| Table of Contents Page 1 – Cabin Crew Mental Health Page 1 – Allegations of Inappropriate Touching Page 2 – Behind the Galley Curtain Page 2 – Dealing with the Grievance Page 2 – Stupidity Ignorance or Both? Page 3 – Workplace Mental Health Page 4 – Ex Police Officer now Cabin Crew Being Cabin Crew | The Ugly Truth Part 2 |
Ex Police Officer now Cabin Crew
As an onboard manager I always carried out my duties with pride and in a confident and professional manner. I believed in myself, loved working for what I believed was a great airline and always tried to represent them to the highest standard.
With there only being one Flight Manager on the aircraft we would rarely get the opportunity to see how colleagues of the same rank worked. Occasionally we would be rostered a flight out of rank.
The way some onboard services were delivered and how hard the Flight Manager worked varied greatly. With this rank being the smallest the cabin crew generally knew most of us and knew who was nice to fly with and who could be more difficult.
From what I heard and from performance appraisals that were written on me I believe most people enjoyed flying with me. I worked hard, took care of the crew and was a fun and caring person.
With that said I expected a high standard of service and wasn’t afraid to give direction when required.
Today the airline is a different company to the one I joined in 1990. In recent years it was common to check in for a flight and not know anyone else on the crew. With us all flying with different people several times a month every month, relationships had to be built quickly.
You could check in for a flight not knowing anyone and come home a few days later feeling like you’d been away with a group of friends.
Of course not everyone gets along but in the most part cabin crew are a really nice bunch of people. The one thing they all have in common is they love a good gossip and there was never any shortage of it.
After being made redundant I learnt rumours were circulating regarding my flight with Bart. Having spent thirty years with this airline I wasn’t going to allow a pack of malicious lies from a crooked ex police officer to tarnish my reputation.
There wasn’t a shred of evidence to support Bart having been bullied or him or anyone else being touched inappropriately yet the allegations had been upheld.
The level of disrespect shown towards me by Bart in his complaint was off the scale. Bear in mind he had only been in the company for eleven months and was still in probation.
Having explained in his performance appraisal the correct way to deliver the service he argued that my version of service delivery was not correct.
I had been working in the First Class cabin in one rank or another since 1995. I had also been a Flight Manager for nineteen years. He had never flown as cabin crew previously.
According to the Service Procedures Manual, after take-off the crew working in this cabin ask each customer what they would like to drink from the bar menu.
Once drinks have been served they introduce themselves to their customers. During the introduction they explain how the seat operates and take an order for lunch/dinner.
Only a certain number of each meal choice is loaded so depending on what everyone chooses, some people may not be able to have their first choice.
So a customer can be told straight away if what they have asked for is not available the crew should be given a breakdown of meal choices from the galley. That way they know how many of each choice has been loaded.
For example if there are twenty customers and nine chicken, nine beef and nine fish meals have been loaded, the three aisle crew would each have an allocation of three of each. They cannot use more than their allocation. Once everyone has placed an order, whatever has not been used can then be offered to anyone who may not have received their first choice.
I liked this procedure and asked the crew to deliver the service in this way. On most flights however the crew would take all meal orders and hope there was enough to go around.
What usually happened was too many of one choice would be ordered. They would then have to go back to a customer to advise them they couldn’t have what they’d asked for.
One thing to bear in mind is the number of meals loaded was dependant on the number of customers. With fewer people in the cabin fewer meals would be loaded. If you had ten passengers you may only have fourteen meals.
On our flight to Atlanta we encountered a forty minute delay on the ground. Whilst standing at the open boarding door I could see Bart across the cabin going from seat to seat talking to his customers. I thought it was a nice touch.
What I didn’t realise was he was asking what they would like to drink after take-off and what they wanted to eat for lunch.
The service is led by the Purser. On flights with no Purser at the front it’s led by the Flight Manager. The way it’s delivered would only be changed upon instruction from them or from me as the Flight Manager. However it’s delivered, all three cabin crew begin whatever they’re doing at the same time. All aspects of the service run simultaneously.
Bart didn’t tell me, the Purser or either of his two colleagues what he was doing. It only became apparent after take-off when I asked them to start taking drinks orders.
Having seen his completed aisle order sheet I was surprised at what he had done. After telling him that’s not the way the service is delivered I explained how to do it correctly.
Drinks and meal orders are rarely taken before take-off. It occasionally happens (even though it shouldn’t) on flights that leave very late in the evening that are full. It would never ever be done on a nine hour flight leaving before midday especially in a half empty cabin.
The following screenshot comes from the performance appraisal I wrote on Bart. I was advising him of the correct way to deliver the service;
The blue font in this next screenshot comes from Bart’s complaint. The orange is my response to his comments. Both screenshots come from documentation I used in the grievance investigation.
The following also comes from his complaint. It gives you an idea of what kind of a person Bart is. This was only the beginning;
Bear in mind this was a forty minute delay so is far from “unusual circumstances”. Bart had been flying for eleven months and told me he had worked in this cabin many times before including in the galley.
Our flight to Atlanta was almost nine hours, there were twenty customers in the cabin. Looking after them were three cabin crew working in the aisles, one in the galley, a Flight Manager and a Purser. If things became really crazy the crew member working in Premium could also help out when they finished their service. Yet Bart stated he wanted to “save time in the air.”
The way the service is delivered is written in the Service Procedures Manual. If he had any questions about what he should be doing he could have asked me or Katrina who was working up as Purser. He could also have spoken with Lottie or Claire both of whom were working alongside him in the aisles. He spoke to nobody.
This next screenshot comes from minutes taken during my first meeting with the grievance investigation manager. He claims my comment in yellow which is from the performance appraisal I wrote on him is bullying because it’s an inappropriate/derogatory comment about his performance.
Part of my role as a Flight Manager (FM) was coaching and developing. I had been writing performance appraisals on cabin crew since being promoted to Purser in 1998. I was promoted to Flight Manager in 2001.
A constructive feedback comment advising someone the correct way of doing something is not inappropriate or derogatory. I had also spoken to him on the flight immediately after finding out what he had done.
The following screenshots are from evidence I submitted as part of my defence. The black text is from Bart’s complaint, blue is my response;
Of course as cabin crew you need to use your initiative but working as part of a team means working together and communicating with each other. On an aircraft services are delivered in a specific manner. If everyone did their own thing it would be chaos.
It’s true the service is sometimes changed but that comes from the Purser or Flight Manager. When something is being done differently everyone is advised. The crew don’t change the service because they think it’s a better way for it to be delivered.
Bart did his own thing because with Katrina working up as Purser he didn’t expect anyone to notice.
The following screenshot comes from the airline’s Service Procedures Manual. Bear in mind Bart has just stated that despite looking in depth through this manual he cannot see where it’s written about what to do during a delay or that a meal breakdown is required from the galley;
What you’ll see next is the “Table of Contents” I put together having decided to take this matter to an Industrial tribunal. You can also see how much evidence I put together to prove Bart and his accomplices were lying.
His complaint ultimately led to me losing my job. The points that were overturned in the grievance were done so because it was impossible for them to be upheld based on evidence I had submitted.
In addition to these 520 pages I also compiled a twelve page grievance against the company for the way the matter had been investigated. I then wrote individual grievances on crew members Bart, Anna, Mia, Peter and Ven.
Being Cabin Crew | The Ugly Truth 