Life in 3D

The Right Thing

You’ve probably heard about this kind of man before, one who stands up for the right thing no matter what the opposition might be; a man who in the face of crushing opposition still fights on; a man who puts into action ideals that most people just give lip service to and then take the easy way out. Unfortunately, I’m going to guess that most people have never met someone like this in person or have only seen him in a movie or a book.

Well, here is a real life stand-up man. Bobby Boutris was threatened, blackballed, harassed and accused of a crime all because he tried to do his job which happens to involve the safety of everyone who flies on commuter airline in the United States. Mr. Boutris works for the FAA as an inspector, when he noticed discrepancies in Southwest Airlines tracking for compliance to FAA regulations he was told by his boss to ignore it and when he did not ignore it, here is what happened.

Mr. Boutris’ reward for speaking up was the suspension of traveling privileges. Mr. Gawadzinski later cut him out of meetings. Colleagues trashed his cubicle and mocked his Greek accent, Mr. Peters said.

But his exile really began in April 2007, after Mr. Boutris told FAA investigators about Mr. Gawadzinski’s relationship with Southwest Airlines. Mr. Gawadzinski’s daily contact at the airline was a former FAA inspector who had worked for him.

Soon after, a letter surfaced, signed by an anonymous Southwest mechanic. It said that Mr. Boutris bragged about sneaking a weapon on an airplane and that he begrudged Southwest for turning him down for a job.

Because of this he was removed from his day-to-day responsibilities at Southwest Airlines but Mr. Boutris kept fighting. His friend and fellow whistle blower told a congressional committee what had happened and started the ball rolling on having hearings into the situation begin. The fallout from that was Mr. Boutris receiving death threats in the mail.

Death threats.

For what? Doing his job to keep the passengers as safe as possible, a job his boss obviously didn’t care to do. How is it that a person can turn their back on their responsibility and not care if safety inspections are being done? Is it such a difficult thing to do the RIGHT thing? I have never thought so but here it is, for doing what he was supposed to be doing his own co-workers tried to make his life a living hell. All of them should not be disciplined, should not have letters put in the file. NO, what should happen is that all of them should be FIRED and lose all the benefits that they have picked up for all those years they have been living off of our tax dollars while turning a blind eye to THEIR JOBS!!

I tip my hat to you Mr. Boutris and to Mr. Peters as well for doing the right thing because it WAS the right thing. And to everyone who take short cuts, cuts corners, or just ignores their responsibility because of whatever lame-ass reason you have I want to remind you that if you don’t take the time to do your job right, how can you expect anyone else to do theirs right either? From the kid flipping your burger down the street all the way up to the people who make sure the vehicle you are traveling in is safe. Do it right people, it’s not that hard.

Oh, and my sister-in-law works for Southwest.  Don’t think I will ever fly with them again