Flight Attendants Inventory Catering Supplies

[PITbull]

Folks,

There is no way that the f/as are responsible for checking inventory on the planes and counting supplies.

When it comes to meal service, the Senior f/as or designee can count to make sure that the meal count is present and is exactly what is on the sheet. Period.

I will inform the MEC. Please Twice Baked contact me and give me flight numbers on whre this is expected and WHO is tellingyou this is now the f/a responsibility for preboarding WHICH WE ARE NOT COMPENSATED FOR.

 

[USFlyer]

PineyBob -

More power to you on this one. I wish I had the luxury of saying "it's not my job" at work. I have to do whatever they tell me, whether that means mopping the floors or running the company. If I don't like it, I have the option to leave. Working in a union shop is not like this, you and I both know that.

 

[airlineorphan]

It is good to see the "best and brightest" earning their bankruptcy retention bonuses!

But I really think management is being awfully weak in their demands here. If they really had any cajones, they'd create a form for the f/a's to inventory the individual pretzels, not the bags of pretzels. C'mon, lets really go for it Crystal Palace!

Perhaps a formula could be developed so that you count the pretzels, divide by the number of pretzels requisitioned per bag, thus revealing the number of bags. Y'know, sort of like counting the legs on a herd of cattle, then dividing by 4 to get the number of cattle in the herd. Isn't that the way to do it?

Oops, I shouldn't say such things in a forum where management might be trolling for ideas.....

Seriously though, this is either harassment or the result of an incompetent managerial bureaucracy. Perhaps (probably?) both.

I wonder if management will in turn request that flight attendants inventory the forms used for inventorying pretzels.

Are they asking f/a's to inventory the credit card hawking crapola?


If the company is worried that catering companies are ripping it off, they should make use of those wizzbang corporate security guys instead of piling something new on the backs of the flight attendants.

In solidarity (and incredulity as well!)
-Airlineorphan

 

[Light Years]

The reason folks are saying its not thier job is because its someone elses... we have dumped a lot of caterers and cleaners who would be happy to spend thier day sitting on a jumpseat counting Equals and swizzle sticks.

Give the flight attendants something easier to count:

*the remaining mainline FA workforce

*the remaining "US Airways" jets in PIT that are actually US Airways.

*the remaining loyal customers who think our product is up to standard.

This should only take a couple of minutes. Catering supplies are another story.

 

[USFlyer]

Based on the posts of late, the general consensus seems to be that spending time in the unemployment line would be better than doing ANTYHING this management says and/or asks for. And vice versa for that matter. Someone better improve relations in both directions fast otherwise this company is gonna sink -- customers are noticing!

 

[Twicebaked]

The alternative is instead of F/A's counting swizzle sticks was 49,000 people counting their minutes in line at the unemployment office. The costs were/are out of line

Piney,
You know as well as I do that you would not put up with that crap. Hey Piney, there are cut backs at your office and you have to clean the restrooms before you go home every night. Are you going to keep your mouth shut??? I think not. You don't on anything else. You would find out how was behind it and have them fired.
Also, this proves NOTHING about ANYBODY stealing. Unless you are going to dig through the trash to see what was exactly used, they have NO idea what the flight attendants actually used/served or what catering may or may not have taken. This is obvioulsy an internal accouting issue. In days past, I would see catering tell another caterer what was needed........5 sprite, 5 bags of coffee, etc.. They do have "specs" on what is stocked. So, what is replaced should again match up with what the "specs" were at the beginning.
I am not sure if "theft" is the only thing behind this stupidity.

 

[Twicebaked]

Piney,
You know as well as I do that you would not put up with that crap. Hey Piney, there are cut backs at your office and you have to clean the restrooms before you go home every night. Are you going to keep your mouth shut??? I think not. You don't on anything else. You would find out how was behind it and have them fired.

Piney,
You and I have discussed this before as well as did you and Pittbull. There are many many well educated flight attendants. People choose careers and choose to stay with those careers for many different reasons. We are all different. That is what makes the world go round?
In regards to my previous post to you, as I am usually bashing at you it is obvious to me that this was not one of those times. I was just making a point. I was pointing out that if you were given "extra duties" (yes, the example WAS extreme) you would not stand for it. You WOULD stand up for yourself.

