02-15-2010
08:14 AM
1 Love
I hope by now you've realized that your attempt at glibness has backfired, and you appear at best disingenuous, and at worst dishonest. In addition to your behavior to begin with, which I would classify as ignorant and bigoted, to have reacted (and to continue to react) in this way adds insult to injury, and is inexcusable.
I will not bother to reiterate the many solid points of criticism, most offered in the hope that your company really does care about the customer of size, his/her family, his/her friends, his/her business associates, etc. Surely you must be aware of the substantial numbers of customers and potential customers who empathize with Kevin Smith's negative experience with your airline. Yet your response would indicate otherwise. How disappointing.
I would like to suggest some positive actions your company could take, actions that would demonstrate it really does care about its customers, as advertised. Show that you are willing to learn from this experience. Invite customers of size and the organizations that support their interests as consumers and as human beings (NAFA and PeopleOfSize.com come to mind) to meet with you to explain their concerns, their perspectives, their life-experiences.
Then take what you learn to heart and do something creative and innovative- -make a change in your company's policies and services for the better. You would do well to deal with this proactively now because it is unlikely that larger people will be magically disappearing in the near future. Here is a news flash for you: NO ONE wants to be fat. And yet there are so many of us.
The latest research shows obesity becoming a problem even in formerly skinny-forever hold-outs like Japan. It is a complex problem, brought on by much more than simple overeating. Lack of adequate sleep, out of balance intestinal flora, hormone imbalances brought about by manmade substances in the environment, failure of the lymphatic system, side effects from some medicines, and even certain viruses and bacteria - - all are being demonstrated to cause people to becomer larger (which doesn't always mean fatter; it can mean swollen, and hence larger).
So, until science can unravel the mysteries of increasing size and offer appropriate (successful!) solutions, society, including large corporations like yours, is just going to have to figure out how to deal with us; a little empathy could go a long way. As human beings, we are capable of such noble behavior. Here's hoping that your corporation is willing to demonstrate that.
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