A LOT Polish Cabin Crew Director has been fired after mounting outrage over her online cyberbullying of British Airways flight attendants.
Katarzyna Richter took to Facebook after a recent BA flight from London Gatwick to Poland to note:
Today, my attention was drawn to grooming and appearance of British Airways cabin crew members, unpolished shoes, holes in tights, too tight uniform, double chin, rotten and uneven teeth, messy hairstyle.
(translated from Polish)
Then she speculated that if the crews were not serious about their appearance, perhaps they were not serious about safety. She also secretly took pictures of the cabin crew and included those in her post.
Not surprisingly, her post sparked immediate outrage and Richter found herself on the defensive. Rather than back down, however, she continued to defend herself in the comments section of her post.
Eventually, though, with criticism mounting and her post going “viral”, she deleted it and issued an apology:
I would like to apologize very much to the British Airways crew and to everyone affected by I regret my behaviour – I should not judge the competence and appearance of employees of another line I’m sorry again.
But that was apparently too little, too late, as LOT Polish has now fired her. A spokesperson said:
We are truly sorry for this situation. Such behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by our company.
Asked about the incident, British Airways only said it was “proud of our cabin crew and the exceptional service they deliver to our customers every day”.
CONCLUSION
I’m certainly not going to defend Richter here for fat-shaming anyone. It’s wrong. That said, critiquing dress and appearance is fair game…unpolished shoes, wrinkled uniforms, poor personal grooming…I think it does say something, at least, about one’s pride in job. But it’s simply unwise for an airline director to take such pot shots at her competition…
image: British Airways
She could have left it to the first three and been fine. Some people just don’t know when to shut up.
Well well the truth hurts, and gets one the sack as well, I had the misfortune to fly British airways, or sh tish airways ,as I have renamed it, hey what am I saying…. of course the airline is British and all airlines that fly under the countries flag, is an image of the country they originate from, so no surprise here then , as in economy only you are of course treated as a peasant and scum at best….. on an 11 hr flight there were no refresh towels at all any time, the food was for pigs, oh sorry peasants, or was the pheasants, oh no that’s first class, on the return, we were thankfully bumped off flight,due to overbooking, oh dear, but not oh dear, we got transferred to thai airlines, and what great respecting service that was… thanks British airways never again ever,oh and the thai stewardesses were presentable and pretty as well..oh what a sexist remark you say, it’s the truth. Get over it…
Though she was probably right on all of the things she observed, we no longer live in a world where criticism is allowed (by anyone, under any circumstances). If you’re going to do it, just do it as a regular passenger or anonymously (offline), certainly don’t expose yourself as another (competitive) airline staff member.
Appearance, deportment, manners, common sense went out the window a long time ago. You’re certainly in the minority if you call anything or anyone out in a critical way – you’ll be shot down/swept away immediately because of the over-exaggerated hypersensitivity of everyone from parents, nursing mothers, superiors, colleagues, coworkers – we’re just supposed to stay wrapped up in the ever-tightening politically correct straight jackets.
I happen to agree with her as I have seen this (sloppiness) on a lot of airlines. Long gone are the days when FA’s had to meet high standards with pre-flight checks, etc. Even if they had people to do the “checking”, they themselves don’t get it or apply the highest standards so how could they ever be in a position to criticize or correct appearance or behavior.
In the current political climate it’s not unusual to be fired for speaking the truth because it’s inconvenient.
Ms Richter was quite accurate in her assessment but sadly did not dig a little deeper and identify that so many BA crews look like that because they are tired and demoralised in their jobs because many now are on such poor pay and conditions.
On the last BA service I was on (an A320 on a domestic route) two of the four cabin crew made their way down the aisle walking sideways because they would not fit in any other way and I was concerned about what would happen with crew of that size should an evacuation be needed.
Let’s stop pretending: like personal grooming, FAT IS A CHOICE. It’s simple physics kids: you cannot gain a pound that you do not first put in your mouth. Mass is not created out of nothing.
People who lack the discipline and self-control about what they put into their mouths are likely to lack discipline in other areas: personal grooming, courtesy, AND following safety procedures.
Of course, some people have a harder time than others. But the fact that obesity rates have trebled in a few decades tells you that fat is not just about genetics. Genes didn’t magically change in 30 years.
Bring back fat shaming!
Well she’s entitled to her opinion and having seen the post, I agree with her. What I truly hate is this tyrannical attitude that too many people have when they read/hear something that they deem “offensive”. And thus feel that the “offender” be punished harshly. It’s a dangerous trend and shows a dangerous lack of tolerance for other people’s (often valid) opinions.
This is a shame.