 

[MR AIRPORT]

Hey gang I work in CLT catering I think you all are missing the point. I don't know if you know or not but every week we send cartloads of supplies to the Caribbean and it dosen't get put on the flight when it heads back north. We wrap up cases of Coke, Diet Coke and all the other sodas for the a/c along with everything else that goes onboard. The stuff dosen't make to the a/c. I guess there are trying to stop it. I heard that one employee form CLT was in a bar on one of the islands and guess what they were using our napkins in the bar, go figure. We found this out when F/A would ask for extra stuff when there were going to MBJ and that is one of the cities we send carts of supplies to. Thats my two cents

 

[jimntx]

I don't dispute that thievery is going on in the islands. What I question is how does putting extra work on the f/a's going to help the situation? If the supplies are shipped down, then stolen, how does taking inventory help? All the f/a can do is note on the form, "Yes, the sodas/chips/whatever were not boarded. Catering was contacted, but supplies were not delivered to the a/c prior to departure." Hell, it happens at DFW!

 

[Twicebaked]

I NEVER felt like you bashed me! We are of strong opinions that is true. Did tempers flare? Of course they did. But bashing? Not really! More like spirited debate. If more people took an active part in how society is shaped, like you and I as well as others then we surely would have a better society in which to raise our children.

Piney,

My previous post does not make sense now because one of the moderators "deleted" the rest of it. You see, I received a "nasty gram" about the "would you shut your mouth" question and I defended it in "a public forum". I was told that anything you need to say about a moderator must be sent to them via PM or e-mail. There was a previous thread concerning unwarranted "nasty grams" from moderators, but is seems we can't discuss that in a forum.
Besides, you are starting to grow on me! I don't agree with you, but you are growing on me.

 

[Twicebaked]

Hey gang I work in CLT catering I think you all are missing the point. I don't know if you know or not but every week we send cartloads of supplies to the Caribbean and it dosen't get put on the flight when it heads back north.

Thanks for your "two cents" as you put it..
We understand perfectly and we are not missing the point.
You might be missing MY point.
It is NOT the flight attendants job to do any type of security in any way shape or form. Sure, maybe theft is happening, but it is not our problem. They need to hire their own catering down there then.
I don't know what the "fix-all" is, but it IS NOT having the flight attendants count the inventory.

 

[Twicebaked]

What I would like to see happen is a joint task force of corp security, f/A's, ground support, etc. focused on catching and if appropriate, filing of criminal and civil charges against those who in effect steal food from the mouths of US employees. US management needs to make this into an us against them situation. us meaning ALL US employees and them being the thieves. Reward those employees who actually catch and report thefts that lead to prosecution.

We already have this task force against theives....


It's called.....

LABOR AGAINST THIS MANAGEMENT

We know which ones are the theives.
You see, when your own mangement steals from you, why would you expect any different

 

[TheWatcher]

Piney,
You know as well as I do that you would not put up with that crap. Hey Piney, there are cut backs at your office and you have to clean the restrooms before you go home every night. Are you going to keep your mouth shut??? I think not. You don't on anything else. You would find out how was behind it and have them fired.

You're right Twice Baked! However the difference is I have marketable job skills and in reality F/A's don't! At least not in the same line of work. As for the comment about getting someone fired, don't be so sure. If in your example which is a bit unrealistic the situation was that bad I'd probably just dust off the resume and make a few phone calls and be gone.

I work in an industry where the toes you step on today may be attached to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow. So I don't know if I'd do what I did before. I came real close to getting "marked" as a troublemaker. Fortunately they were such turds that I wasn't negatively impacted. But I was lucky.

Piney try talking to some of the flight attendants on your flights. You may be suprised at how many of them have college degrees and superior job skills!

 

[airlineorphan]

Piney try talking to some of the flight attendants on your flights. You may be suprised at how many of them have college degrees and superior job skills!

And anyone who can work as a team doing the complex social troubleshooting that is at the core of the flight attendant job in non-emergency situations has considerable transferable job skills.

It is a rare person who can do the flight attendant job, Piney. I realize you know that, but I think it important to underscore this (partially because I meet a lot of flight attendants who have internalized this nonsense that we don't have marketable skills and I think we deserve more respect from ourselves as well as from others).

In solidarity,
-Airlineorphan

 

[ITRADE]

F/A's do not have marketable skills in terms of taking their crew bag and switching to say AA or NW. I am NOT amazed that many have advanced degrees. Many as PITbull points out do this job for reasons other than the money and several whom I have met were actually Wall Street "burnouts" (Their description, not mine) who found they liked working with people. Many are easily employable in many fields of endeavor. It's Just that in terms of moving to a competing airline the options are limited or non existant. Management may well find out just how transferable their F/A skills are. Many seem to have had enough and it's starting to show.

Not sure if I agree here. FAs switching to other airlines are not marketable because the seniority system places them at the back of the bus.

Of all the FAs that I know, when it comes time to bail, most who bail out go into professions such as real estate.