5-Year-Old "Abcde" Was Mocked By An Airline Staff And People Aren't Sure Who To Blame
It's pronounced "ab-city".
By Alyssa J. Oon — 30 Nov 2018, 12:38 PM
A mother in Texas, USA has called out Southwest Airlines after one of its gate agents mocked and laughed at her five-year-old daughter's name - which is "Abcde"
The mother, Traci Redford, told Washington Post that the incident occurred several weeks ago when the two of them were preparing to board a flight from California to Texas.
According to Redford, a gate agent at California's John Wayne Airport saw Abcde's name and started pointing, laughing and talking to other employees about Redford and her child.
For clarification, Abcde's name is pronounced as "ab-city" or "ab-si-dee".
The unnamed gate agent had also taken a photo of Redford's boarding pass and posted it on social media
"It was actually brought to my attention by somebody who had seen it on Facebook and reported it to Southwest Airlines. And after two weeks of doing a formal complaint, Southwest hadn't done anything," said Redford.
Southwest Airlines has since responded and apologised to Redford and her daughter
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, spokesperson Chris Mainz offered the company's "sincere apology to the family" and said the employee's social media post "is not indicative of the care, respect, and civility" expected of employees.
Additionally, the airline will be using this as "an opportunity to reinforce [their] policies and emphasise [their] expectations for all Employees".
"We take great pride in extending our Southwest Hospitality to all of our Customers, which includes living by the Golden Rule and treating every individual with respect, in person or online," he added.
Meanwhile, netizens are more concerned about how the young girl will live out the rest of her life with such a unique name
"No, lady. You brought that on your daughter and yourself with that one. I can agree that it was unprofessional, though."
"Should they have mad fun of a 5 year old girl? Obviously not, but I think the ones that need to apologise to that girl are her parents..."
"The name North is looking pretty normal now. :D"
