 | The Situation Picture It! Two days before U.S. Thanksgiving and I'm stuck in an airport flying from Charlotte, NC to Seattle, WA and the place is congested with occasional travelers. Awkward but luckily, I'm flying first-class, up-front, and right next to a window. At around 18:10 pm, we start to board the plane, and I find myself sitting next to a Diane Keaton look-alike who just can't stomach the fact, that she's sitting next to a young 30-something Technocrat. 30 minutes later, without a hitch, the plane takes-off. We, up-front in first-class, are being tended to by our male airline attendant who's a definite Sean Hayes (a.k.a. Will & Grace's Jack McFarland) wannabe, who's doing a great job. Now, I'm going to go-off topic here, for just a few sentences. It's no secret, US Airways is not the best airline. In 2005, the airline had the largest decline in its key customer satisfaction index falling to number twelve in the industry from number five in 2003. Ok, so what? But, lets give them credit, since the report was published by the University of Nebraska and Wichita State University, they've been working tirelessly to shore-up their satisfaction scores, and its working. Back to the story. We've reached our cruising altitude, the pilot level-offs the plane, and our attendant approaches Diane and me to seek our first refreshment order. Diane orders a glass of white-wine, and me being me, I order a gin-and-tonic. No less than 5 minutes later, our steward teeters our way with our drinks mounted on a tray the size of a match-book. Suddenly, the plane jitters, and Sean, or just Jack for others, proceeds to catapult, the glass of white-wine, two (2) ounces of gin, and one open can of tonic soda onto Diane's bosom. In a moments notice, Diane jumps-up, a radom "Oh my god" is lobbed-out from the back rows or maybe it was me, Sean runs back to his station for napkins to douse Diane, and I proceed to hide behind a newspaper. You have to understand, I'm unaffected, and I want nothing to do with this situation which is to become a chicanery, and so I pretend to blend into the background. Upon his return, Sean profusely apologizes, offers dry cleaning certificates, cleans the seat, the seatbelt, and proceeds to rubdown Diane. Where at which point, she bluntly blurts out, "don't touch me and you've ruined by sweater". Sean being Jack, tucks his tongue into his cheek (a la Cher), and clearly says "honey, I could spit on that sweater and it still wouldn't look good". He drops the napkins, and goes back to his station. Diane's fuming, and she decides to run and hide in the bathroom. Eventually, Sean exchanged places with another airline attendant and moved to the back of the plane, Diane came out of the bathroom and took her seat, and not another word was said, not even by me. The Conclusion Having reviewed many customer satisfaction programs, mined through countless hours of qualitative research, and considering the circumstances, Sean did the right thing albeit for the wrap-up (or rubdown). Diane on the other hand, well, that's for you to decide, and me, I eventually got my gin-and-tonic. |
