Some people have far too much time on their hands and are far too self-important. Take a flight attendant who felt it necessary to perform a “citizen’s arrest” against her colleague, which turned violent. The crime? A missing snack box.
Citizen’s Arrest: Flight Attendant Blocks Colleague From Leaving Aircraft, Accusing Her Of Stealing A Snack Box
An anonymous flight attendant complained on reddit that she has “been suspended for conducting a citizens arrest on another (thieving) FA.” I suppose the story could be fictional, but it strikes me as believable and the fact that she deleted it after receiving blowback further suggests it was real (otherwise, who cares?).
Here’s how she described the incident:
“I always fly lead, but I like to keep on top of everything that is happening in my cabin, so I went to the aft galley and inspected the carts and made sure everything was packed up and completed according to company policy. Thankfully, it was, which saved me needing to file an incident report, and I counted there were four snack boxes remaining.”
So far, so good. Employees who take their role seriously and look out for their employer are often to be commended. But then she remembered that one of her colleagues had mentioned that she was hungry and thought she would count the snack boxes once more. That’s when she “discovered” one was missing.
“So to ensure the security of company property, on the descent, I went to double-check the carts and found there were only three snack boxes left. I did not raise it with the crew member but immediately rang the Captain and requested a supervisor meet us at the gate. By the time all pax had disembarked, the supervisor had still not arrived, so I told the crew they were unable to leave and they were not under any circumstances to touch or move their baggage.”
Wow, that’s quite an escalation. The “thieving” flight attendant tried to get by with her bag and the flight attendant grabbed the bag, then blocked the door with a beverage cart! In that process, she knocked the “regional girl” over.
“In the process of securing the evidence, I accidentally knocked the regional girl with her bag and made her stumble.”
A ground staff supervisor showed up, the flight attendant’s bag was searched, and no snack box was found.
Several days later, the flight attendant was suspended for:
- assault
- bullying
- unlawful detention
She thought she would gain sympathy on reddit, but instead, she gained scorn.
It isn’t clear what airline the flight attendant worked for, but the only three “major” airlines that sell snack boxes are Alaska, Delta, and United.
Her Conduct Was Worse Than The Crime (That May Never Have Occurred)
You know why this story is believable? Because I’ve interacted with people like this across many industries throughout my life. Some people believe that they must be judge, jury, and executioner and far too many people do not know how to mind their own business.
Let’s assume the flight attendant had stolen the snack box. Ok, you can file a report…but it’s not your job to stop this theft. Because if you get hurt or cause injury to other, you create a far bigger problem than the theft. That’s why retail employees are instructed to let thieves steal. It’s a bad solution, but a better solution than the alternatives.
Here, the flight attendant didn’t even have the sack box! If you’re going to accuse someone of being a thief, you better make sure you’re correct. As One Mile At A Time points out, “Perhaps the craziest part of this story is that this is the flight attendant’s own version of events. Like, if someone told this story from the perspective of the other flight attendant, most of us would probably say “there must be more to the story.” But this is the flight attendant’s own version of events, and she doesn’t see what’s wrong with her actions?!”
Yep. That is the craziest part of this story.
There’s just no basis for her conduct and her actions were totally disproportionate to the situation, even if she had seen the flight attendant stick the snack box in her bag with her own eyes.
CONCLUSION
I do think flight attendants should be held accountable for stealing water bottles and snack boxes, but come on now…this vigilantism was over-the-top. It comes down to judgment and I would never want an employee who so poorly overreacted, as we see here. It’s one thing to look out for your company, but that does not mean that you can assault or unlawfully detain a colleague on mere suspicion of wrongdoing. This flight attendant should be fired based on her own version of events.
Hat Tip: PYOK
Clearly she has gone crackers.
Fake claim . Never could have happened . Airlines have always been good with the FAs eating extra food .
Anyhow , when friends or neighbor drop by , I have an “open kitchen” and an “open bar” for anyone who is a friend .
As a retired Flight Attendant who flew briefly for one of the “snack box” afore mentioned airlines, I have to say that this story is actually believable, as sad as it is. When I was in training one of the Flight Attendants on one of my training flights gave me a snack box from her cart. I was grateful, but I ended up not eating it on the flight, and I put it in my flight bag. Later, back in the classroom, I took it out on one of our breaks, with the intention of eating it. One of the Instructors saw it, and asked me if I had taken it off the plane. I said no, because I didn’t take it – a Flight Attendant gave it to me. And if I thought I would get into trouble for eating it, I never would have taken it out of my bag – I’m not stupid. And I wasn’t being sneaky about it – I didn’t steal it, after all! But that particular airline has a rule about “fresh” food not being taken off of the aircraft. I honestly didn’t understand what food was considered “fresh” since everything was packaged except for First Class meals, and it was kind of confusing. And at any rate, I didn’t think I had done anything wrong. But the Instructor reported it to the Supervisor, and I was called in and written up for the incident; and I was nearly released from Training because of it. I never felt so humiliated in my entire career, and why? Over a snack box? It was kind of ridiculous in my opinion. But I can totally see this scenario happening. Some airlines do have strict rules about their snack boxes!!!
Btw, I flew for a different legacy airline, where I was given commendations, and I never had a bad on the job incident. But snack boxes still give me PTSD lol!
Thanks for sharing your story.
Which Airline is this?, so we can avoid Control Freak Lead FA’s…..Psychiatry vacation for this FA lol. People like this should never be FA, they are fearful insecure control freaks and a danger to all on board.
C’mon now. Unless they are stuffing their bags with food/drinks, there should be no discipline. A snack box is what, $10? Which is probably about $3 of actual value. Everyone takes office supplies now and then
I’m not a supporter of “small theft is ok” claim. What, I can steal a towel from the hotel but not the coffee maker? How about just don’t steal?
I fly a fair amount and at least at the US airlines, most FA, don’t exactly love the airline they work for, let alone care what their co-workers do or don’t do.
I just don’t see the story being real, I guess anything is possible, my last UA flight, the FA working my side of the aisle would have rather been anywhere else than working a flight.
Catching a co-workers stealing would have been too much effort for this FA who found bringing the already low quality UA Polaris meals to passengers seats too much work.
This is yet another bogus Reddit article. I’m surprised Matt posted about it.
Is it? Why do you say that?
Plenty of times a FA gave us goodie bags to go. (Granted we were flying first or business) like a bag of snacks for our son, cookies, or a “mother’s helper” bag of a bottle of wine and nuts.
It’s crazy to that the FA went bonkers on a co worker. Who is to say the other FA didn’t give the box to a passenger?
Reminds me of my airline employment days. There was a story about a F/A offering a ground employee an uneaten dessert off a flight. He accepted it and was subsequently terminated. What an atmosphere to know that your co-workers might not only rat on you but also be directly complicit in busting you. Although I believe in complying with company policies, I find it contributes to a demoralizing environment and it negatively affected whatever ‘loyalty’ I might have had for the company.
Matthew, you are better than simply writing about the same things Ben writes about.
We’ve been friends for 20 years and are often intersted in the same things. Ben’s a full-time blogger and I’m a part-time blogger and he lives in Florida and I live in LA, so he often gets to issues before I do. But it’s not just “copying” him but writing about what I find interesting.