At my airline it is no issue whatsoever, for me personally as well. Our male senior cabin crewmembers are generally easy to work with, both the gay and straight one. Among the women there is a definite difference between the single and married ones. The female senior cabin crewmembers who are alone and in their mid-forties and up, are generally very complicated people (of course not all). I am sure someone could earn their doctorate figuring out this group of staff.
In a CRM course we once had the analogy that within a crew the captain functions along the line of a father within a family, and a senior cabin crewmember as the mother (independent of gender). In the American vernacular there is a saying that states: “if daddy ain’t happy, daddy ain’t happy, if mother ain’t happy, no one is happy”. I think it sums up the way things work on board of our aircraft. If the captain is an asshole it can be a uniting factor within a crew. The first officer gets sympathy because he has to work in close proximity with the jerk, and the crew rallies as a reaction to the captain’s disposition. The captain is left dealing with his own behavior. On the other hand if the senior cabin crewmember isn’t functioning it makes life hell for the rest of the cabin staff, and the captain’s life gets much more complicated trying to make up for the deficiencies. In these cases I tend to come home just drained of all energy. This group isn’t capable of dealing with criticism, and has very little ability to self analyze.
It is much more important to be up to date on your job, be aware of the people (other staff and more importantly the passengers) around you and how your behavior impacts on those people, and most importantly to be happy with what you are doing. Gay or not is immaterial.
Last edited by Otterman; 13th Jul 2007 at 16:46.