JetBlue and Bald Brittney

I’ve been broadsided with distractions at work – so forgive the lack of delusional writing that’s often posted here. Today I’m in the midst of finding new and exciting ways to reduce my annual budget by $150,000 along with the usual flotsam and jetsam that never ceases. But I do have a couple of quick observations about recent news events that I just couldn’t pass up:

1) JetBlue is in the throes of a PR nightmare. Due to mother nature’s wrath of a storm in the Northeast last weekend – leading up to President’s Day, flights were cancelled, staff were delayed and waylaid in the wrong cities, and planes were grounded everywhere. Frequent flyers who have enjoyed JetBlue’s service for the past seven years suddenly turned disloyal. How could their airline let them down. And, what’s worse, a JetBlue flight sat on a tarmac for 10 hours, 100 feet from the jetway but couldn’t pull up to the jetway to let its passengers off the plane. Talk about pissed! What’s a company to do under such dire circumstances? Well, the CEO appeared on David Letterman to take all the harassment possible from the late night maven and did so remarkably. IN addition, the company placed full page ads in newspapers including The New York Times, apologizing for the poor service and promising to win back the trust of their customers. The whole mess reminds me of how fickle we can be as human beings. We can have the best consumer experience on the planet, but God forbid our favorite hotel, restaurant, retail store, or airline lets us down – even once! We will go Brutus all over their ass in five second flat. There is NO room for error in the service industry. No room at all. I find this especially true in the industry I work in – medical device technology. Be damned if a pacemaker or defibrillator doesn’t do what it’s suppose to do! The lawsuits will fly fast and furiously (even though these devices are made by human beings who are fallible). Technology breaks sometimes, just like mother nature waves her magic wand over the Northeast in mid-February.

2) Brittney Spears is everyone's current nightmare. (Special thanks to Indexed.blogspot.com for the graphic below). Can I tell you how much I despise this former wannabe pop star?! She had her day in the sun with average talent, at best. Now, thanks to her panty-less escapades in Vegas with another troll of a star – Paris Hilton – she continues to get her name in the headlines with stunts like shaving her head, getting tattooed and checking herself in to a rehab clinic (all in a 24 hour period I might add). Her publicist should be shot! Have you never heard about spacing out and timing your news?! Good grief! But back to BS (very appropriate initials for this has-been in my opinion), remember back in the '90s when both she and her arch nemesis, Christina Aguilera, were on the pop scene at the same time. Reviewers clambered over Spears like there was no tomorrow and little Christina sat quietly with her Genie in a Bottle one-hit-wonder song saying very little. Then along came her second CD and the music industry gasped, but the fans loved it and she rocketed up the charts -- her popularity soared with invites to sing at all the premiere events. She sang and wowed audience after audience with her voice and ability. A true artist. And now, as the antithesis of Spears, Aguilera is in charge of her affairs. She’s chosen her path with a great deal of integrity. We don’t see CA gallivanting around with Paris Hilton. Instead, she’s making amazing records and singing on the Grammy’s and talking about her next steps as an actress. Her success is just beginning, unlike Spears who can no longer sing or act her way out of a rehab center!

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