Not too much of a surprise - although I'll be tempted not to sit in 1A anymore (not that I really undertood why...)
Perhaps because on FR non Spanish routes I get to overhear the FAs in front of me - when I'm sitting in 1A - chat about things they dislike about their employers and their working conditions, in Spanish. (I hear new employees getting clued up by more established colleagues, there are a lot of tricks to 'bumping up' your schedule so that you make more overtime... but it's too complicated to understand when you're trying to make it look like you're not actually listening during take off and landing.).
I wouldn't stop using FR after what I've seen. Sure, I
prefer BA to FR, but then I
prefer FR to IB. If you thought FR's attitudes to their customers was bad, you haven't eavesdropped on the things I've heard from IB staff.
At least I now understand why FR flights aren't as enjoyable as they were a few years ago, I didn't realise they had to pay for their own training (EZ have somehow kept their modest standards up and I still like flying with them.)
EDIT:
Just read the reply to the first letter from Dispatches
here and I've just confirmed Ryanair's answer to point 5 - it's usually newbies who are put in the number 2 position next to the senior number 1.
And I can also confirm that there are no potruding pieces of metal that would hit my head in 1A - this is precisely the sort of thing I'd notice. I worry about my knees hitting my head instead.