Paralytic

I agree with much of what you say, but I'd argue that its not human nature, but upbringing. People inherit prejudices from the environment around them.

I do my utmost to not make assumptions about people based on how they speak; the message they are conveying is the important thing.

Jimmie76

What about the Heston experiment where they put the head chef and HB into a simulated cabin and the head chef "discovered" that the sense of taste was different at 30,000ft. Are BA not testing meals like this to check suitability?

icegirl

Not just regional but also social class also has a big play. I have always wondered from the way some people comment on forums like this if the minimum social class of cabin crew to work in BA needs to be middle class and above.

lemira

Fair comment, but the overuse of the word 'like' drives me insane.

I'm like totally like over it.

Whatevah.

BOH

Suggest you listen to her again. I immediately picked up on the huge and incorrect overuse of the word "like" multiple times in a sentence on more than one occasion. And she certainly used words such as "fink", "fort" etc rather than the correct "think" and "thought". Is just lazy and sloppy IMHO. Thankfully I didn't hear any "whateva", or "init" or "mush" from the girl ^

Well you have like, well to-ally, to-ally misunderstood me my friend init. Regional accents are of course ok.....I would have zero problem with the young Jodie's sarf-ov-the-river type accent - provided she didn't use the word "like" every 3-4 words and "fink" and "fort" etc.

So are you like, awight wivvat bruv?

knifeandfork

As a small town girl myself, I applaud Jodi's desire to get on and see the world. More power to her elbow. I very much hope she succeeds.

I humbly suggest to those denigrating her that you reap what you sow. Things took a turn for the unpleasant in this parish during the strikes. Many here took the line that BA needed to cut costs and slash what it pays for labour.

Jodi is what the prospect of an MF contract attracts.

I suspect the intersection of the Venn diagram between those who lauded WW for "taking on the unions" and those whining about Jodi's social poise whilst raising their hands in dismay at the prospect of her one day pouring their Montrachet in F and, horror of horrors, pronouncing the terminal consonant is not insignificant.

If you want savoir-faire from your recruits, you're gonna have to pay them more than �19k a year.

You can't have it both ways.

Padmeister

what is people's problem with jodie? give the girl a break! so what she does not speak the queen's English! I couldn't care less! if she did get a job with BA and she served me on board a flight as long as she was polite and carried out her duties that's all that matters! I cannot see what difference it makes if someone is very well spoken or is not! if she looked after me with food and drink on board and I was happy the way she speaks is irrelevant!

Paralytic

knifeandfork

I've wheeled this out before. I can't apologise for doing so again:

Kiss Me Goodnight Sgt. Major

Sigwx

Well said. I agree. Just wait until the episode on Pilot recruitment/training airs.

lfc84

This webpage states �12k basic

http://www.britishairways.com/career...abincrew.shtml

So whilst it may well get to �19k basic, the basic salary won't do anyfink to attract the hoity toity types (BA = U2 = LS = FR etc)

BOH

That's exactly what I mean about over the years it has become completely acceptable for people to use very poor and sloppy English. And I mean basic things such as not using "th", completely dropping "t" and "tt" out of words and generally using dreadful yoof speak.......particularly every 4th or 5th word in a sentence being, "like" to describe a situation or conversation someone has had.

I am certainly not asking for someone on BA to be very well spoken (I have bolded your mention of this) - certainly not the old BBC newsreader style plummy English of the 1950s.

I simply think in a prime customer facing role in a blue-chip company such as BA, their staff should be able to converse in basic English, not the lazy, sloppy version that has become so completely acceptable for some in the last 20 years.

Retron

"She ain' done nai'nk" as they say around here (northern Kent being the home of Estuary English, although Jodie doesn't have as strong an accent as many have around here). Presumably BA don't have a problem with her accent, unless there's some training later on in the programme to address accents.

While I admit it'd be a bit jarring perhaps to hear cabin crew using terms like "wa' er" - I'm not sure how to represent the glottal stop - I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes more common over time. It certainly wouldn't bother me, although as I work in a school where the youngsters overwhelmingly have an Estuary accent I'm used to hearing it!

knifeandfork

Fine.

Then BA has to pay for that. And the UK education system has to provide that.

Again: you can't have it both ways. You can't have a body of cabin crew who know their white Burgundy from their Armagnac and pay them �12k p.a. plus benefits.

Truly, you get what you pay for.

BOH

They do manage it because I didn't hear anything quite so grating from the other recruits on the course. Only one recruit stood out negatively......as soon as the sentence with the multiple "like" word was uttered.