Sacked for a Sandwich...
 

EasyJet air hostess was sacked because she ate bacon sandwich 'given by her manager' | Daily Mail Online

Words utterly fail me.

I'd love to see just how the same honesty policy applies to managers, senior managers, and CEO's, who are usually quite happy to constantly be in receipt of company largesse - with that often-substantial largesse rarely, or never sighted, by lower-ranking employees.

What a disgusting airline management practice, not to mention the morals of the "team member" who dobbed the hostie in. Sound a real fun place. I'd rather catch the bus than ever fly again with easyjet.

err - onetrack, the manager got fired too! Largesse isn't a common sight at Easyjet, one of the meanest companies in existence. You are clearly a stranger to Easyjet and it's ways if you think otherwise.

It has been well understood, I mean utterly and completely 100% understood for years that the EJ policy on pax food is you either buy it or are sacked for taking it, even if large quantities of it do go in the bin at the end of the day. Crew food on EJ is not only pretty poor but completely insufficient in quantity so at the end of a long day crew are famished. It is very hard to see boxfulls of bacon sarnies and croque monsieurs going into the bin at that point, but take one at your peril as there are sneaks everywhere, as this poor girl found out. One might hope that the sneak gets the treatment he/she deserves from colleagues - they certainly won't get the kudos they thought they were earning from management who seem to encourage this sort of behaviour. It doesn't make for a happy crew community. There seems to be an underculture of shopping colleagues apparently to curry favour with management and it isn't entirely limited to the cabin. To be fair there is also a much, much larger culture of outright systematic theft of inflight goods/cash which has prompted this policy. The annual figures for theft/embezzlement in the cabin are simply eye-watering (partly because EJ is such a huge company) so you can't really blame the company for trying to protect their interests.
So draconian is this policy that most Captains fear to instruct an issue of pax food even when crew catering does not materialise and prefer to operate in an unsafely unfed condition! That's how seriously people take it.
One feels sorry that a good crewmember loses their job for a five buck sandwich but everyone knows the rules. Everyone.

TA, I think it is pathetic to slam a company for trying to prevent six-figure theft per annum.
Clearly you do not which implies you condone workplace theft. I wonder what your employer (if you have one) makes of that?

Why shouldn't she be sacked for theft? :ugh:

You'd get sacked for this in any retail environment so why should on board an aircraft be any different?

As for crew being 'famished' by the end of their working day, perhaps they could adopt the concept of bringing a packed lunch like 99% of workers in the UK do :D :bored:

750, Packed lunch? I guess you are unfamiliar with the lifestyle of EJ crews making such a suggestion. There aren't enough hours in the day to shop for and make packed lunches.
Besides, it is provided contractually and aircrew notionally pay several hundred pounds per year for the quite inadequate crew food, they are severely short-changed for it imo. Why should they provide their own?

TA, the EJ "culture", if I may so misuse the word, is simple. It is PROFIT, PROFIT, PROFIT. They reckon to roughly break even on ticket revenue and the huge profits they make come almost entirely from ancilliary sales in which the trolleys play a large part. If crew eat the pax sarnies they aren't available for sale and the company, and indirectly the crews, lose money. Some grey-faced little gnome in an accounts office will do the usual multiplication and come out with a figure of £Millions of potential profit disappearing down crews' throats. Plus cc are paid a bonus based on the in-flight sales they make. If one or two scoff the stock the rest can't sell them and are disadvantaged.
If there were unlimited quantities of this stuff and it was handed out free there would be less of a problem, but it isn't. Quantities are very limited and often sell out. You can't have crew routinely helping themselves, can you? A line has to be drawn somewhere - you say"take something off the trolley". Where do we draw the line? A sandwich? Paco Rabanne? Chanel? Clearly the only sensible policy is None. Not that it stops the Paco Rabanne etc walking. No doubt the scale of that is reflected in the hard line the company takes to safeguard it's interests among the bacon butties. It is at least consistant.

noflynomore - No, I'm not familiar with Easyjets style of management, but I have noted the regular reference to their management and CEO as being mean-spirited.
To ban employees from taking food that is most likely going to be thrown away is mean-spirited in the extreme.

