My sister is in Hawaii. That in and of itself is not exceptional as that American State is populated to the tune of nearly 1,4 million folks, aloha! 😀
The way she got there though was not standard. As many people do nowadays, she went to the WWWeb to acquire her ticket, a practice that can generate serious savings. The site where she found what she was looking for was Expedia and they sold her the ticket and insurance covering it as a good bargain and are not at fault in our story. The airline was also reputable, namely United Airlines and as we will see, they are certainly not at fault, quite the contrary!
But … but airliners now function for economic, geographic and practical reasons in conjunction through what is commonly referred to as alliances. And while you purchase your trip from one of the alliance’s companies, you can fly on a plane operated by another for any leg of your trip. That was the case with the first of three flights on my sister’s itinerary, getting her from the North of the American East coast to that volcanic paradise in the Northern Pacific ocean ( with a gracious curve southward that brought the total to 9368 km or almost of fourth of Earth’s circumference at the equator ). That company was at fault and I will not name it properly and let it be hence termed the other airline or airline company as the lawyers would suggest. 😎
Your ticket bought from Internet is usually also delivered by Internet as a sheet or a couple / few sheets of standard A4 or 8 1/2 x 11 paper. On those, are listed the flights with airliner and departure / arrival times. From that, you can both obtain your bona fide ticket and boarding pass/es but also when to get to your initial leg’s airport. Since after that you likely stay in the transit sections of intermediate airports, it is the one that really matters. 😎
Modern airport now have nifty little machines that can scan that document or your passport and find the remainder of information you need from it … when they work, well, fast enough or at all and that there enough of them? So start your bugs counter at 20 minutes to embarkment’s end ladies and gentlemen and input slow machine. Without the confirmation of the contraption, one is tuck with the Net document which in this case shows a four digit number for each leg followed by United Airlines and on the huge main departure hall electronic board, none such are listed save one for elsewhere and two hours yet to booth opening. Hum?
A survey of the other services does not help and neither did the nice lady at the Information stand.
So back to that piece of paper and a serious scrutiny that reveals a Operated by Other Airline in addition to the United Airlines one! So rush to that counter, not only void of lines of clients but staffed by very a relaxed trio of ladies. They proceed to announce that the flight “has left”.
It is yet more than forty minutes from departure which as stated elsewhere in the Net document is 8 minutes to the end of the time for boarding, mind you! ( And since the flight actually left with 9 minutes overtime, my baby sis got fudged of more than a quarter of an hour by those already folded lazy dames? Grrrrrrr ? )The lady that answers gets the help of one of her colleagues and manages to give my sister the 1-800 United Airlines number as well as point to a phone booth on the opposite hall wall.
My poor sister engages in conversation with an operator that has such a small voice that the conversation is barely audible. So that with much difficulties, the poor would-be traveller gets told that the ticket is no good anymore but that United has another possibility for Hawaii at twice the initial price that just vanished! And all the while, something is bothering me!
Having hung up, my discomfited sibling goes to a bench and whips out her computer to find a more financially agreeable solution. As she is doing so, still bothered, I manage to suggest that the flight insurance should be joined too, just in case that they, if no one else, would accept to do their job, who knows and before the likely delay beyond which, sorry ma’am … ?
She does and the first good news falls in our laps, except for the 4 weeks waiting period of course! *sigh*
As little sis turns back to her laptop, my eyes check that big board again and having noticed that the United teller booth for that next flight of theirs, is now staffed if not open. And evrything falls in place.
The ladies at the airline company did not bat an eyelid save go through the motions but that decisive looking one waiting to serve clients may actually show pride. Because the ticket has her employers name on it first and foremost, before, on top, of the other airline’s one. So that while that Airline Company did not care, this one, whose reputation is on the line and employee looks fetchingly efficient may? New suggestion to my sister which agrees, gets up and inquires in that order.
The discussion is short. Angela, the decisive one also gets up and with the exact decisiveness and purpose that I had felt and hoped for to be her’s , walks over to the other airline counter. Another short discussion ensues. I was much to far away but by my liking, Angela probably asked them to do their F-ing job or so I fancy. 😀
From there, things unfolded like a Transformers in the movies and less than 3 hours after her supposed departure time, my sis was on the way to Maui. The whole thing ( 12-13 mins ) allowed Angela to open her stall barely two minutes later than expected but having insured a satisfied United Airlines customer, her airlines/employer reputation and this Post.
Two funny consequences? One being that the poor girl got an important overstay in Los Angeles for an annulled flight on top of it, darn Murphy and the other an emotional thank session or even belief from my baby sister! But that makes little sense …
I did not do much, in fact I made a strange bet and that’s it! I bet that Angela was as morally sturdy and loyal to her employer as she looked and all should. Which hinges on two vectors : the majority of employees that really want to do their job correctly and the infinite maze of the system which ends up having them perform below par per force until they just don’t care anymore.
And here we are facing our subject, staring it in the eye even : do you care for your job?
I won’t judge you, I’m just asking! Do your employment conditions allow you the luxury of doing your best faithfully towards not either but both the person(s) who pay you and the poor SOBs customers that you are suppose to serve?
Some of us work for people and others work for organizations be those private governmental or non-profit outfits. As the latter are concerned, the idea is that of system. The more systemic the conditions that the job requirements are defined as. the least the individual will “blossom” personally in the accomplishment of its duties. In general, the reasons for the choice of environment are dictated by economic or managerial .
Sadly, neither economics a applied mathematics and statistics nor plans nor systems in general correctly correlate to human diversity in all of its aspects. To give but one example, the non-respect of law in any of the aforementioned settings could easily forever bother an honest employee and in time lead to their feeling disinterest towards their work whether or not they ultimately call the authorities in the worst cases. And some of the groups/corporations/departements/ministries etc even manage to act as persons and join the list of producers of our first entry : the treatment-induced slackers.
You own a small business and always bawl at and crown everyone around you? Fine but if they don’t give shit about their job more than likely rest on the fact that they hate it because you are an insensitive bully which also goes for anyone holding a secure minor position of authority and abuses it through an inferiority complex or some such, AKA little chief. Vary as per need.
In mirror fashion though, employees can be deficient, derelict in duty fulfillment. And that range carries many more hues.
I believe in pride. I believe in doing stuff that you find useful and worthwhile. I understand the need to earn a living and may for it accept that some or even most of the people are holding back from quitting and yet, if any are moral beings, from the bad done in the system by abiding to the bad done in real life to that done to that poor client/customer but in any case person that you witlessly hurt without reason, for moral laziness wherever from derived, shame on you.
As for Angela, I think it was just her, not in her but fully her. She looked that way, cool, calm, collected and efficiently minded. I rather like the idea of being a good judge of character, a La Bruyère ersatz. 😀 😉 😎 … so? Sue me! Just don’t sue United?
And thinking of it Angel-A? Indeed she was?
Mail or call me when jet lag abides, little sister and good day/night all, Tay
P.S. Remember, take pride in whatever you do or do something else?
Definitive Lapse of Reason 