Another “baseball” story that’s really not about baseball at all. But it does start an interesting discussion for those whether sports fans or not.
If you watch the “trending” news lists on Twitter or news portals like Yahoo, you might have noticed Anthony Bass trending in the last week. This obviously got my attention since he happens to be a pitcher for my favorite team, the Toronto Blue Jays. But the reason he’s trending has nothing to do with his performance on the mound, nor actually about himself per se. Instead, it’s his wife and kids that are fueling heated debates far and wide.
Bass tweeted that his wife, Sydney Rae James, was on a United Airlines flight last week and… well, we’ll just quote him : “The flight attendant @ United just made my 22-week pregnant wife traveling with a 5 year old and a 2 year old to get on her hands and knees to pick up the popcorn mess (made) by my youngest daughter. Are you kidding me?”
Bass added that the airline crew handed out the popcorn. He included a photo, probably taken by his wife that showed the two sweet-looking children sitting properly with a small amount of popcorn spread around on the floor. Sydney’s sister, singer Jessie James Decker chimed in that her sister was distraught, “humiliated” and crying in the aisles.
United for their part haven’t weighed in other than to say they’re reviewing it with the flight attendant, and the union the staff belong to wisely say “our experience tells us that commenting on this specific incident without all the information likely won’t help.” They’re likely right!
The debate was on, and both sides got hotter than the golden topping poured over movie theatre popcorn. Many accused Bass and his wife of being “entitled” and even bad parents. Bass retorted that that’s why the airline has cleaning staff, while others, including a former flight attendant who now runs an etiquette school suggest the staffer was way out of line and on some kind of power trip of their own.
For me… I dunno. I can see both sides. It would be nice to hear the staff member’s take on it , or better yet, other passengers on the flight.
On the one hand, if the pitcher and his wife are shooting us straight, it does seem downright ridiculous, rude and perhaps even offensive for her to be “made to” get down on her hands and knees to pick up a handful or two of popcorn kernels. As some mentioned, ushers in movie theatres don’t do that to patrons who spill in the aisles. Popcorn seems inoffensive, so there wouldn’t be a safety risk having a bit on the floor for part of the flight. No one’s going to have an anaphylactic allergy reaction from it and a kernel or two of soft popcorn isn’t likely to trip anyone. What does United expect if they give away the snack, especially to kids?
But there’s the flipside too. Did the food just get spilled a little or was the child throwing it all around the compartment? Having a temper tantrum? Had the flight attendant had to talk to the mother already before this about the kids’ behavior? If so, the odd request might make more sense. And as others have said, perhaps mom could have/should have told the kids to clean up their mess themselves… teach them a bit about being responsible.
It put me in mind of comedian Sebastian Maniscalsco who jokes that he hates parents who take their kids to restaurants and let them run around, throwing food around and say “isn’t that cute?” “No!”, he retorts, “what’s cute is that two year old Japanese kid sitting quietly in a suit, eating with sticks!”
In the end, it seems like two things stick with me about this whole brouhaha. One, both the mother and the plane’s staff probably could have handled it much better and more politely. The attendant must know that in today’s social media world, that such a stunt is going to lead to bad publicity for their company even if the lady wasn’t a star athlete’s wife. And Mrs. Bass could have probably reacted more calmly and if she was in discomfort due to her pregnancy, explained that politely to the crew member. Instead she seemed to fly off the handle and let her celebrity husband and sister ramp up the battle. It makes me wonder how she’d react to something like a car cutting her off in a parking lot.
The second thing that occurs to me is this – in this day and age, I am very happy the biggest scandal hanging over my favorite ball club involves messy little children.
To pick up or not to pick up. What do you think?
Everydave Life 