I worked in reservations at American Airlines for six years. I had great customer service skills, call time, excellent rapport with my customer and loving every minute until a resident Glen Close transfered in. Then it was hell. Needless to say I quit. I got tired of Fatal Attraction II.
The problems started when an attractive woman started staring at me. I had no idea who the gal was or what her problem was. I tried to ignore her, only to have her up the ante. I tried switching seats, changing when I went on breaks and lunches only to run into her. It was too distracting. I went to my supervisor to bring it to his attention. He ushered me out of his office and said there was not a problem. I was left the impression that AA sexual harassment policies, Rule 32, were meaningless. I call it Fool 32.
I finally went up and introduced myself. Found out about her and her name. We had a acquaintance which abruptly ended. I admitt that I played a cat mouse game. When my supervisor told me to knock it off, I stopped with no complaints and in 110% agreement. Trouble is she kept up the ante.
She followed me. She tried to pick fights with me. Another favorite game of hers was running past my desk so fast my papers would fall off the desk. It was wild. I finally transferred to a new department. She was observed by fellow employees casing the work area and waiting for me to out for break. While could not prove it, her vehicle was spotted in areas around my commute route. Somebody in a vehicle like hers was playing a cat mouse game on the highway. It was fast.
I now had a schoolmarmish supervisor who had been with the company since CR Smith. Her response, "Maria is such a nice girl. She would not do anything like THAT" Maria had a relationship with her supervisor and access to management computers, even though there was not a posting for assistant manager. [We were in layoff mode at the time] Another trainer said that she was a teacher's pet and could do no wrong. I called EAP for guidance and got, "you are really overreacting, you should get counseling" and hung up.
There were two HR investigations. Both were nasty gestapo like interrogations. Evidently one of my facts concerning the wherebouts of Maria was false because she apparently was on a flight to another city. On the basis of that one fact I was placed on disciplanary report for slander and filing a false report.
The other thing that American Airlines does is use their confidentiality policy to squelch any discussion during the entire tenure at AA. I would not have a problem if the confidentiality policy were to protect the innocent. If it were to prevent the spreading of rumours and emflaming the gossip grapevine, that would be the right thing to do. What the confidentiality policy did was prevent me from discussing the issue or to investigate evidence to prove my case. I tried to warn an employee who was on Maria team. She blabbed it to her sup— back to Gestapo kangaroo court. I tried to contact employees who could attest of my plight, good friends too, only to have them hang up on me for fear of loosing their job.
After the first investigation, things quieted down for a few months and quiet returned. I was able to take care of my customers and my employer and have fun at it. Then it started up again. This time it was the run past the desk mixed in with googley eyes. I kept documented records of when the incidents happened. It went to yet another investigation. This time the investigator was a rabid male hating feminist who was playing pyschological mind games with me. What made it even more spooky was Maria's supervisor was conducting a meeting in the next room. My sup and the investigator would not move the meeting when I objected due to a conflict of interest.
The results of the investigation was that Maria was not in the building when the offenses occurred. That was very interesting indeed. I take it I have to believe she has a twin sister who was with my friend. Somebody was lying and it was not me. Now I was on a two year warning for slander, filing false reports and breaching the confidentiality policy. It was a loose loose. I tried calling lawyers. The EEOC did feel it rose to sexual harassment.
I finally had customer complaint. I decided not to go through another interrogation and tendered my immediate resignation. Enough was enough. I was unable to overturn a denial of an unemployment because I quit for personal reasons. This is actually covered in Texas under the Fair Work Clause where an applicant is eligible for unemployment if he could not conduct his duties. I could not afford a lawyer to fight it. AA has a nice habit disbursing funds after the cutoff periods. There is another post regarding the fact the AA refuses to return my retirement money.
After this post, you can see why I would suggest one might want to consider Greyhound.
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