I'm coming from a position where I have employed a lot of people over a long period of time, and have employed up to 100 employees at the one time, but not in aviation.
Yes, control over employee pilfering is a big problem once your operation becomes sizeable - but company control procedures have to make allowances for petty pilfering, it goes on in every operation and is just a cost of doing business.

However, once pax have been served, and food is surplus, I see no reason why crew shouldn't be allowed access to the now-surplus food.
Hungry employees don't make for happy employees - and in the industries I've operated in, where employees are often working in remote locations, they are fed, and fed well - and often the good morale of an operation, and satisfactory performance by employees, hangs on the quality of the food supplied.

I note the judge in this case slammed Easyjet for its poor internal procedures and record-keeping, thus showing they are prepared to jump on minor infringements of company policy, but they are lax on putting clearly-outlined and defined procedures in place, to stop employee rorting.

If the lass in question had been filling a hamper with food to take home to family and friends - well, yes, that would definitely constitute a job-loss offence.

There's nothing more galling in the corporate arena than mean-spirited actions over food. Management and CEO's spend lavishly on corporate meals and entertainment functions - but deny their employees a bite when they're peckish?
Even during the depths of the Great Depression in the early 1930's, farm people would always provide a bite for hungry job seekers travelling the roads.
In my years operating in farming areas, a feed was nearly always on offer at virtually every farmhouse if you rolled up at mealtime, no matter if you weren't even an employee of the farmer.

EJ crew work no longer days/hours than millions of people across the UK, myself included, and I manage to find 2minutes in the morning to knock up a sandwich and packet of crisp for my 14 hour shifts :\

Similarly, Ryanair crew seem to have successfully survived over the years without crew food :}

If I was 'famished' by the end of my working day, I'd spend an extra few quid from my own pocket to ensure I don't starve to death :E

Just sums up 21st century Uk. Mean spirited profit obsessed company (there is a difference between making a decent profit and taking it too extremes) has procedures which are imposed without a seconds thought.
Ok this girl broke the rules but -to take advantage of another 21st century obsession-waste and the environment they condone a policy that means unused food should be thrown away -of course it should not so rather than trying to defend the girls actions if you want to have go at Ez highlight the anti environment policies of the company after all people don't count these days so no point in trying to take their side.

Iwas just becoming convinced to use EZ but if whats on this thread is true about the way they treat people then I will treat them the same way.

It is unbelievable, although the comment the Manager made about refusing Coffee really emphasised to me how draconian the Company is.

If crew fear instant dismissal (and likely a poor reference at best) for minor infractions (and this lets face it isn't major) what does that imply regarding morale?

Having worked for an Airline where such practices would have not raised an eyebrow and where the crews actually felt relaxed without looking over their shoulders I know where I stand.

The poor girl should have been given a verbal warning, probably would have scared her never to do such a thing again. But dismissal? Way out of line.

It seems to me she wasn't sacked for stealing the butty. She was sacked for failing to ask her manager (he who donated it) if he had a receipt for it. She may have done alright out of it though, with Easyjet "settling out of court".

The "culture" of this airline apparently stands out enough to even make it into scholarly articles: http://preview.tinyurl.com/h9x448d, table 3 (p. 91).

That was farcical really. That he wouldn't accept a hot drink without proof that his friend had purchased it... :ugh:

Surely a verbal or written warning on file could have done the job here? To part company with a trained experienced member of the EJ CC seems harsh. If she had been found with several of these items stashed in her crew bag then maybe......

Isn't it a bit odd trusting someone with a several million pound aircraft, but not a £4.50 sandwich?

I think this EasyJet policy is simple, logical, and entirely wrong - unless the aim is to make cc scared and frightened, which as we all know from human factors, makes for an attentive and creative employee (not)

not working with the paco raban though is it?

A few years back I was working for a well-known state owned organisation when I needed to make a domestic business trip. This was during a time when the senior management (and the public in general) wanted to see costs reduced and excesses severely curbed.

I'd selected a hotel (one of the cheapest at about £60/night) with my line manager and it turned out to be unavailable, the fellow from the corporate travel agency recommended one that was a few quid a night more, I said I'd need to check that with my manager.

