On Mother's Day 2012 I attended a training day all cabin crew were sent to . The morning consisted of a pretty skinny blonde manager telling us how the media twist things - the weekend Australian supplement the day prior even had a full front page picture of the leader with the caption "Union Busting Thug or Fearless Corporate Hero" . We were reminded how amazing QF is. The afternoon consisted of a guy who was outsourced who spent a couple of hours teaching us how to deal with passenger s concerns without apologizing - under no circumstances should we say "sorry" . We were broken into small groups and given 3 scenarios to handle without using those Magic little words . I was already highly stressed after raising lots of safety , ohs, and service issues and being ignored, plus the grounding had really affected me. And seniority was affecting me adversely (fatigue, lack of life balance, occasional bullying etc etc). I resigned the next day after 22 years . The very end of the mothers day training was an emotional rendition of a Katy Perry song (which I had till that moment really liked) while we all stood around a big glass dome lava lamp thingy . I cried on the flight back home that night, and in the car driving home, and then a fair bit more. I just knew I couldn't keep working for a company that did not give a rats about things that I believed were so important . And then I had a breakdown because I cared too much - and leaving after 22 years was like leaving a bad marriage - still very hard. As my friend the ex British submariner likes to say they sent me off to the basket weaving course.
Anyway , the culture created by management does not not encourage caring . It's crap, but it's the truth . I'm now working in a different field altogether which Is much better for my health. And I do yoga and mindfulness a lot.
Saying that there are a huge amount of wonderful crew who do an amazing job under often challenging circumstances . There are also some who don't give a rats , why should they , management don't. Plus it can be bad for their health.
Last edited by LHLisa; 18th Jul 2015 at 21:24.
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