Continental Airlines
A friend called me from the runway at Newark Airport last Saturday. He was on a Continental Flight to Cleveland. There was lots of airport traffic and the flight attendant, Tyrone Jackson got on the PA system to say that there was a delay and that the situation was "retarded". How can this be? How can a person who deals with the public day in and day out be so insensitive? How many people cringed when they heard this message? How many people just let it go, afraid to speak up, afraid of offending the offender? How many people didn't think anything was wrong with this statement?
You shouldn't have to have a family member with special needs to know that slurs and stereotypes can hurt.
Continental's response was that their employee's behavior was not typical of the service they expect from their employees. They would try their best to find this employee (how hard can that be?) and immediate corrective action will be taken. I think I would have been happier to think that they will let all their employees know that using this type of language just isn't acceptable.
What do you think?