| Table of Contents Being Cabin Crew | The Ugly Truth Part 2 Page 1 – When Employees Tell Lies Page 2 – A Hideous Bunch of Misfits Page 3 – Bart’s Performance Feedback Page 4 – Quite Why… Page 5 – Cabin Crew Managers Being Cabin Crew | The Ugly Truth Part 4 |
When Employees Tell Lies
Shortly after writing chapter one, I posted a link to my blog on a Facebook group widely used by current and former cabin crew of this airline. It attracted significant interest, but the moderators didn’t feel it was appropriate for the page.
Before being removed, crew member Peter posted a comment. I replied, but the entire thread was deleted soon after. At the time of our flight to Atlanta, Peter had been flying with the company for six months and had never flown as Cabin Crew before. He was upset at what I’d written in chapter one of my blog and said, “A man is doing a blog about being bullied and attacked whilst attacking and bullying people who were only asked to do a witness statement. The situation was nothing to do with me yet he felt the need to slander my name. Things that have been written about me are hurtful and upsetting and I was only being honest and truthful.”
You may recall from the previous chapter that Peter stated in his witness statement that Mia “mentioned” I had been “quite physical on a few occasions,” yet that didn’t correspond with what she said in her own statement. Considering she had “mentioned” this to Peter, you would have thought she would also have said something to Tommy, who was her supervisor on that flight.
The following extracts are from Mia’s witness statement:
When Mia came to the front to help out in First on our return flight to Heathrow, I asked her to work with Bart on the right aisle. He was lagging behind Lottie and Claire, who were also in First, and was struggling to keep up with the service. Mia helped on Bart’s aisle until the dinner service was finished.
As well as being best friends with Peter, Mia was also friends with Anna and Tommy, and Tommy was friends with Anna. All four worked together from the back galley on two nine-hour flights.
In question fourteen, Mia confirms she worked in First Class alongside Bart, yet in question eighteen, states she did not work at the front. Question twenty is one of several leading questions included in witness statements compiled by Cabin Crew Manager Lana. It implies that physical touching took place, thereby prompting the respondent to give an answer that supports that.
Mia claimed that she didn’t find me particularly approachable, yet on our outbound sector to Atlanta, I did a drinks service with her in Economy. I noted she had a nice manner with customers, which I spoke to her about when we returned to the galley after the service. Her response to question thirteen indicates she has no recollection of that.
At breakfast on Christmas morning in the hotel, she and a friend she had brought with her on the trip sat across from me. Both were friendly and chatty. We were seated at a long table with several empty places, so they could have chosen to sit elsewhere.
On our inbound flight to Heathrow, while helping us finish the service in First Class, Mia approached me at the bar to show me the Christmas dinner. She’s the crew member holding the tray in the photo I included in an earlier chapter. If she didn’t find me approachable, she could have spoken to Katrina who was the Purser in the cabin and was running the service.
On the flight out to Atlanta, I moved Bart into Premium to work with Ven because First Class was quiet, so we didn’t need so many crew. One crew member usually works in Premium, but with Bart helping Ven, there were now two. The Premium cabin was full.
In her response to question 15, Mia says she remembers Bart helping in Economy on the outbound flight. The Economy cabin was half-empty, so the crew didn’t need any help. I did the mid-flight drinks service with Mia because, as the Flight Manager, it was part of my role to oversee the service, and I always tried to work with as many of the crew as possible.
I find it strange that she remembers Bart being in Economy, even though there was nothing for him to do there, yet has no recollection of the drinks service that we did together or our conversation afterwards in the galley. Furthermore, Mia and Bart were on opposite rest breaks, so for three hours, she wouldn’t have known what Bart was doing. Before the breaks start and after they finish, services are being delivered in all three cabins, so it wouldn’t have been possible for Bart to assist in Economy because he would have been serving Premium.
In correspondence exchanged with another manager after this flight, before being advised of Bart’s grievance, I complimented the standard of Mia’s work and said she had a bright future in the company. You’ll get to see that email in a later chapter.
The inbound flight to Heathrow on Christmas Day evening was full. When Tommy called me to say they had finished the service in Economy, I asked him to send a couple of crew members to the front to help us finish in First. He arrived a few minutes later with Mia and Anna, leaving just two crew in a full Economy cabin. With seven of us already working from a small front galley, I didn’t need three people.
I asked Anna to return to Economy, Mia to help Bart on the right aisle, and Tommy to remove crockery and glasses that customers no longer needed. Despite so many of us working together in a small and confined area, according to witness statements, nobody saw me or was aware of me touching Mia’s leg or anyone else inappropriately.
