Larry the greyhound is not in the doghouse, but an Air sa国际传媒 official is. While airline staff search San Francisco for the dog that can run 40 km/h, one of their colleagues is learning a harsh lesson about being careful with email.
Larry was in San Francisco airport on Oct. 7 to be shipped to Victoria, where Duncan and Lynda White of Campbell River were waiting to adopt him. The flight was cancelled, and a well-meaning airline employee let Larry out of his cage for a break, despite instructions to leave him inside.
And Larry did what greyhounds do. He ran. More than a week later, he hasn鈥檛 been found.
A U.S. television reporter seeking information on the story got an email from Peter Fitzpatrick, manager of corporate communications: 鈥淚 think I would just ignore it; it is local news doing a story on a lost dog. Their entire government is shut down and about to default and this is how the U.S. media spends its time.鈥�
The email was intended for an Air sa国际传媒 spokeswoman, but went to the reporter by mistake.
The reaction on social media was swift and angry.
鈥淚 think you are a disgrace and should be ashamed of what your employee said about the U.S. and the dog your company was responsible for,鈥� wrote Heather Hollis on the company鈥檚 Facebook page.
Fitzpatrick, a dog owner himself, said he was exasperated with questions he couldn鈥檛 answer and meant the comment as a joke for his colleague. It isn鈥檛 a joke for the Whites, who fear Larry is dead or lost for good.
We have our inside voice and our outside voice. Fitzpatrick forgot that emails should always be written in the outside voice.
