TT- 13 reasons being a F/A is not as glamorous as people think

13 REASONS BEING A FLIGHT ATTENDANT IS NOT AS GLAMOROUS AS PEOPLE THINK

1. When I started in early 1991, there were still weigh-ins. I mean public weigh-ins. They would put us all in a room (about 30-40 of us, male and female), have us get on the scale, and shout out our weights “so that they could be recorded correctly.” Luckily, this practice in now considered discrimination because during that month, I almost got anorexia. (And I would have too, if I didn’t love chocolate so much!)

2. When I started, all female flight attendants, at least at my company, had to have “red lips and tips.” Supposedly this was so passengers could see our hands better when we did the safety demo. Turns out, passengers could not see the male flight attendant’s hands and this caused pandemonium.

3. Fact: Married drunk men will hit on flight attendants regardless of whether they have an engagement or wedding ring. (Because everyone knows, especially middle-aged intoxicated businessmen, that flight attendants married or otherwise, are ga-ga for it.)

4. Seniority is everything in the airlines and is reason to “lord it over” any employee not as senior as you. Personal emergencies, holidays, illnesses, vacations, etc. are not.

5. As a flight attendant, you bid monthly and have a different schedule each month. This ensures you are unable to have any stability in your personal life.

6. As a flight attendant, you get paid according to “flight hours” or hours actually in the sky. You do not get paid for the 1 ½ hours you are required to show up before a flight, nor do you get paid for delays or mechanicals.

7. If you happen to see an insect somewhere on the aircraft, you are required to show no reaction what-so-ever, and look away. Ditto if the captain lands the plane so hard, the O2 masks fall out of the ceiling. Or if the turbulence is so bad, you can't stay in your seat. Or if the plane is falling from the sky.
   

8. You must bring the captain coffee as soon as you take off. Failure to do so will result in being “blacklisted” for your entire flight attendant career.

9. When some is rude to you, you must smile politely in response. When someone throws up on you, you must smile politely in response. When a can of Bloody Mary Mix explodes all over you and even drips down into your shoes, you must smile politely in response. When someone wants to stand in the galley and talk to you for an hour about their job as a used car salesman, you must smile politely in response. And nod appropriately.

10. You must answer all call lights, no matter how many times the kid in row twelve pushes the button. Oh yes, and somehow you must figure out a way to get the baby in row 17 to stop crying. (Nevermind that that’s what babies do.)

11. They hate Americans in Germany and will not give them taxi rides. Trust me on this.

12. It is dangerous to be a blonde woman in Saudi Arabia. (Or a woman at all, for that matter.) But they have wonderful prices on gold over there!

13. One lesson they don’t teach you in training, but that you learn quickly on the job--traveling brings out the worst in people.