If the incident involving Mia had genuinely happened, why didn’t she mention it to anyone? And if a man old enough to be her father touched her leg, having then learned some months later that he also allegedly touched other crew members, why wouldn’t you want it to be addressed?
I also find Mia’s choice of words very interesting. She says Bart was “engaging with all passengers to get the service delivered.” When asked about his engagement with customers, why didn’t she say he was chatty and friendly, or very professional, or something similar?
In the performance feedback that I wrote on Bart, I said that while observing him from across the aisle in Premium during the afternoon tea service on the outbound flight, I noticed that he was serving people methodically but not engaging with them. Ironically, in a Voice of the Customer feedback questionnaire from our inbound flight to Heathrow, a customer who was sitting in Economy wrote, “The stewardess was professional, just not very engaging.”
I included this comment in the email that I sent to the Economy crew after the flight. Bart was not included in the correspondence because he didn’t work in Economy. I didn’t mention the comment in Bart’s written feedback because it wasn’t relevant to him, so the only way he could have known about it was by reading Anna’s email. I’ll talk more about that in a later chapter.
Regarding Mia’s comment about me looking stressed, the reason was that the service wasn’t running smoothly, the cabin was a mess, the galley was chaotic, food was being presented like it was school dinners, and Bart was lagging way behind his colleagues.
With it being a night flight, I wanted to get the service finished so the cabin lights could be turned off and people could go to sleep. As lovely as she was, Katrina was struggling with the role of Purser, and due to many other factors that were out of her control, the service was falling apart.
The role of Purser is not just an additional pair of hands. It involves leading and directing the service to ensure it flows well, nothing is missed, and customers receive excellent service. In nineteen years of being a Flight Manager, I had never seen anything like this, even when working with an entire team of cabin crew who had worked previously in First Class.
Despite many years of onboard managerial experience with her previous airline, which was charter, this was a completely different environment from what Katrina was used to. Although I was supporting her as much as I could, which she confirmed in her witness statement, I didn’t want to take over completely.
In the midst of all this chaos, Mia claims I touched her leg and thought I had “dropped something or was having a laugh.” Does she think saying, “I don’t wish for this to be taken further”, exonerates her for telling a malicious lie?
In Bart’s witness statement, he says, “Laurence constantly touched me and other crew members on or below the hips. Excessive and unwanted touching especially by a manager who has not created good rapport was not welcomed and was commented on by many members of the crew.”
In Anna’s statement, she said, “I witnessed Laurence touch crew member Bart below the hips while negotiating a tight work place. Crew member Bart looked uncomfortable with Laurence’s hand placement as his posture straightened and he looked surprised. Laurence also touched me below the hips and it made me uncomfortable.”
Upon arriving at the front galley with Tommy and Mia to help us finish the service in First, Anna was present for just a few minutes before I asked her to go back to Economy. Despite eight crew members confirming in their witness statements that they didn’t see any inappropriate touching or were even aware of this behaviour, Cabin Crew Managers Lana and Hayley and the Head of Cabin Crew, who heard my appeal, upheld the complaint.
Peter was the only other crew member who claimed he was aware of me touching another, that person was his best friend Mia, yet his comment contradicted what Mia said in her own statement. Bruce, who worked in the First Class galley, and a crew member in Economy failed to return their statements.
I mentioned earlier that Anna also came from a police background. Given recent events involving the police in the UK, it’s evident that there’s a serious problem with corruption, abuse of power, and serial offending within the force. I can’t help but wonder how many innocent people Bart framed during his time as a serving officer in the north of England.
Think back to Ven’s statement in which he said he was called out for the flight and didn’t know anyone on the crew. In this next photo, you’ll notice his arm draped around Peter’s shoulder, and Peter’s arm is around Ven’s waist.
In Ven’s witness statement he wrote (quoted verbatim), “He (meaning me, Laurence) is quite touchy feels which is really uncomfortable on the recovering end. I would get a squeeze round my waste. It made me feel very uncomfortable.”
Here’s another statement from Bart’s grievance:
“Laurence constantly touched me and other crew members on or below the hips. I’m not a touchy feely person and this action made me very uncomfortable.”
Notice how Bart and Ven both use the words “touchy-feely, and Bart, Anna, and Ven also say my alleged behaviour made them feel uncomfortable or very uncomfortable. Yet despite Bart claiming that my behaviour was commented on by many crew members, only Peter and Anna stated they had seen or were aware of any inappropriate touching.
