Amercian Airlines - Making a bad situation worse

When American Airlines' fleet was largely grounded recently for technical reasons, it gave the airline a great opportunity to display their crisis management and customer service skills. Opinion suggests that they failed to do this, and as always a breakdown in communication was a major factor. One prominent communications specialist writes about her first hand traumas with the airline.

Read Pamela Baggett-Wallis's article here

Falsely branded a paedophile - The dangers of ID theft

How many of us shop online, secure in the comfort that any consequence of fraud will be covered by the bank? This chilling story tells how one man lost much more than he ever imagined when his card details were used without his knowledge. Read the article from the BBC website here:

Crying on TV - an exploitation of misery?

In recent times we have seen a number of family and friends in tears at press conferences, or during an interview following a personal tragedy. Michael White argues that this grief should be kept private, and that the trend towards crying on camera is not a healthy one. Read his Guardian blog post here

British workers lack motvation

Bad news for British bosses, in a recent survey from Investors in People. Around 30% of workers suffered from de-motivation in their jobs, and almost half were thinking of changing their jobs in the next 12 months (if they can be bothered, I presume).

Read the Management Today article here:

docleaf Briefs

Russians have long used drink to take the edge off workplace stress: lately one man's senses were so dulled he failed to notice a knife stuck in his back by a colleague, newspapers reported Thursday (AFP).

The newspapers Komsomolskaya Pravda and Gazeta both reported the case of a factory electrician in the town of Vologda, north of Moscow, who was stabbed by the building's security guard as they were having a drunken argument. Passing out at the factory, the man, Yury Lyalin, 53, awoke the next morning and attempted to resume his work duties, but was sent home by his superiors due to his inebriated state. No one noticed the 15-centimetre (six-inch) blade stuck between his shoulders.

Lyalin took a meandering course home -- at first missing his bus stop -- had a bite to eat, decided to lie down for a while and was only alerted to the knife in his spine when his wife woke him hours later, the newspapers reported. The knife "went into soft tissue and by pure luck did not touch any vital organs," a doctor who treated Lyalin, Victor Belov, was quoted by Komsomolskaya Pravda as saying.

Lyalin was philosophical after the event: "We got drunk together. Things happen when you drink," he said.

And finally.... Be careful where you rest your eyes while daydreaming on public transport. An Italian man was given a suspended jail sentence for staring too intensely at a woman sitting in front of him on a train.

A judge sentenced the man in his 30s, whose name was not revealed, to 10 days in prison and a 40 euro ($63) fine after a 55-year old woman filed a complaint for sexual harassment. His lawyer said on Friday he would appeal the sentence. The court will explain its verdict later.

The two met on two separate occasions in 2005 on a commuter train going from Lecco, a town in northern Italy, to Milan. The first time, the man sat next to the woman but she felt he had moved too close for comfort. The next day, the man sat in front of the same woman and according to her complaint, stared at her for the whole journey.

The two did not speak.(Reuters)