Kate Hawkesby: A laissez-faire attitude typifies the general malaise in NZ, we will do so much better if we can turn it around

I hit a nerve clearly yesterday when I talked about the top-down malaise in this country at the moment from our politicians, to our police force, to the public polling. And there seems a general sense of 'blah' among us right now. 

A large number of you texted in agreeing. 

One said it was a post pandemic thing – that we were all just so grateful to be alive that we just meander around now saying ‘it is what it is’ to each other and putting up with below par service and standards everywhere, arguably because we’ve lost all ambition and are just happy to settle for the lowest bar.

Others said once mediocrity is accepted and allowed to bloom, it’s all we get. Others said it’s been a slippery slope ever since people stopped taking responsibility for anything. Others pointed out all talent has left the building. 

Every sector is crying out for talent and saying what they have the least of is highly skilled workers – a recent EMA survey showed 90 percent of employers reported struggling to find workers and it’s the highly skilled ones that are hardest to find.

Could it be they’ve gone elsewhere?

Could it also be that we’re not attracting those people to this country anymore because they’re looking at us now and going, yeah, you know what, I’ll go to Canada or Australia instead. 

Many of you pointed out the crap service and experiences you have these days compared to how it used to be. Which leads me to the story about the Air NZ crew member made public yesterday. 

A passenger on an Air NZ flight from Wellington to Napier watched on in horror, as the cabin crew member breached civil aviation laws right in front of them, by vaping and texting mid-flight. Vaping, and texting. Right after the safety briefing. 

So here’s what you can’t do on this plane – but don’t mind me while I do it all anyway.

I mean you have to laugh because if we don’t, we might cry. The passenger is so adamant about what he saw that he sent photographic evidence to prove it to the airline, who, unwisely as far as I’m concerned, chose not to respond to him, hence he’s now gone public with it. 

So, the malaise and low bar is twofold here. 

One, the crew member, who, has not only let the airline down and himself down, but exemplifies that whole ‘no responsibility’ thing. Flouting the rules, and if it wasn’t for this passenger, probably assuming he got away with it. 

And two, the airline itself for not taking this passengers’ complaint seriously. Ignoring a passenger, is not good customer service. He got no reply from Air NZ until after he’d gone to the media. 

That’s so often the case, and it’s again, such a low bar for corporates to wait until something’s made public, before they react. It’s actually so uncool. And it happens way more often than it should. 

So now all of a sudden Air NZ will investigate the complaint. About three days later than they should have. 

This sort of laissez-faire attitude typifies the general malaise in this country at the moment, from the top of the corporate ladder all the way to the bottom.

I wish it weren’t the case, I don’t know how we got here, but I do know we will do so much better collectively if we can turn it back around.  

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