Regarding Ven’s allegation that I squeezed his waist, think about that for a moment. How do you squeeze someone’s waist? In this photo, is he squeezing Peter’s waist? They both look very happy, considering they had met less than twenty-four hours ago and hadn’t worked anywhere near each other on our flight to Atlanta.
My hands are firmly in my pockets.
I look so tired in this photo. Having spoken to my dad before leaving my room, I could hear he really wasn’t well. I could only hope he would still be alive when I arrived home. He passed away a week later.
My dad lived with me since my mum died in 2010. I was his carer for almost nine years. He was now in a wonderful care home, was relatively happy and was being well looked after.
Little did I know when I left Atlanta on this Christmas Day afternoon in 2018 with a seemingly happy bunch of people that my life would never be the same again.
At breakfast in the hotel on Christmas morning, the friend who came on the trip to Atlanta with Peter, sat next to me. Neither Peter or Ven came down. When I asked if she had slept well, she confirmed that she had and said Peter didn’t come back last night, so she had the room to herself. Peter, Ven, and several other crew members went out after dinner to a karaoke bar. I mention this because of something that Peter said in his witness statement that Ven also mentioned in his. During both sectors of our flight, Peter and Ven worked at opposite ends of a very long aircraft, so spent no time together.
In his comment on Facebook regarding my blog, Peter said, “I would never lie maliciously to hurt someone.” This line comes from his witness statement:
“Laurence spent a lot of time in the flight deck.”
Were this to be true, it would have been extremely damaging because it implies that I was skiiving instead of being in the cabin with my crew. By making this statement, Peter knew exactly what he was doing.
The comment can only refer to the inbound sector because the outbound flight was half-empty and very quiet. I didn’t see Peter at the front of the aircraft once on either sector. In his witness statement, he states several times that we saw very little of each other during both flights. Therefore, he can’t possibly know what I did with my time.
The only other person who commented on my presence in the cabin was Ven. Bart didn’t even mention it in his complaint because he would have known it would have been denied if the company spoke to any of the crew working alongside us in First.
This comes from Ven’s witness statement:
It seems very clear why Peter wrote what he did. So much for “only being honest and truthful”. This is from his Instagram page:
Ven worked position CM7 (CM = Crew Member) which looks after ‘Premium’ and works from the front galley. On our inbound sector, after he finished the service in that cabin, I asked him to help in First.
According to a response in his witness statement, as well as working in Premium, he also did the First Class Purser position and even did some aspects of my role, which was Flight Manager. Anyone who has flown as Cabin Crew for this airline, and particularly with me, will see through his absurd lies. He was the same rank as the other eleven crew members and wasn’t even the most senior. Since returning to work after COVID-19, Ven has been promoted to Purser.
The following screenshot comes from documents submitted as part of my defence. The blue text is the question asked by Cabin Crew Manager Lana in witness statements. Ven’s response is orange, my response is black.
Ven seems to think he worked the First Class Purser position because he helped out in First, but that is what the crew member working in that position is supposed to do. I also asked him to show Katrina how to do the drinks bar paperwork for Customs. I asked him because he was free at the time and I was busy. It’s called teamwork, something that Ven doesn’t seem to understand.
Regarding his comment about making an announcement when the seatbelt signs were illuminated, only the Purser or Flight Manager makes routine non-emergency cabin announcements. They can delegate them to someone else if they wish.
During the flight, the Purser working at the back in Economy is responsible for making announcements regarding the seatbelt signs for turbulence. Although very few announcements are made on night flights, one must be made the first time the signs are illuminated. If not done within a few minutes, the First Class Purser or Flight Manager will do it instead.
With there being three onboard managers on this flight, even though Tommy and Katrina were working up, Ven claims that he made the announcement because “due to lack of experience it wasn’t made.” All cabin crew know exactly who makes onboard announcements.
You may recall that Ven also claimed in his witness statement that I didn’t make a welcome announcement after take-off. In Bart’s grievance and Anna’s witness statement, they criticised the way I made that announcement. Bart’s complaint regarding my onboard announcements is the reason for this question in witness statements:
“Please share any observations on Flight Manager Laurence’s PA’s.”
Considering Ven believes he was working as First Class Purser and also did parts of my position as Flight Manager while also looking after thirty-eight people in the Premium cabin, I’m surprised he didn’t claim to have made the after-take-off announcement himself. After all, this ignorant, deceitful, and deluded buffoon believes he went over the head of all three onboard managers and made an announcement because it wasn’t made.
