You're under ARREST!

[wnbubbleboy]

You know this womans medical history?

I mean a woman in her late forties has never had a heart attack right?

Middle aged women aren't vunerable to heart attacks are they?

Of course not. I don't know who she is other than what I have read here.

Also, the fact it was a bad pratical joke. Let stick with the facts though she didn't have a heart attack so it's not and issue. IF she did have one then we could talk about it. Inserting it into this senero is moot.

What do I know. I am a good natured person who's been the butt of practial jokes and the instigator. I give as good as I get. With that being said I also have the good sense to know who can take a joke and who can't.

These guys in ABQ misjudged this lady. That is infact where the issue is.

 

[wnbubbleboy]

It may not be tommorow or next year but this cowboy attitude is going to be the thing that drives this band of idiots to the brink.

Folks, I think we have just been insulted.

 

[corl737]

This classless operation and its lack of professional standards is going to be the downfall of SWA. It may not be tommorow or next year but this cowboy attitude is going to be the thing that drives this band of idiots to the brink.

Magsau:

Part of the baggage of being a professional is the requirement to take ownership of your shortcomings as well as your accomplishments. Care to do so or are you content to hide behind a made-up identity? I don't think you're probably as arrogant or brash in real life, but you do play an arse**** on the forum very well!

Perhaps you'd like to debate the various perspectives of professionalism with "Cowboy Corl?" I promise I won't have you arrested nor run you off the end of the runway! You'll have to prevent your own bankruptcy, however, since I have no experience in that arena!

 

[hobbes]

This classless operation and its lack of professional standards is going to be the downfall of SWA. It may not be tommorow or next year but this cowboy attitude is going to be the thing that drives this band of idiots to the brink.

Nah, magsau...if we want to know how to drive an airline to the brink, we have to look no further than your airline. Seems like you perfected it.

Sorry, that's a low blow, but I suppose I'm a little tired of your blatant hatred for everything Southwest. We're not responsible for the condition of your airline, so get over it and grow up. I just can't help but wonder what type of miserable life you must lead to possess this much antagonism towards a company that has done nothing to you.

As for my opinion on the situation itself:
The girl wasn't THAT new of an employee. If she was getting off probation, then she'd been there close to six months...enough time, in other words, that she probably had made some good friends with her fellow agents, and they probably felt that she was a good audience for this joke. We don't know for sure, but I can't see them doing this out of cruelty. When you stop to think about the company culture, you might realize that she was probably a very well-liked employee, and thus her co-workers took the time to set up a pretty elaborate joke to celebrate the ending of her probation.

Was it a mistake? In retrospect, obviously so. But I think it was a well-intentioned mistake. It's well-known that Southwest employees play jokes on each other all the time. It's part of what makes working here fun. If it'd been done to me, I probably would have laughed my arse off, and so would the vast majority of my co-workers if it had been done to them.

I'd rather take the risk of making that mistake and unintentionally crossing that line than to have workplace without any fun, heart, or hope. If I wanted that, I could go work for United.

 

[corl737]

Magsau said:

It may not be tommorow or next year but this cowboy attitude is going to be the thing that drives this band of idiots to the brink.

to which wnbubbleboy replied:

Folks, I think we have just been insulted.

Actually, I believe Magsau is extremely jealous of our airline and its people. Notice his disgust that we actually have to hire BRINKS to drive it all away!

Magsau has occasionally said some rational and thought-provoking things and I appreciated his insights on those topics. Then he follows that up with a "drive by posting" of seething and hateful comments. I used to put up with his attitude because I thought there was enough good in him to warrant the distractions. However, recently he's running 99% uncivilized. Instead of allowing unrestrained exchanges of ideas, I think having the ability to hide behind a moniker brings out the worst in him. If he's not willing to publicly stand behind his comments now by identifing himself by name then he's not even worth the effort to read. Just my opinion, of course!

(By the way, I'm the only "Corl" - my real first name - that flies 737s at SWA. Real hard for me to hide behind that moniker, isn't it?)

