Terminology - What Gets Your Back Up?
Leading on from the topic of "How to Annoy SLF", there are certain terms used in the aviation industry (or any "customer service" industry come to that) almost guaranteed to irritate.
I think almost 100% of you would experience raised hackles if you overheard yourself being referred to as a "PUNTER", wouldn't you? (Yet in organisations around the country, this is often how we're referred to as soon as they think we're out of earshot!)
Personally, I hate the word "Passenger" with a vengeance. This comes of working years ago for Post Office Telephones (now BT) as a "Buscon (business connections) salesman". We had an obese, obnoxious and arrogant individual as our Sales Manager who used to go into a fit of apopleptic fury in sales meetings and one of his favourite rants used to be:
"THERE'S NO ROOM FOR PASSENGERS IN THIS BUSINESS!"
(Meaning salesmen who weren't pulling their weight and achieving targets.)
So, when I do my PA calls at Gatwick, I usually ask for "customers". However, I overheard a remark the other day that "everyone says "customers" these days. It sounds so patronising!"
So, what terms really hack you off???