You Know, It Wouldn't Hurt to Make a Phone Call

One of my biggest pet peeves is interacting with someone who lacks common sense or common courtesy. We are a nation short on both. Apparently, we’re not teaching it to our children either. How many times in a week do you hear on the phone, “That’s not my area, you need to speak with so and so.” The person you need may very well be sitting next to the person making that statement, but if you don’t quickly ask to be transferred, you’ll hear a dead phone line in a heartbeat.

I encounter very few people willing to offer assistance or go out of their way to save you a step or two in life. We’ve all been there. You call some office. You need to speak with a particular person. You’re told that person is out to lunch. You’re asked to call back later. Can the person you have on the phone assist you? No. They only handle people whose last name begins with “D”. OK, can the person whom you are speaking to, take a message? No. You’re told it would be better to call after 2:00 PM. You ask if the person you need has voice mail. To which you get the reply, “Um-m-m, yeah, they have voice mail.” So you ask to be transferred to voice mail, to which you hear “Sure, but if I lose you, call back after 2:00.”

You literally have to work the service from many customer service reps today. Frankly, you have to work the service out of many people in society today. So many people cling rigidly to their work instructions or job description in the workplace. If you’re not careful how these documents are written, your employee will be just like their instructions - flat, uneventful and unable to take any initiative, should unexpected situations arise.

Too much time is wasted when you assume others around you will do either what they said they would do, or do something they ought to do, if they had any shred of common decency in their bones. Nobody wants to lift a finger to help anyone out these days, unless they’re confronted face to face. They choose not to deviate from their programming or work instruction.

I’m sure most of the country has heard of the Bonny and Clyde type crime recently committed at the courthouse in Kingston, Tennessee. George and Jennifer Hyatte were arrested last Wednesday for the murder of corrections officer Wayne Morgan.

After having plead guilty to robbery charges, George Hyatte was being led from the Kingston Courthouse by two correction officers. George’s wife, Jennifer Hyatte, reportedly ambushed the corrections officers.

Wayne Morgan died as a result of that ambush. He was a decorated Vietnam Veteran and buried with full military honors in Tennessee. More than 1,000 people attended his funeral. He was a well respected member of society. Wayne Morgan was remembered as a Sunday School teacher and a Deacon at Meadowview Baptist Church. He often ministered to patients in the local nursing home and to prisoners in the town jail.

Wayne Morgan’s death could have been prevented.

Floyd Forsyth is the father of Jennifer Hyatte. Based on his daughter’s strange questioning prior to the ambush, Floyd Forsyth believed his daughter was planning to help free her husband from custody. Floyd asked a probation officer in Utah, where he resides, to alert authorities.

The AP reported that the Utah Department of Corrections officials acknowledged receiving information from Floyd Forsyth regarding the possibility of a prisoner escape. According to the Department of Corrections, an officer planned to contact his counterparts in Tennessee on Tuesday, which happened to be the day of the shooting. In hindsight, the department should have acted sooner, department spokesman Jack Ford said, but the information didn't appear to raise any "red flags" at the time.

Utah should not have been given the choice to determine if the threat was real or not, when it had nothing to do with their state. With the technology we have in this country today, Utah could have simply sent an email to authorities in Tennessee that stated “For what it’s worth, we have been contacted by ….”. It would have taken all of two minutes. Let Tennessee determine if red flags should be raised.

Sorry, Utah. You just cost someone their life because you seem to lack a simple thing called common courtesy. Would it have killed you to send a quick email or made a quick phone call?

I’m especially bent on this pet peeve of mine today. I recently read some of the 911 Commission Report, detailing the horrors of the Twin Towers attack. Pages ten and eleven of the report highlight when the doomed AA and UA flights departed and when they were hijacked. These pages also reflect the confusion between the airlines and the FAA when it comes to determining who is “responsible” for alerting airborne aircraft in emergencies.

According to the report, several FAA officials advised that it was the air carrier’s responsibility to notify aircraft of security problems. The report also states that this statement doesn’t reflect an “adequate appreciation” of the FAA responsibility for the safety and security of civil aviation.

I could not agree more. FAA, you are supposed to be the utmost authority in airline security. You should have alerted all aircraft in the air, as well as on the ground. The airlines should have also taken the initiative to alert it’s flights.

The report shows that air traffic controllers in Boston received a message transmitted from AA flight 11, just before 8:25 AM, that the hijackers had “some planes”.

The report states that the FAA was aware that multiple aircraft were involved in the attacks on the 11th, by 9:00 AM. AA issued a ground stop between 9:05 and 9:10 AM, followed by UA’s ground stop order.

Although the commission report states that FAA controllers in Boston requested that the Herndon Command Center get messages to all airborne aircraft to increase cockpit security, there was no evidence this was done.

Apparently, no one believes in follow-up these days either.

It was one UA flight dispatcher, Ed Ballinger, who took the initiative to begin transmitting warnings to his transcontinental flights at 9:19 AM, on the 11th. Yeah, Ed Ballinger! Why can’t a lot of others operate like you?

While the FAA and the airlines played finger-pointing games determining who is responsible for alerting other aircraft during a crisis, Ed actually started alerting others to the situation. Ed Ballinger was responsible for many flights that morning. Because of this, his transmission to UA 93 was not sent until 9:23 AM. Tragically, this left only 4 minutes from the time the captain received Ed’s message, until the hijacker’s overtook the aircraft.

We have more technology and communication than ever before. Would it be such a big deal to notify first? Determining if a real threat exists can be done after appropriate individuals are notified. In this article alone, we’re talking about law officials and airline captains. Certainly these people are trained to the point where we don’t have to worry about undue hysteria by simply alerting them of a situation. They are professionals. At the very least, let them know. Whether the threat is real or not, let them make that call. We, as receivers of knowledge to potential threats, should just pass on the info as a common courtesy.

The way I see it, people need to learn how to take the initiative. If you see or hear of something that could potentially harm others, pick up the phone and make a call or send an email to alert concerned parties. It should be that easy.

© 2005 kalyhan All Rights Reserved