Thursday 25 / April / 2024
Muscat: An Oman Air supervisor has been sacked for misconduct after an irate member of the public filmed him ignoring customers while he surfed the web for adult images.
The footage, filmed by an airport visitor waiting at the Deposit Visa office at Muscat International Airport, shows the customer knocking on the visa department window repeatedly and calling for staff to help
him out.
“How can we progress? I’ve been waiting around an hour since I last spoke to this employee. (I’ve been) knocking on the door, knocking on the glass, and said Salam-Alaikum five times. I want someone to receive the visas. I’m at the Visa Deposit,” the man says as he films.
Paul Gregorowitsch, Chief Executive Officer of Oman Air, said: “We do not tolerate this kind of behaviour. All airport supervision staff have been instructed, straight away yesterday morning. Guest service training sessions will be accelerated.”
The footage starts out zoomed into the Visa Deposit office. Behind the glass, a computer monitor is seen through an interior window leading into another room.
“He’s looking at pictures, pornographic pictures, women’s pictures. Let’s see where we are,” he says before zooming out to show himself outside the ‘Visa deposit’ office in front of Costa Coffee at Muscat International Airport.
The employee continues to scroll through what looks like to be the results of a Google image search. The video ends with the visitor knocking on the glass window again.
A letter sent by the CEO to all staff of Oman Air has been circulating on social media along with the video. The letter states that the staff member has been fired and the event has affected the public image of the company.
“The image and brand reputation of our company is heavily affected by some, who are not taking their job and responsibility seriously. We must make it clear that this will not be tolerated. Utmost priority must be given to our guests and a proper and decent service provided at all time without compromise,” the statement read.
The CEO signed off by saying “Our guests are granting us our salaries. It is expected from all of us, without exception, that we fulfill our duties, punctually and with dedication.”
Earlier the Royal Oman Police (ROP) on its official twitter account confirmed that the person filmed was not a ROP staff member.
“ROP confirms that in the visa office in Muscat International Airport, one of the people shown in the video that circulated on social media, does not belong to ROP and is part of a private company. There is an ongoing investigation by the appropriate authorities,” the tweet read.
