Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.
You might think that United Airlines will do everything to avoid bad publicity.
You might also think that all houses around golf courses should be made of glass.
No sooner has one bad publicity flight of fancy left for memory’s final destination than another is there to roll up to the Gate Number Oh Dear.
This time, United stands accused of mislaying a dog.
Some would say this is progress after apparently allowing a prize rabbit to die on one of its planes.
Still, this dog belonged to rapper ScHoolboy Q (yes, he really does spell his name like that).
As sometimes happens with United customers, Q thought this a schoolboy error.
“You guys r idiots @united HOW U PUT MY DOG ON THE WRONG FLIGHT???? I need answers,” he tweeted.
It seems that Q was flying from Missouri to Burbank via Denver. His dog, the richly-named Yeeerndamean, flew from Missouri to Denver. And then to Chicago.
Perhaps if ScHoolboy Q didn’t have more than 2 million Twitter followers, this would have been just another day, just another little mistake in an airline’s rather bad, no good, really pretty horrible — but highly lucrative — year.
Instead, here it was plastered all over the media as yet another episode of Friendly Skies: Blunderdome.
I asked United how it could be that ScHoolboy’s pooch — or, perhaps, poocH — went to Chicago, while another person’s dog was assigned to the rapper.
Sadly, all I got was this statement: “Our customer’s dog was safely reunited with its owner Friday evening. We have been in touch with our customer to sincerely apologize for this mistake and are providing a refund.”
You really shouldn’t do this kind of thing to anyone. But certainly not to someone who’s signed to Top Dawg Entertainment.
Yes, ScHoolboy Q is threatening to sue.
You guys r idiots @united HOW U PUT MY DOG ON THE WRONG FLIGHT???? I need answers
— ScHoolboy Q (@ScHoolboyQ) July 14, 2017