Manager was fine with it, spoke to the corporate travel agent and he said to me, "you're being very honourable about this but there's really no need to be, I regularly see execs and the investment bankers from your place book hotels at £500/night just for parties".

Says a lot about modern society really.

From the 50's to the 90's a relative of mine worked at a well known brewery, all the employees got free gourmet food, there was a sports and social association complete with a company farm, there were Christmas events put on for the families of the employees. The employees were provided with quality housing owned by the company, rents were affordable and there was an option to purchase. One of the descendants of the founders was often found mucking in with the operations and this was one of the world's largest drinks producers.

Shame that this sort of thing has all but disappeared in favour of the bottom line.

Maybe because airport security is going to confiscate half the food they try to get on board ?

UK airport security is, in my short experience, the worst in the world. (worst=most ridiculously severe)

All's well that ends well I say. She is now able to go off and have her baby assisted by an undisclosed wedge from Easyjet. Even better in view of the fact that she has a nut allergy and no longer needs to work for a bunch of nuts.
What the hell would have been wrong with a written warning to personally emphasise the policy instead of sacking her requiring the recruitment and training of a replacement which will no doubt cost marginally more than an easyjet bacon butty.

Pour encourager les autres?

Yes, it's obvious that company policy at Easyjet is to continue the beatings until employee morale improves.

Stick to the rules and bring food that's allowed with you then?

Hundreds of thousands of airport workers across the UK manage to do so fine each day.

In BA there was/is a strict management policy that says staff on duty or leisure travel must refuse the offer of wash bags, amenities etc.

I was fortunate to travel on Concorde, which I'm sure you are aware, gave quite valuable gifts to customers on board.

Seated in front of me were two well known BA Directors when the wash bag and gifts were distributed by crew not only did they take them but actually asked the crew if they could have two each!

A classic case of 'do as I say not as I do'.

To me it seems the the flight manager should have been interviewed and at the end of the day something trivial as this they have had to splash out a large egg sandwich in cash to an employee I have flown many times with easy jet crew always fine but I would say to them watch your backs who you are flying with?

Quite simply, it does not revolve about carrying ppl by air anymore.
Don't know much about Ezy, but a large chunk of profits for Ryan comes from contributions by the airports they serve. Without them they'd probably fold. I really doubt they could turn a profit simply by selling tickets and filling the seats.

I am all for private operators making legitimate profits, but if this story is true they went way over the top.

All's well that ends well?.... What happened to the other member of staff involved?

750XL
 

Quite clearly you don't understand UK airport security, they make up the rules as they go along, what might be seen as perfectly innocent cheese & pickle sandwich at one airport would be considered to contain pickle , that is a sauce and therefore a liquid and therefore contraband at another airport.

Getting the average workers lunchbox through security is a minefield and if you protest they will try to take away your airport pass....... no pass no job.

This is one of the reasons airlines supply crew food.

A & C is correct.

I have seen a sealed tin of Weightwatchers beans being taken off a cabin crew member at Gatwick because it didn't state the water content on the side of the tin. It had just been through the scanner as well.

A homemade lasagne (in a Pyrex) got through ok though.

Meanwhile, thousands of bottles of water get waved through the security gate after a nominal check and a written confirmation that the load has been security packed at source.

That is what we are up against in the UK. Each UK Airport will have various views on how it applies the basic security rules.

Locals will know the local idiosyncrasies but it is much harder to keep up if you travel around the UK.

I know of bottled water removed from one guy driving a bowser full of fuel through the security gate!

Nutloose

How do we know the bottle of water, was in fact not a bottle of explosives :-)

Don't know how to input bangy head thingy

My airport has a list of allowed/disallowed items on the wall at all staff security points, why don't you ask your airport for a copy? Seems sensible to me

750 - Good idea, but most will tell that they do not disclose any security information. For example, someone might try to get beans in a tomato sauce past the Rsoles when in fact only Caneloni beans in brine are permitted. Such security breaches can not be permitted!

As an aside, I hope no security muppet ever asks for my help because I'll give them a full 20 years of abuse back in spades.

