Queen of Air?
Yesterday, while yours truly was trying to be trendy by being sick, this very blog was getting a huge number of hits for people wanting to find out about Ellen Simonetti (a/k/a Queen of Sky). Here's why:
BTW, even though Matt Lauer asked Q of S some mean questions today on Today, she still thinks he is HOT!
Yup, Queen of Sky's case has made the Today show. Not exactly what Delta wanted, I'm sure.
Here's a local NBC station article including a quote from her appearance:
Delta Faces Sex Discrimination Claim
A former Delta Airlines flight attendant is fighting back after being fired.
Ellen Simonetti...filed a sex discrimination complaint against the airline, claiming the company wrongfully fired her.
Simonetti said she was fired because she posted some photos of herself in her Delta uniform on her personal Web site.
Delta found some of the photos objectionable and fired her.
"I don't find them to be exploitative and I don't find them to be inappropriate," Simonetti said. "I was just having a little bit of fun and I don't understand what the big deal is."
Simonetti is claiming discrimination because, she says, male flight attendants with similar Web sites haven't gotten in trouble.
Delta declined to comment on the case.
Post-interview, she responded to some questions:
Q: Ellen appeared very sedated, almost as if she was drugged. She was not the vivacious, gregarious Q of S that I imagined. Perhaps she was just intimidated by the fancy cameras and backdrop.
A: I am not a morning person, and also very shy. If you noticed, I was trembling. This was my first time on LIVE NATIONAL TV, folks! :O
Q: Ellen and Wally were filmed in Austin, rather than in the studio with Matt Lauer. She came on shortly after Jerry Seinfeld, and before some musical act I never heard of (Kenny Chesney).
A: The Today Show did offer to fly me to NY, but I was stressed out enough being on live national TV as it was.
Q: They really played up the pity angle. There was a strange story about how she recently lost both mother and grandmother, and the photos were posted for therapeutic reasons. The story did not hold together well... it came off as very contrived. (I don't doubt that she suffered these losses, but their connection to the photos was tenuous at best.)
A: My blog is therapy to me, and the photos are part of that therapy. I don't understand why people don't believe this. I lost my mother and my maternal grandmother within 6 months of each other and then I found out my father had prostate cancer in June. It been a stressful year (even more so now), and my blog lets me let off steam and have fun. I am NOT a public speaker and I understand that I did not convey this very well in the Today Show interview.
Q: Why doesn't Ellen just read her employment contract? Then she would know that she had violated the rules.
A: I don't have an employment contract. Delta flight attendants are NON-union. Delta does NOT provide its employees with copies of its HR policies.
And, for the record, here's what all the fuss was about (now that she's no longer an employee of Delta, the original pictures are back on the blog):
That last one's the one that probably did it; it implies that airline food is not high cuisine.
More pictures here.
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