Passengers have been getting pissed off about queuing at the QANTAS check-in counters at Brisbane airport lately, to the extent that a staff member was slapped by a customer, another collapsed from stress, and yet another was removed from her post after being abused by passengers.
What grabbed my attention about this was this response from the QANTAS staff’s union:
"We have asked Qantas to put up signs stating that it is not acceptable to abuse staff and that attacking staff is illegal."
Wow! People actually need to be told that this is not ok. Amazing – the level of some people’s arseholery is astonishing. I suppose its not really surprising, after all, I do see plenty of rude, aggressive dickheads in action all over the place. Just think, these people are allowed to drive, vote, breed, etc.
The other thing that I found interesting was this – again from the union:
"You would be charged with assault if you did that on the street. But if you do it at the airport there’s a level of acceptance because of the queues,"
No, its not acceptable. People who act this way should be refused service, and ostracised, to make it absolutely clear that acting the arsehole is not going to get them anywhere.
Now get this!
Last year QANTAS agreed to hire 90 more staff for Brisbane Airport, a decision that came after staff were spat on and abused when they left their posts to assist an elderly woman who collapsed and died in a long queue. Real charmers! Everyone of them should have been permanently banned from flying with the airline.
The response to the passenger (a woman!) who slapped the male counter staffer was that she was denied passage on the airline for 24 hours. Pissweak! I’d have blackbanned the bitch for good.
It is just so wrong that staff cop abuse for management policies or lack of staffing. The staff should have cards with the manager’s office location to hand out. He or she can have a card to refer them on to the head honchos.
Andrew – I think similarly when I’m queueing at the supermarket. Why the fuck have 25 checkouts when only 5 are ever open at once? And I wish I had the manager’s phone number so I could call and suggest they put more staff on and open more checkouts. They should have the manager’s photo and phone number on a big sign right near the checkouts.
Immediate gratification is the accepted and expected norm these days, with no one having any patience or consideration for others.
Arm the staff with pitchforks and see how quickly the customers learn to behave like humans again.
Feel free to get tough on the passengers, watch them go to another airline and then see who pays the bills. Airlines deal with the abuse because they have to deal with it to make money.
The Qantas queue in Brisbane is pretty epic, but I didn’t really so much feel like smacking the staff as much as the passengers who don’t know how to check in!