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Show jllD)A1LEgLm?Jg UJJUHJ1 " T II M I 1 1 111 I'm T-l Let Others "Save Face" T M. KELLAN, Surrey, England, is a junior captain employed by a I . world-wide air-charter company. He is also a member of the local council of the association which is the pilot's trade union in England. "i-mia -jja&v-' For two and a half years the company had paid an overseas allowance of around a hundred dollars (But in British currency, of course). They knew that there was much dissatisfaction about this rr"J?3g?T4j payment and they wanted to remove that ' dissatisfaction at as little cost to the com- t y . pany as possible. So their first move was to 4?TA send a letter asking for expressions of opin- Jvv-.V J-ion J-ion among the crew members. This was fol- IXy-v., " ' lowed by another letter stating that the --y majority had agreed to a decided reduction, s -- and also a change in duty. Then came a third yi letter stating that this amount was limited I mli . . , to certain of the crew. The company obviously ob-viously was determined to settle matters in Carneyto its own way. . , And now dissension was rife. Everyone felt that a dirty trick had been played by the company; tempers were soaring. Captain Kellan felt that he should do something about it What he would have preferred doing was to write and tell the company officials that they had offered apples but had given crab-apples. He knew he would have much on his side, and he knew that the company wasn't feeling too comfortable as those officials wondered how their moves would be taken. But Captain Kellan thought it over. To write as he felt would ) irritate the officers. He knew that every roan had a nobler side, to he decided to appeal to the nobler motives of those who had made these moves, and to write in such a way that would enable them to "save their faces." ( J: ..'-taiiusfl!fesUif ' i a So he wrote a friendly personal letter to the managing man-aging director, taking the attitude that he wanted to help all concerned, and not just the crew members. The letter is too long to quote here, but, in effect he said that the men were telling each other that "a fast one has been pulled on us." He added that he felt the company would lose a lot of good will if they carried out their intentions. Then he suggested that an unintentional mistake had been made that would cause great harm for the company. What happened? Well, just what Captain Kellan hoped for. He was thanked and he was told the mistake would be rectified. Had he written as he had at first wanted to write, he saya he knowj he would have been the sufferer when his name came up for pi' .'.'motion. |