No cabin crew member that I have ever flown with in nineteen years as a Flight Manager has made an announcement regarding the seatbelt signs without checking with an onboard manager that it’s okay to do so. It’s just the way things work in this company. Each crew member has their own duties and responsibilities, and the vast majority of cabin crew on the aircraft know exactly what they’re doing and what’s expected of them.
As part of my role, I was responsible for ensuring that all safety and service procedures were followed. In witness statements written by Mia, Anna, and Ven, all three describe me as a strict manager. Yet Ven claims he went over my head and made an announcement that, realistically, would have been made either by Tommy or myself.
If Ven had genuinely done this, you can be sure it would have been mentioned by Bart in his grievance and by Anna in her witness statement. Needless to say, it wasn’t, nor was it mentioned by anyone else.
Ven cites “lack of experience” as being the reason he was forced to make the announcement. He also says “he (Laurence) should have taken charge but didn’t.” That’s a strange comment considering Bart accused me of being a bully and of overbearing supervision, and Tommy accused me of being a micro-manager.
I joined this company when I was twenty-three and had been flying for almost thirty years, nineteen as Flight Manager. Katrina and Claire had both flown previously for thirty years, twenty as Flight Managers. Lottie had been with the airline for eight years, and Tommy who was working as Economy Purser for about four.
An announcement regarding the seatbelt signs is a standard company procedure and a requirement laid down by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. It’s highly unusual for seatbelt signs not to be illuminated for turbulence at least once on every flight. The announcement to ask customers to fasten their seatbelts is always made by an onboard manager.
I never considered myself a strict manager. I expected a high standard of service and wanted it delivered in accordance with the company’s Service Procedures Manual, which is how services are usually delivered. There are Flight Managers in this company who are far stricter than me. Flight Managers who would never have allowed Ven and Katrina to sit at the First Class bar during the flight while surrounded by First Class customers.
In minutes taken during his meeting with Cabin Crew Manager Lana, Bart states he wasn’t happy because he wasn’t given the opportunity to work up as Purser. He wasn’t able to do his own job properly, let alone run a service and manage a team of crew. In fact, on our inbound flight to Heathrow, I compensated a First Class customer because Bart had woken him at the start of the breakfast service but didn’t go back to serve him. The customer was left waiting with nothing on the table in front of him throughout the service. Once breakfast had finished, he came to find me and complained about Bart, addressing him by name.
I spoke to Bart immediately to establish what had happened. Upon asking how the service had been done, he told me that he initially woke everyone up on his side who was having breakfast, then converted their beds back to the upright seat position, and then started serving each customer their breakfast. I informed him that’s not the way the service is done.
The Flight Manager is required to do the breakfast service in the Premium cabin, so they’re not present in First Class during this service.
In his grievance, Bart told more lies about why the customer was missed out. He refused to take any responsibility for something that was his mistake and instead blamed his colleagues.
Despite Peter saying that he saw so little of me during both sectors and during our layover in Atlanta, he then says, “He (Laurence) came across professional towards customers, but to crew, I feel he came across unapproachable and not so professional. His attitude made me feel awkward around him.”
On our outbound flight, while half the crew were on their rest break, I went to the back galley to check that everything was okay. Upon finding Peter there alone, we spoke for about ten minutes. He told me that he was best friends with Mia and that she had persuaded him to apply for this job. He told me he also worked in a gym.
Making conversation wasn’t easy, which I found surprising because most cabin crew can make conversation with anyone. I put it down to the age gap and the fact that he was still very new. Peter was in his early twenties, I’m in my fifties. That was the only time we spoke one-on-one or spent any time alone.
During my time in the company, I had many great conversations with crew members far younger than me. It never felt uncomfortable, and as far as I’m aware, I didn’t make them feel awkward.
In response to another question, Peter says, “I don’t feel he took his time to engage with his crew.” In another, “If I’m honest I didn’t find Laurence approachable in the slightest, mostly because of his (pre-flight) briefing and he didn’t take much time to engage with myself.”
Here’s his answer to another question:
“Please share any other information you feel may be relevant to the performance and behaviour of Laurence and crew member Bart on this duty.”
“He (Laurence) also sent an email to all the crew regarding the flight and Voice of Customer which was very unnecessary and long.” Voice of the Customer refers to the post-flight questionnaires completed by customers after the flight in which they score their experience during the flight and the performance of the cabin crew. Bear in mind Peter had only been with the airline for six months and had never flown as crew previously.
