Reputation is hard to build up, but easy to break down. WestJet employees have recently shown their unprofessionalism when they lost two cats while loading them on the plane in Vancouver. The two cats were adopted from the Squamish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals only half a year ago, and due to their past with abusive owners, have yet to open up and approach humans. With the cats’ unsociable personalities, WestJet had a tough time trying to find them. According to the owner of the cats, Kelli Seepaul, WestJet was not “…doing enough. Their priority isn’t to find [her] cats but it’s to do other things…”

As a service business, employees are required to put their customers as first priority. On the WestJet website, they even stated that one of their values was “commitment to safety.” Ironically, WestJet is not meetings the expectations from their customers. Although some could defend the company and say that the loss of the cats was simply a mistake, employees should have dealt with the situation with more professionalism. From trying to keep the media from knowing about this story to frantically trying to find two unapproachable cats, WestJet has failed even their own expectations.