Knucklehead equation

EIn a large organization there will be bad apples

veryone agrees that the assault of Dr. David Dao on a United Airlines flight was appalling. Dr. Dao should be compensated financially, several people fired, and U.S. airlines must finaly eliminate the policy of overselling flights. By all accounts, this incident was the work of a few knucklehead employees, added to it a perfect storm of a Chicago’s finest doing their best impersonation of Patrick Swayze in “Road House.”

Passengers around the globe are vowing a boycott against United.

But do all of its employees, executives and stockholders deserve to suffer because of the senseless work of a few?

The actions that took place on that plane will ultimately cost the wrong people their jobs.

In any large organization there’s going to be a handful of knuckleheads no matter how thoroughly they are screened, interviewed for a position, and trained.

According to their website, United Airlines employs 86,000 people. That’s nearly triple the size of Penticton. The odds are with 86,000 employees, a few will be poor ones. It’s called human error. This story is by no means media overkill. Consumers hope that it finally puts and end to overselling flights.

We should never judge a large organization by the actions of a few.

—James Miller