The email he’s referring to was only sent to the crew working in Economy, plus Tommy, who worked up a rank as Purser.
I always took a keen interest in my performance and development and was concerned that my scores had dropped slightly in the previous month. Even though I was still above average, I wanted to get them up as quickly as possible. Throughout my time with the company, I tried to perform at an optimal level.
During the Pre-Flight briefing for all flights back to the UK, the Flight Manager reads out the Voice of the Customer scores and comments from the outbound sector. However, the scores and comments from the inbound flight can’t be shared in the same way because, after landing, we all go home, and our next flight is with a different crew.
Therefore, the day after we landed home, having seen the comments from our inbound flight from Atlanta, with Tommy working up in a supervisory role and the other crew members still being in or just out of probation, I thought it would be a nice idea to share them by email. The Cabin Crew do not have access to the Voice of the Customer app.
I was initially only going to email Tommy because I thought he might be interested, especially because he had recently been turned down for promotion. But I then decided to include the four crew members who worked alongside him. I also sent a copy to each of their managers, plus my own.
Just one Cabin Crew Manager replied. Here’s our correspondence:
‘OBM’ is Onboard Manager, ‘MPD’ is Manager Performance and Development which is a ground-based Cabin Crew Manager. T is Tommy, who worked up as Economy Purser.
When Mia checked in for her next flight on Friday, December 28, 2018, coincidentally with Bart’s fiancée, Anna and also Lottie, she and Anna complained about me to a Cabin Crew Manager. In her witness statement, Anna states they complained about my “behaviour”, but as you may recall from an earlier chapter, having spoken to that Cabin Crew Manager, she confirmed the only thing they complained about was the email they received from me on their days off.
Upon landing in Boston on Friday 28th December, Mia sent this email.
Almost four months later, when asked to complete a witness statement regarding Bart’s grievance, she said she didn’t find me particularly approachable and accused me of touching her leg.
Tommy didn’t reply, which surprised me because I said in the email, “Tommy did an outstanding job working up.” When I spoke with him at Cabin Crew Check-In at Heathrow prior to our flight, he told me he had just applied for promotion to Purser but had not been successful. I said working up on this flight would be a good experience.
When Peter speaks about Bart in his witness statement, his tone changes completely. Peter and Bart worked at opposite ends of the aircraft, Bart spent no time in Economy and I didn’t see Peter at the front of the aircraft once on either sector.
Bart had no reason to help in Economy on the outbound flight because the cabin was half-empty, and on the inbound, he was far too busy in First Class.
In this next extract, which comes from Anna’s witness statement, although she says she spoke with Cabin Crew Manager Julie on the 27th, it was the 28th.
The emails Anna refers to were not included in the paperwork I received as part of the outcome of the initial investigation. Therefore, I’m unaware of their content.
The following screenshot comes from evidence that I submitted as part of my defence:
This next screenshot comes from Lottie’s witness statement. She had been with the company for eight years, so was the longest-serving crew member after me. Her statement was honest and relatively accurate, considering that she received it almost four months after our flight to Atlanta. I could find no evidence to suggest that Bart colluded with her, Claire or Katrina, all of whom worked alongside him and me in First Class.
From what Lottie has said, you can imagine what Anna and Mia said about the content of my email. Her comment about me laughing and joking with the crew refers to me touching Ven’s ankle while I was sweeping the carpet. The email was only sent to the crew working in Economy because the Voice of the Customer feedback was only relevant to them.
I want to close this chapter by sharing the email that I wrote. I appreciate that it’s longer than it could have been, but at the time of writing, I wasn’t in a great place mentally. My dad was just a few days away from the end of his life, it was a couple of days after Christmas, and I was home alone. Keeping myself busy with something work-related was a good distraction.
The purpose of the email was to share my experience with four young people who had been in the company for less than twelve months. Only Anna had flown previously for a short period of time. We left Atlanta on Christmas Day and flew home through the night.
VoC is the Voice of the Customer programme. These questionnaires are sent after customers land from their flight.
Peter and Mia thought my email was “unnecessary”, while Anna claimed it had a negative effect on her mental health and was a further attack from an overly critical Flight Manager.
Peter had been in the company for six months, Mia for just over a year and Anna for less than a year. Neither Peter or Mia had flown previously as Cabin Crew.
As you will see when I publish Anna’s witness statement, I had very little contact with her on either sector of the flight and didn’t socialise with her in Atlanta.
Being Cabin Crew | The Ugly Truth 