irishguy28

A Qatar Airways executive has emailed the firm’s entire cabin crew a picture of a drunk air stewardess because he was “ashamed and disturbed”.

She appeared to be incapacitated on the floor outside staff accommodation in Doha after a night with friends and it was unclear who took the photograph.

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mpkz

What a country...

zat_dude

I'ma get some popcorn and watch the freedom fighters have a go at a sovereign country for being different to theirs ^

mpkz

Yes, this is just their "culture". Glad we're all able to be so tolerant.

relangford

It appears to be a CCTV image from the elevator. Toleration of "bad things" may not be a "good thing". She was in a public (or semi-public) place, so there may be no laws broken here. Any person so drunk may need a wake-up call to seek professional help.

ckx2

Professional help because you passed out? I'd assume 3/4 of this forum would need to reach for professional help then. At least once.

relangford

I would guess this wasn't a one off (especially in a very conservative country), but maybe you are right. People who drink so much as to pass out (and she has worked for QR for 9 years according to another posting, so she isn't a child or teen) MAY need help. I just indicated that the "shaming" might be a wake-up for her to consider if help might be needed. If I had a friend who had passed out drunk, I would, at least, suggest looking at help.

ft101

The reports appear to say otherwise.

QatarA340

I'm a Qatari and against this incident and think that there should be some sort of punishment like a warning or something. But to go and shame this woman and send it to all her colleagues and workmates is insensitive and inhumane! She worked 9 years for QR, she should at least get some dignity.

Saltire74

When you are a guest in a foreign country be it for work or pleasure, then regardless, local law and customs should be followed and respected.

However, what this manager has done is disgraceful. Yes the CC in question should have been reprimanded via the proper channels if this is against local law and possibly terms of employment but to publicly humiliate to more or less an entire workforce and then for it it to hit the internet for a substantial portion of our planet's population to read about is beyond reproach. At the end of the day, she was incapacitated through ingestion of intoxicating substances and had the manager not leaked the photo, a very small portion of the workforce would have been aware and not the snowball effect that his actions have incurred.

Unfortunately trial by media is an ever increasing phenomena and without doubt most people in this situation are guilty until proven innocent. Shame, shame, shame.

Who's to say that this woman's drink had not been spiked leading to the state she found herself in. I am more than sure that Qatar is not immune to these shenanigans.

S

Annalisa12

I would of thought the airline would want to hush it up so as not to disrespect their airline.

Dr. HFH

This. As someone who spends more than half of his time in a country other than the one in which he was raised, I can tell you from experience that this is absolutely critical.
My guess is that reproach is not the word you're looking for here. That said, you may well be right based on the values, customs and culture in your country. This didn't occur in your country.


Well, yes, trial by media. But it's significant that no one has claimed that the photo has been altered, or that the employee was incapacitated by illness unrelated to alcohol, or, in fact, that the photo depicts anything other than what it is claimed to depict.


I could just as easily take the opposite position and say that in the west, we're far too ready to try to excuse undesirable behavior with a host of excuses. In fact, there are people believe that the U.S. legal system is designed precisely for that purpose. There are other cultures in the world in which the norm is that people expect to be and are held responsible for their own behavior.

When was the last time you heard of an accident in the U.S. where the victim did not sue someone and try to shift the blame to someone else? Spill hot coffee on yourself? Blame the restaurant and say that the coffee was too hot. Mutilate your hand by reaching into the business end of a snowblower discharge chute while it's running? Claim that you had no idea that it was dangerous and that the manufacturer should have placed a warning label there. Drive a riding mower off a retaining wall and injure yourself? Manufacturer should have included a warning not to drive it off a cliff. (I'm a litigator; and these are all from actual cases in the U.S.)

Steve_ZA

I'm sure everyone agrees that being drunk in public is against the customs and probably the law in Qatar however dealing with an incident should not be done via the internet. I would hope that the executive concerned is also reprimanded for his role in this ... although that is probably unlikely.

I'm actually surprised that this managed to happen at all with QRs curfews and other restrictions placed on their cabin crew.

108912

It seems that QR have employed KGB-esque style methods to their employees. What a great combination - working in Qatar with your senior VP a lady called Rossen Dimitrov. I wonder where she hails from?

It's little wonder that the only nationalities you see onboard QR flights these days are south asian and far east asian crews with a smattering of eastern europeans. The western europeans, aussies, kiwis that made up the bulk of QR crews had all fled (or perhaps been deemed too 'free thinking') and are hardly visible anymore. The difference between these two groups is that in the past the western crews tended to be there by choice and to see a little of the world and enjoy themselves. And it showed. The crews that hail from developing countries seem there purely for economic reasons and just seem to go through the motions and it's almost like they are scared to 'step out of line'.

The thing that amazes me is that QR has already had their industrial relations dragged through the mud with accusations from former staff of archaic treatment. So what do they do? Again shine the light on how dreadful they are as an employer - belittle an employee not just internally but also online around the world. Nice one!

I do not condone this crew members actions at all. But surely a professional management team would have heard the terms 'internal investigation' and 'disciplinary process' versus 'public humiliation'?

Dr. HFH

Now that would depend on your definition of professional, wouldn't you agree? Could be that in Qatar, professional personnel management means something very different from what it means in your country. I'm not saying that I personally agree with the way it was handled. But how did we in the west end up with the idea that ours is the only or best way to handle everything?