Because of our size more than some smaller carriers. My generation has raised some sad examples for society, in terms of work ethic. Easy way to find someone with a sorry work ethic, is to ask them what there contract is for. If they answer, its a set policy and guideline on the order and how I am used by the company. They are someone who knows a thing or two. If they say it tells me what I don't have to do at work. You found your trash.

Airlines aside. I can name you only one place in Miami, that has given me exemplary service. Except for where I grew up I can name a few places where the customer is king. Even there though, its Turing sour. I am amazed to her people talk as though the airline carry the ball in bad customer service. Whether its a mall shop or Mom and pop stand. I have my expectations set pretty low these days. I can't even get what I would call basic customer service.

 

[MiAAmi]

I'm still wondering why this post was even started. If AA has approx 20,000 flight attendants not every single one is going to be a star. The point I'm trying to make is why give the isolated few any more attention then they already have. Most AA flight attendants are good people who are trying to make a living just like anyone else. No different than the former TWA flight attendants. I challange TWnr to post something positive in the AA area! Otherwise I think your posts about negative events in regard to AA are just your own axe to grind.

 

[L1011Ret]

Negative events linked to AA are negative events. They are just as important as positive events and provide people with information on how to evaluate and make judgments about AA and APFA.

Why give attention to the few - simple, because they need attention to have their behavior and attitudes corrected. This woman who was recently furloughed as a result of APFA and AA flight attendants now has had her life severely impacted again as a result of the actions of an AA F/A. Somebody should be talking about it!!!!!!!!!!!

Another injustice that needs attention!