PM

One of the biggest threats to you're existence in Stalinist Russia was you're fellow citizen. The "diligent "crewmember on that flight would have been quite safe in such a regime, until the of course, the zealot replacement arrived.

For anyone to condone the actions of the employer and the informer is really just a representation of the climate of the state. To have ones livelihood and potentially future prospects ruined for consuming a discarded sandwich is grotesque.

We still live in age where children are being bombed out of existence, where atrocities are committed and condoned by state authorities......and people get people sacked for eating a f***ing sandwich.......!!!!

Going back a bit in the thread......
OK, here's how a very senior Ryanair executive explained it to me in the chat after a meeting, when I said I just couldn't understand how they got a better average yield than most "legacy" airlines, on the routes on which they competed.

"It's simple," he said, "we sell 20% of the aircraft at silly prices that make everyone think we have cheaper fares than anyone else. We don't even budget for that income. We sell 70% at prices around £30 - £40 per sector (this was more than 10 years ago) and we make a reasonable profit on that. Then we sell the last 10%, if we can, as "last-minute" fares to people who need to travel urgently, at up to £200 per seat. That income is pure bunce on the bottom line."

At that time they got less, proportionately to the ticket income, from other sources such as catering, punitive "fees", "priority" boarding, hold baggage etc etc than they do now. But I bet that just contributes to the bunce.

It would be interesting to know how much revenue locos make from inflight sales of food and drinks. Also is there a sale or return on used sandwiches and other persihables? That might explain why locos don't like crew eating the profits.

If I may, this is not an airline issue. It is entirely common that companies that offer catering have rules regarding employees taking food. It is entirely commonplace, that when someone "lifts" some food unathorised, sometime with extremely sound purpose, some asswipe jobesworth will shop them, because that's what asswipe jobsworths do.

Off the top of my head I can think of three instances I have personally witnessed...

A PT in a gym, took an orange...and gave it to a customer!!...sacked.

A burgerflipper, took a burger and gave it free to mate...sacked.

A team of department store fitters, took some dried up food, past midnight, because they had been left nothing to eat, on an all night job. Not sacked because a director stepped in and offered to sack the fkn jobsworth who reported them instead.

That's the greedy, sucky, profits-for-the-board, fkd up world we live in now.

And judging by democracy's latest finest hour, it's world a lot of people are happy to live in.

What is this about "jobsworth"?

It has been made abundantly clear over a decade or more that consumption of pax supplies is a sackable offence. How or why could this suddenly become a debatable matter once one is caught? What sort of logic makes it desirable or necessary to allow a red-handed thief a second chance?

Who assumed the stuff was destined for the bin? If another sector was to be flown this is a good that can no longer be sold for profit. The implication is surely obvious.

Even at the end of the day one may not indulge in uneaten pax grub on pain of the sack, the implication being that it could have been deliberately held back from sale - "sorry, sold out" and scoffed at end of duty. Sadly that is the EJ attitude of trust towards people in charge of 150 pax or £60M of aeroplane.

Sick? Paranoia? Grossly unreasonable? Maybe. Possibly. Even probably. But without a doubt a response to the huge levels of theft from the on board catering supplies. Can you really blame them?

It's a pretty strange attitude in a "professional" aircrew forum that disagrees with this...in any way, shape or form.

XL750
 

Your airport may have a list of permitted items but crew don't just fly from one airport, each airport has its own interpretation of the national rules and the brainless numpties who take pleasure in interpreting the rules in the strictest way.

The whole thing is a mess with no common standard, if a crew member buys something to eat away from base it is a gamble if it gets past security an if you loose you will not be eating for twelve hours.

Although not in the UK, I did actually witness the farcical scene of two heavily armed police ... machine guns, hand guns et all setting off the scanner as they walked through ..... and then being brought back to be checked with the wand !

:ugh:

A and C - You are totally correct. But this is where we come in. If the cabin crew are not able to fly because they are unable to bring in their own food you delay the flight until they are properly fed. Nothing works better than delaying a flight. And don't forget the ASR should any pressure be placed on you. I've not had a problem and I don't expect one.