Thrown out of an FBO...

KevinBlack wrote:

Well, all I can say to the owner of the FBO and many who have posted in
indignation at Jay's almighty gaff is 'get a life'. How a throw away
comment made in jest can generate so much stomach acid is beyond me. It's a
slippery slope down the mountain of political correctness.....

Yes, especially when you can't even distinguish between common decency
and courtesy and political correctness. Sure, the guy seemed way to
thin-skinned, however, Jay had a couple of opportunities to undo things
after the guy's first comment that suggested he was becoming offended.
I wasn't there, so maybe Jay just didn't realize it soon enough,
however, as one who deals with the public as much as Jay, I have to
believe his skills of perception in this area should be good.

I think he could have unwound this pretty quickly, but instead, his ego
and then the beginnings of anger got in the way. That's fine, but then
don't anguish over it afterward. If you are one who is bothered by
things like this, and I'll admit I am as well, then you have to learn to
stop them as soon as the symptoms appear. It generally isn't that hard
to do. I think a "Hey, no offense, I was just making conversation."
would have stopped it. The guy would have made one more comment to get
in the last word and Jay could have then either ignored it or said,
"Hey, you may be right." and walked away. I'm guessing either would
have stopped the "don't come back" comment.

This isn't being PC, it is simply being perceptive.


Matt

Jay Honeck wrote:

He laughed and said that he "Had to fill the tank more often than
that!", to which I laughingly replied "Yeah, the only time the tanks
don't get filled at our place is when charter pilots use our van --
those guys are the cheapest SOBs around!"

His face suddenly flushed red, and his tone abruptly changed. "Well,
I'm a charter pilot, and I believe you're insulting me, now..." he
growled in a quiet but somehow menacing voice. Still laughing, not
sure if he was joking, too, but somewhat alarmed at his sudden change
of tone, I replied in a conspiratorial way "Well, we all know *why*
they don't fill the tanks -- they're not making diddly squat, and those
kids can't afford to shell out too much cash..."

This placated him not at all. He went on to tell me how he's got "Six
charter pilots working for him, and they all make a good wage, and you
shouldn't be making blanket statements insulting 'em that way..."

Just like *that* the atmosphere in the office changed, and I was
starting to get flustered at his sudden change of personality. Mary
piped up and said that this was all "Just our observation of the way
some charter pilots behaved...", and I replied that I was "Just joking
around..." -- to which he snarled "Okay, 'John Kerry' -- maybe you
folks shouldn't be coming around here and borrowing my car anymore..."

One way to diffuse the situation would have been to say that his pilots
were welcome to try your hotel sometime, and it would be nice to have some
of the better charter pilots go there for a change, or another way to let
him know that you weren't accusing HIS pilots of being cheap SOBs.