Don't blame the Flight Attendant
My trip was fine. I just realized the fact that the flying public doesn�t get it. The airlines don�t care about you anymore. It�s not my fault. I don�t make the rules. I spent almost an hour yesterday arguing with passengers or customers as we�re supposed to call them now. The lady in coach was upset that there wasn�t a meal on a 3 hour flight. I agree. There probably should be. But then again I think, you paid for a ticket. You paid for the luxury of traveling 2000 miles in 3 hours as opposed to driving and it taking you 3 days. The thing that got me was this comment. In ATL there is a huge electronic tv board that tells you the flight number, weather in destination, when you can board and if there is a meal on the flight. When I�m flying in charge I always make sure that it�s working. If it�s not working I ask the gate agent to make a PA saying that there�s not going to be a meal on a flight. Knowing that the board was working I asked her if she saw the board. She said yes. I then asked her if she saw the part where it said no meals. She said yes. She then said that she assumed that it was a mistake because what airline doesn�t serve food on 3 hour flights. I told her pretty much none of them do, unless you are flying JetBlue who charges for food. She told me that she hadn�t had anything to eat in 6 hours. our departure from ATL was 10:10am. I told her I was sorry. I said sorry about 20 times. Then I just kinda snapped. I told her that the airlines consider a meal service the food court you passed on the way to the gate. That�s what they think. She looked shocked. She asked if the airline�s really thought that after paying �all that money� for a ticket that she should be forced to pay inflated prices at the food court. I told her yes. That�s what they thought. She said that THAT was unacceptable. I told her that if I made the major decisions I would be sitting in first class not wearing the polyester uniform. I thought it was kinda witty but she didn�t.
Then in first class, where we served a meal, there were many complaints. This flight used to serve a hot meal. In fact 2 years ago it was a choice. Now it�s just a �snack� which consisted of a grilled chicken roll-up, carrot salad, and a Pepperidge Farm cookie. Now again, the roll-up isn�t great, and since they are mass produced in the kitchen in some far away part of the airport, the portions are iffy. Some are big, some are small. When I am laying the linens on the tray table I ask the man if he wants a snack. He asks me it is. I tell him. He said what�s the other choice. What I wanted to say was, did you hear me say, Mr. So and So, the choices today are... No I said would you like a snack. I told him it wasn�t a choice. He then asked me why? Don�t they get it. I�m wearing polyester. In general people in polyester don�t have to answers to such questions. You�re supposed to be Joe Business Man, shouldn�t you know that? I told him that because of financial reason my airline has cut back on the meal service. He then said that the answer was not acceptable. I just looked at him. He said that he really wanted a hot meal. I told him that we didn�t have any hot meals. We had the chicken roll-up. He then pushed the linen to the floor and said that he wouldn�t eat. I said fine and went to the next passenger, sorry customer. That linen stayed on the floor the whole flight. I have a little integrity left and I�d be damned in I�d pick up that linen. Every time another flight attendant would pick it up I�d stop them, in front of him, and tell them to leave it there. As he was getting off and we were doing that stupid Bye-Bye thing he looks at us, (the Captain and myself) and says that he will never fly my airline again. That threat used to mean something to me. But I live in a city where there is only one major airline. You will fly us. If you live in places like Chicago, Washington DC, Los Angeles; well then yes you can say that. But for now, it�s us.
I know that there are tons of evil flight attendant stories. I�ve heard them all. I really do think that the airlines are full of it when they say that they�re out of money but still give the CEO 1.4 million in bonus. I wish that we served meals because for me, it makes the time go by faster. But those days are over, at least for a while. When I travel on leisure which is rare because this job has made me hate to travel, I bring my own water and some snacks because you never know if there�s going to be a meal. You never know if turbulence is going to keep the flight attendants down the whole flight. I�ve flown from San Francisco to New York and stayed seated the first 2 hours because it wasn�t safe for us to be up. Things happen in life. The main thing I want people to know. I don�t control anything. It�s not like there�s tons of meals in the galley but I�m just evil and I don�t want to give it to you so I just give you the peanuts. It�s not up to me. Every airline has a website and every airline has a place where you can email the company. Please do it. THere's a lot of things that I can be blamed for, rudeness, apathy, etc; but realize that I�m not the enemy I�m just paid to do the enemy�s work.
My Weather
