Stewardesses

Published on July 13, 2004 By Jamie Burnside In Misc

Just yesterday my family and I were on an airplane. We had a nice flight, the baby was very well-behaved, and the food was about as good as any airplane food that I have ever had.

The thing that struck me about the travel however were the stewardesses. Being a stewardess -although probably not the easiest or most rewarding job in the world- doesn't seem like all that bad of a job. The work is regular, the pay is reasonable with benefits, and occasionally there is an opportunity to visit interesting places.

What bothered me the most was the obvious contempt for the passengers that most of the stewardesses displayed on the flight. Sitting next to the galley, I could hear those ladies go on and on bellyaching about the passengers, then if someone actually asked for anything a number of the stewardesses were awfully rude to the passengers. (I wonder what they're so angry about?)

If I owned an airline, maybe I would make a policy that would allow the stewardesses to accept tips, that may at least encourage them to be civil to the passengers (as well as give them incentive to bring the beer cart around more often.)

(Bringing around the drink cart more often would actually cost the airline money, wouldn't it?)

Comments

pseudosoldier

on Jul 13, 2004

Flight attendantses.
And, yeah, they should be nicer. I think they go through the same thought processes that a lot of service industry people do (from what I've seen, anyway, and that's by no means all-inclusive). They aren't very often treated like people by the customers, so it's pretty easy for them to treat the customers in a similar fashion.

KellyW0498

on Jul 13, 2004

Ahhh..pseudo beat me to it..Flight attendants..*

*
I have noticed that as well the last couple of times I have been on a plane.
KellyW

Castle

on Jul 13, 2004

political correctness 101 lol
I understand that flight attendants is the only officially accepted term for this occupation now but I'm curious as to how/when/why the term steward(ess) became demeaning?

I used to work airport security many years ago and understand what it's like to deal with hundreds/thousands of angry, impatient people all day. It's hard to keep on the happy face when you're constantly a public punching bag but it was never acceptable to to lash out in a rude manner. Most of us were very good at handling this. Those that weren't were looking for new employment. It comes with the territory.

Gideon MacLeish

on Jul 13, 2004

The service industry is incredibly demanding and its employees are vastly underappreciated. That being said, you are right. As a customer, you are the reason their job exists.

I do agree with you, though, that giving tips isn't a bad idea. The only downside to that is, in the industry even crappy service is expected to be tipped.

Janders

on Jul 13, 2004

I was offered a Flight attendent postion, so I know a lot about pay and benifits
1. Pay is not resonable, you qualify for welfare for about the first 5 years.
2, You do not have a regular schedule. You sit and wait to fly most of the time until you are off reserve which can take up to three years. While you are sitting at the airport waitng you are only paid around 2 dollars an hour.
Flight attendents fly 2-6 day trips at a time. So if they are at the end of a trip they have probably dealt with 1000's of crabby travelers by the time you have them.

That being said, it is still a service industry position, whose ,ain goal is porviding safe service to their guest. They should be more friendly.

pseudosoldier

on Jul 13, 2004

One of my cousins-in-law was a stew... flight attendant for a bit, before being laid off, and it seemed to be quite accurate to what Janders has stated.

I don't think it's that steward is a demeaning term... it's just that they weren't "stewards," they were "stewardesses." It was one of those gender specific roles, y'know? Like nurses. Now we have flight attendants and male nurses. Go figure.

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