The sexy engine that couldn’t
Fired conductor’s posts should have inspired stuffy railway
Please say every word that comes to mind when you hear “Canadian Pacific.”
Here, I’ll go first. Train. Railroad. And . . . now I’m stumped. Incorporated in 1881 and branded with several name and logo tweaks over the decades — Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian Pacific Railway Lines, Canadian Pacific, CP Rail, CP Rail System, Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian Pacific and now CP — the railway chugs along the tracks of cultural oblivion.
We know CP exists. But much like grass or oxygen, we never think about it.
That changed dramatically this week after the CBC reported a train conductor had been fired for a reason Canadian Pacific Railway founders could have never predicted while scrutinizing settler maps: “sexy social media pictures and posts.”
Stephanie Katelnikoff was accused of violating CP’s “code of ethics and its internet and email policy” in November over comments and images she posted on her personal Facebook and Instagram pages.
To illustrate the “evidence package” against her, the CBC published some of the offending snaps: There’s Katelnikoff posing in the woods in an orange bikini and fur hat. There she is lingering in front of a grain field in denim shorts. There she is standing on tracks, legs splayed, as evergreens fill the horizon like creepy voyeurs.
If you’re like me and saddled with an anachronistic and stereotypical impression of what a train conductor looks like — I’m picturing an old man in a tweed cap, scowling as he yanks on the horn to scatter geese — these images are a mental blowtorch.
You’ll never think of a train conductor in the same way.
But beyond this demolition of quaint typecasting, there is a bigger question: Why did this woman, who enjoys modelling and was posting on pseudonymous accounts in no way linked to her employer, really get fired?
Make that: Why did she get fired again?
If the name Katelnikoff sounds familiar, it’s because she was dismissed from CP after a 2014 derailment in Banff. The accident was later blamed on track damage. She was eventually reinstated by an arbitrator who, according to the CBC, “ruled in her favour and found one of the reasons Katelnikoff was dismissed was because she had filed a sexual harassment complaint against a fellow employee.”
Hmmm. So was she terminated the second time over “racy” photos? Or was it anti-CP comments she made after the first sacking?
It’s not entirely clear.
“I think it was a 50/50 split between the two,” she told the CBC. “When I got dismissed, they blanketed everything together and said I was being dismissed for my inappropriate social media content. So I’m not sure what of my content they’ve deemed appropriate and inappropriate.”
In this confessional age of personal grievance by way of imprudent status update, there’s no question we all need to be very careful about what we say about our employers. If I went on Facebook and spouted nonsense about how the Star was a clown rodeo run by reincarnated Stalinists who start the day by drinking partridge blood while re-enacting Pierre Trudeau’s pirouette in loving tribute, I’d fully expect to be starting a new career at Best Buy.
But if the issue with Katelnikoff is more about her risqué portfolio, I believe CP — a dreary institution with no marketing footprint in the imagination of Canadians — just fumbled a glorious opportunity to change the narrative after 136 years of blah. They shouldn’t have fired Katelnikoff — they should’ve been inspired by her.
Within a day, the story of a “Canadian train conductor” fired over “raunchy pics” made headlines around the world.
That should be the lesson for CP: People are finally talking about you.
You know what could make sleepinducing passages about Class 1 railroads more interesting? A sexy picture. You know what might nudge more Canadians to take an active interest in “transload supplemental services” or “intermodal containers”? Two sexy pictures. You know how to enliven discussions about the safe transport of ethanol, fertilizer, potash, sulphur and wind energy components? Lots and lots of sexy pictures! Just look at what firefighters have done for their professional image by stripping down each year for charity calendars. Just think about how every industry — from cars to clothes, mints to booze, animal rights to fast food, sneakers to gadgets — has harnessed the longstanding selling power of sex.
CP should not be casting itself as a prude in this matter. It should be slowly undressing and showing us a wild side. It should be scouring headquarters and outposts to discover every photogenic man and woman on staff. Then it should inject some human beauty into the caboose of a ridiculously boring business.
All aboard the CP Sexy Express. Next stop: rebranding. vmenon@thestar.ca
CP should be slowly undressing and showing us a wild side