But you had a full engagement with an opposing view, without feeling bullied by a bag tag.
The crew member in question probably thought that you had taken BA's 13 pieces of silver. But the conversations you had and will have again, will be the cure. Much is said about the right to manage, but peer to peer engagement will move this on.
I think I will just say engagement again, just to engage those that are not engaged.
Before I start Litebulbs, may I say you are a real beacon of light on this CC and the SLF thread. You come out with real, honest facts, not rhetoric, myths, untruths etc. Thankyou. Also to Bettygirl for a fantastic and truthful insight.
However ( there had to be a however!! ), I have to disagree with you here. Please tell me if I'm wrong, but did I pick up from somewhere that you used to be BA CC a few years ago. If so, you will realise that with some crew, it's completely IMPOSSIBLE to explain anything to them if its the opposite of what they are thinking. I have spent literally hours and hours with individuals explaining like BG, OG and others all kinds of things, all of which had one major thing in common, in that they were all FACTS. It was in 99% of cases a total waste of time.
I'd like to share with you all a couple of true stories that I believe sum up what is the 'thinking' of most of the Bassa 'team'.
The first happened last summer. I was on a long day trip and the person working with me at the front ( last position to go - I'm quite used to it now and don't take it personally!! ) had flown with BA around 18 months and was not even 22 years old. They had a Bassa lanyard on for all to see in the briefing room but not a name badge in sight, not on their jacket or blouse/shirt. We had a few crewing problems, so I was unable to speak to them until we were on the a/c. I explained that the lanyard was unacceptable to which they counteracted with ' nobody has said anything to me before' (Yawn) This was when the wearing of the lanyards was rife. I asked them to turn it around, and get it changed ASAP. But why no name badges? 'I've lost them ALL, and didn't think to replace any, even when the first was lost' Yet as I explained to them,they had been PROACTIVE enough to go down to Bassa office to get a lanyard. The sad thing was, they really didn't get the irony of what they had done.
We talked about the ongoing dispute and they freely admitted they knew little of what was going on, but had DECIDED to SUPPORT Bassa unconditionally anyway. Why I asked. Because I have had two part time jobs since leaving school, and in both, I have had horrible managers who intimidated and bullied me (her words). I feel my manager in BA is the same as these two and thus I need Bassa 'for protection'. Remember this person had been with BA for 18 months and was not yet 22
Was this a one-off. Very sadly no. How does this happen - who knows. But perhaps the following will explain a little.
My second story is about a lovely crew member who I flew with on a 3 day trip around 3-4 years ago. They had been with a lo-cost carrier for 2 years and BA for 2 as well. ( They were in their mid 20's) We chatted about the differences between the companies and the attitudes of the crews. They were gobsmacked at how SO many crew in BA seemed workshy and would do anything to get out of any extra work either on board or working flights. 'I tell you, they said, they would last 5 mins (thats a real 5mins not a Bassa 5 mins), working for a lo-cost airline'. They explained about if we were doing a link ( A there and back to eg GVA after a nightstop) how a lot would try anything to get out of it even though it was worth money. ( This was in the last year before we moved to T5, when pretty much everything was late into T1/T4 if you all remember). After much conversation, I asked them why THEY thought this happened. ' Oh its very simple. There's simply NO FEAR in BA. I've noticed crew can pretty much do as they want within or even sometimes not within reason, whether it be uniform standards, work on board, talking or dealing with customers, pilots,ops, scheduling, their SCCM, cabin crew managers etc etc. They are on their own agenda, in fact its as though they are self-employed.'
They reiterated that they didn't mean or advocate 'managing by fear',
far from it, but simply a lot of crew had no fear of pretty much anything detrimental happening to them. But why I asked.
They laughed, and simply said BASSA!
Bassa was their daddy, and if they had ANY problems, Bassa would and did sort it out.
WOW!!. I WAS TOTALLY GOBSMACKED. Here was someone in their mid 20's who had summed up to me perfectly IMHO what the the problem was. For years I had tried to work it out and here was the simple answer.
So Litebulbs, I admire your idea but I'm sorry, NO, its too late ( for me anyway)
I want to make something VERY CLEAR before I go. We have mostly great crew, but sadly we do have a reasonable number who fall into the above bracket.
Finally I apologise for rambling on, but I've thought for a long time about posting this thread. I thought this gave me the opportunity.
PS. I've just reread this twice and it makes me very sad and even upset. It just didn't ever have to come to this, but thanks mostly to DH it has. That individual ( I refuse to call him a man) has a lot to answer for.
JT