Marks: 2
In 2009, the Telegraph reported that Virgin Airlines had offered a catering consultant job to a disgruntled passenger who'd written a scathing six-page letter denouncing the airline's in-flight cuisine. Oliver Beale, a 29-year-old art director for a London-based advertising agency, sent the letter to Sir Richard Branson, the airline's founder and chief executive, after an apparently unpleasant flight from Mumbai to London.
Beale's letter somehow made its way to the Internet and became a sensation, due to its creative vitriol. Beale described the flight as a "culinary journey from hell" and wrote that opening the lid on his in-flight meal and looking at the entree made him feel as if he were a young boy unwrapping a Christmas present and discovering that it contained a dead hamster. "It's your hamster, Richard," Beale wrote. "It's your hamster, and it's not breathing. That's how I felt when I peeled back the foil."
Branson reportedly called Beale and personally apologized for the food, and offered Beale a job evaluating the dishes being considered for Virgin's menu. Beale, who told the newspaper that Branson was "incredibly nice about the whole thing,” didn’t indicate whether he would actually accept the employment offer.