Steven Slater and the unglamorous life of a flight attendant

Steven Slater and the unglamorous life of a flight attendant

published in The Washington Post  
see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/13/AR2010081304919.html

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By Joseph Lopez

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Whatever happened on Jet Blue Flight 1052 on Monday clearly touched a nerve. Much has been written this week about flight attendant Steven Slater, who used the plane's intercom system to deride a passenger, announce that he was quitting his job and then took the emergency slide to the tarmac. Web discussion abounded about whether Slater had been surly, whether he was provoked by the passenger whose bag allegedly hit him in the head and whether he wants his job back.

I'm intrigued that discussion is also bubbling over whether flight attendants are right to stand up for themselves. Post columnist Petula Dvorak wrote this week that, "So many of us want to deploy that chute, too . . . but often it's to escape from someone like [Slater]."

It's a hard job. I know. I did it.

I was a flight attendant for an international airline for almost a year. Some airline employees may strive to make the job look fun, but it isn't.

Passengers never see our pre-flight meetings with oral exams about procedures, safety checks, galley preps and clean-ups in between flights. Trained in self-defense, we also are prepared to deal with hijacking and other security problems. Many flight attendants are college graduates -- I have two graduate degrees -- yet a number of passengers treat us like dummies and servants at their disposal.

I vividly recall the late-night flight on which a passenger in a suit and tie stepped out of the restroom and waving his wet hands at my face, spraying water on me as he complained about the dirty sink. In the name of customer service, flight attendants are trained to listen to passenger complaints that can border on the abusive, so unless it was a matter of safety and security I had to bite my tongue. I did think this was a potential health risk, but the senior member of the cabin crew told me to let it go.

On another flight, a businessman told me he was in the shipping trade. Thinking we were having a friendly chat, I asked which company he was with. He brushed me off, saying "You wouldn't know [it]." I didn't tell him that an uncle of mine works in shipping; instead I walked away.

When the fasten-seatbelts signs are off, the job of a flight attendant is to be a glorified waiter or waitress. I don't miss those fingers poking my waist, arms and shoulders as adults demanded food, playing cards, beer or wine. What really galled me, however, were the bodily fluids on the lavatory floor and sink and around the toilet bowl. Most planes do not have space for mops. In our crisp uniforms, we had to get on our knees and clean the mess.

I was hit by bags being stowed in or taken out of the overhead compartments. Check-in employees don't weigh every carry-on, and overweight bags frequently made their way on board. Once passengers boarded, flight attendants generally didn't squeeze through the incoming line to pass a bulky bag to cargo attendants. We found a place for it.

Some consider being a flight attendant glamorous. When I did the job, based out of New Zealand, our cabin crew supervisor used to say we were like peacocks, strutting our plumage in the airport concourse or down the plane aisles. Some parts of the job were indeed fun: meeting a wide variety of people, most of whom were courteous; getting free or discounted flights; the overnight or days-long layovers that gave time for sightseeing. But after a while, the ever-changing flight schedule takes a toll on employees' body clocks and family life. And even first-class food begins to taste boring.

That's one reason why, sitting in the jump seat one day, preparing for landing, I asked myself, "Is this the job I want to do the rest of my life?" I didn't use the emergency slide to ground myself. I resigned.

And reading comments like Dvorak's this week, I empathized with passengers incensed at unhelpful or downright callous flight attendants. Flight attendants behaving that way are not doing their jobs.

It would help, though, if passengers keep in mind that their frustrations in flight are often not sparked by the attendant in front of them but the airline. And perhaps before more intercoms or emergency slides are invoked, we could all remember that common courtesy can go a long way in the sky.

Joseph Lopez, a flight attendant from February to December 2007, is a freelance writer. His e-mail address is writetojosephlopez@yahoo.com.

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