Can't I get through one flight, this week, without someone criticizing every little detail?*
*(for those of you who do not like reading about my complaints, you might not like reading this entry. It's been a rough week at work, so I haven't been inspired to write anything whitty or glamourus.)
The stares... The whispers... The comments... The glares... Passengers do not realize that a plane is a big metal tube, and sounds especially voices, carry further than they think. It's almost like a megaphone. We KNOW when you are talking about us!
I don't know how many times I have made my way throught the cabin doing something or another related to my job, and as soon as I have passed someone I over hear them making some sort of commentary about myself. I have heard comments that people have made about my looks(or in their opinion lack of), height, speed of service, personality, ect. Some are nice, but most are down right rude. The majority of rude comments it seems comes from elderly couples, or from business men who feel that they are entitled to be catered to their every whim.
This week it seems that everyone has been a critic. It all started on our flight back from the Twin Cities. My other flight attendant Cari, caught the cold that I had last week, so she isn't as cheery as she normally is. It's her job to brief the passengers who are sitting in the exit row to ensure that they have the ability to open the exit. We are REQUIRED by the F.A.A. to ask, and get a verbal YES from every passenger seated there. It's a pain, I hate doing it, but those are the rules.
When she went to ask a businessman, and some lady the standard question, he said yes, but the woman kept nodding her head. Cari had to ask her several times before the lady finally said yes. When Cari walked towards the front to where I was, she over heard the guy making comments about her not being in a good mood. Repeatedly through the flight we overheard him making comments to other passengers about Cari's supposed attitude. It's hard to sound cheery when you can't BREATHE through your nose. Cari told me later that when she was doing her safety demo, that the lady kept making gestures towards her to smile. (When someone does that to me, it makes me do the exact opposite)
During the beverage service, I had the misfortune of serving the business type guy, and smilely lady. Lucky me! (Can you hear the sarcasm?) I could tell that the lady was someone who didn't fly very often, and who was very excited about being on an airplane. That doen't bother me, as I have said before. I like being around passengers who are excited about being on my plane.
When it came to the arrogant business guy, I wanted to throw him out of the plane somewhere over Wisconsin, without a parachute. He was busy typing on his laptop. I went to hand him his orange juice with no ice, he just tapped on the tray, with his finger, where his napkin was, instead up taking it from my hands. (EXCUSE ME... I don't think so. Noone treats me like that!) So what did I do? My hand didn't move, and I just repeated, "Here you go!" untill he took it from me.
That's not all folks... As he got off the airplane, he proceeded to complain to myself and eh! Steve about how the other flight attendant, the red head needs a serious attitude adjustment. (Why because she made the woman, in the exit row, say yes?) The only person who needed an attitude adjustment on that flight was him.
Oh, it's not over yet. We were slightly delayed getting out of Des Moines, and even then we had to wait for these two guys who couldn't get to the airport in time. What would they had done if we would have been running on time? When we were taxing in, I was giving my usual arrival P.A.s that I am required to give verbatim by my company and the F.A.A. with no abiviations. When I finished doing what I had to do, one of those guys who we had to wait for started making comments to the other guy about how I had diarrea of the mouth, and never heard someone talk so much in his life. Like I have control over what I can and can't say. Throw me a freaking bone. The only thing that I could do was just glare at him.
Comming out of Des Moines this morning, as you guessed it, we were delayed. We were supposed to get into DSM last night at 9:30. We didn't get in untill well after 12:30am and into the hotel till 1am. So our new show time this morning was 9:30am, instead of 6:30am. We departed at 10am instead of 7:30am. I knew that my passengers weren't going to be happy. I wouldn't be either if I had to wait around for the crew to show up, to take me where I wanted to go. Noone likes waiting, especially not me. Though this woman had the gall to make a comment to the fact that "They probably did it on purpose, there was no weather last night." as she walked on. She was stopped in front of Cari and I for a second while she had to wait for the isle to clear. I wanted to make a comment, but I bit my tounge.
Overall it's been another rough week, with weather delays and all. I hope that next month goes a little smoother. I will be in White Plains, New York...
7 comments:
Makes me glad I didn't choose a career in aviation/customer service. Actually I'm in finance/banking which can be as demanding. Hang in there!
I am sorry you had rude passengers on your flights. I am looking into being a flight attendant, I like to travel.
It sounds to me like these people expected you to be all perky and cheerful, and that everything falls on the crew.
I had a flight from Honolulu to Seattle, and the flight was leaving at noon, we did not get on the plane till 3. It was noones fault and I did not hear anyone complaining.
This day and age, the aircraft needs to be secured for safety and what not, when passengers step on the plane, the crew is what keeps us safe and gets us where we need to go.
Your job is not easy by any means, but you do it well.
Kristin
We all have 'em... though I can't say I'd have blamed you for "accidentally" spilling the OJ on the guy...
to this day it amazes me how far a simple "please" and "thank you" go on board. then again, it also amazes me you can hear anything on the plane. But I'll be sure to say something nice about you if I'm ever on your plane just in case ;)
Sorry to hear that your week was not a good one. Hope it gets better.
Love,
Kat
People have some funny ideas and most of them are fairly ignorant of the facts of aviation safety. Then there's that self-importance issue. I am amazed that even now there are people who try to take sharp objects on planes or who want to use their cell phone as they cruise at 30,000 feet even though it's a breach of FAA regulations and actually quite a serious federal crime.
Anyway, I always try to get in the exit row so I have been asked quite often if I'm willing to throw everyone off the plane in an emergency. I always check the safety card to see exactly how this particular exit opens, you never know, it might change. There is one issue but I keep it to myself. If I ever need to open the over wing exit the door is going out the window where it can't be knocked over and block the exit. The practice of keeping it in the plane, in an emergency evacuation, has been shown to be dangerous. At Christmas I flew on two US MD-80s, two US 767s and two UK 737s. The UK 737s safety instructions said to toss the door, I believe this is the result of the studies at Cranfield Institute. The big surprise was the exit briefing on the first US MD-80 flight, the FA said "toss the door outside, we aren't saving parts".
Anyway, I often talk to the people in the exit row and mostly they are there by request because they are aware it's one of the safest places in an emergency. So mostly they know, because they've been asked on every flight, that it's required and not something you are doing to make their life difficult. I am aware of having a "going through the motions" attitude to this, so bearing in mind what you said I'll try and be more obviously positive in the future.
My first job was at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, home of the Air Accident Investigation Branch, and I've remained interested in aviation safety ever since.
thats funny you say that beause as heather said we do have to get an actual answer out of the person sitting there, so sometimes to get the to talk rather than grunt Ill ask things like, "so did you request the exit row?" and if they nod Ill ask em why and I swear 9 times outta 10 I get "because there is more leg room" trust me... on a jetstream 41 the only seat that has leg room is mine!... Normally people dont't even know they are in an exit row!!
I don't envy your job one bit! I feel sorry for all of you that have to put up with passangers that are rude and unruly. That's one thing that has always kept me from working as a flight attendant... I can't control myself enough. I tell it as it is and I don't care who I piss off along the way. For that reason, I stay on the ground fixing airplanes instead of flying on them.
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