 

[FWAAA]

I have no facts of the case other than what has been reported in the news. Does anyone know why it took 4 years for the story to become public? :unsure:

It's in the news today due to the court ruling that WN isn't liable, but that she can sue the police and PD. Dunno why it didn't make news when she filed her suit, which may have been a couple years ago (often, statutes of limitation expire a couple years after the harmful event, and many lawsuits are filed on that last day before they are barred).

I'm assuming that she didn't attempt to broadcast the news of her "arrest" at the time, and I don't blame her. No sense trying a case like this in the press when the courtroom will do just fine.

I'm curious about the court's reasoning in letting WN off the hook; sounds like gentle hazing is par for the course at WN and seems sensible that WN would be liable if the hazing gets out of hand (and fake "arrests" by real police with real cuffs sound like "out of hand" to me).

But I'm not a fun-luving WN employee. Never have been, never will.

 

[swflyer]

Uh oh...instead of the pain and sufferning payday, she might have to return to work. Oh the humanity.

Hey KC,

The full text, in the Washington Post, says she is a current employee of SWA at the ABQ station.

Although too strong in hindsight, I guess the courts thought that the cops should have stopped the "joke" earlier. Fine line, but SWA didn't cuff her.

No hate mail, please, just trying to find the rationale.

 

[KCFlyer]

But I'm not a fun-luving WN employee. Never have been, never will.

And I think it's this sad realization that many are stuck at "professional" airlines whose management views them as a liabilty rather than an asset that fuels the indignation at anything Southwest.

 

[FWAAA]

And I think it's this sad realization that many are stuck at "professional" airlines whose management views them as a liabilty rather than an asset that fuels the indignation at anything Southwest.

Perhaps for others, KC, but I don't work at any airline. Never have. Never will. I'm just an adult who recognizes outrageous conduct when I hear about it, and adults hazing other adults in this manner qualifies (in my book) as outrageous conduct. I've fired people for a lot less.

Like I posted yesterday, I luv WN as much as the next person, but the A-Holes in ABQ (both the WN employees and the ABQ police) who thought this was a good idea need some education.

 

[hobbes]

Like I posted yesterday, I luv WN as much as the next person, but the A-Holes in ABQ (both the WN employees and the ABQ police) who thought this was a good idea need some education.

FWAAA, I don't believe this was a hazing. I will tell you this much - one thing has always been made clear at our company: there's a difference between having fun WITH somebody, and then having fun at somebody else's expense. As I mentioned before, I honestly don't think that the ABQ employees realized that this would have had this profound of impact on this employee. They probably felt they knew her pretty well if they decided to set up this elaborate of joke with her.

Practical jokes and good-natured pranks do tend to be common in the SWA culture. Yes, I will agree...these employees may have crossed the line. We don't know the whole story, of course, because we only know what the newspaper reported.

But let's stop acting like these employees did it to be cruel to her...or that it was intentional "hazing." I very much doubt that. In fact, as I mentioned before, I think she must have been a very well-liked employee to have had such an elaborate "end of probation" joke planned for her. It backfired. It was a bad judgment call.

FWAAA, I don't know a single person in my life who hasn't made a bad judgment call. And you're above nobody else...I'm sure you've made a few of them yourself. So let's knock it off with the holier-than-thou "A-holes" description of the ABQ employees.

 

[I'mRayFlyMe]

What do I know. I am a good natured person who's been the butt of practial jokes and the instigator. I give as good as I get. With that being said I also have the good sense to know who can take a joke and who can't.

These guys in ABQ misjudged this lady. That is infact where the issue is.

BINGO!!! You hit the nail right on the head.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!!!!!!!!!

 

[phasersonstun2]

Y'all are geniunely funny, but sometimes y'all take that s##t too far. Last thing anyone wants to feel is a load of stress crammed inside an oversized, noisy, dry-air-pumping beer can that travels about 85% of the speed of my voice.