I think this little letter in response to an AOL article on Cabin crew perfectly addresses alot of ignorance and misgivings about CC. I for one, thoroughly enjoyed reading it and applaud the F/A who wrote it. It is a bit long but bellieve me well worth reading.
AOL ran an article on the 10 cushiest jobs and the
author, Ms. Lorenz, called a flight attendant's job 'cushy', hence the
following letter. Within minutes after this response was received, the
career article was pulled from AOL's web page. This is such a perfect
description of our job... and unless you walk the walk and talk the
talk, you know nothing!
Dear Ms. Lorenz,
I have been a Flight Attendant for 33 years. I am so enraged at your notion that my job is 'cushy' that I am shaking as I write this email.
Do you know how tiresome it is to travel through the process of the TSA at an airport? Imagine starting every work day with the same scrutiny..as if you intend to do nothing but bring harm to your customers and fellow coworkers. In other words, begin every working day treated as a suspected criminal with no one to back you up that you are the last line of defense for their loved ones against the very people they suspect you of being....EVERY day... Imagine being felt-up and touched every day you go to work, just to get to the office..
Where else can someone be served several meals, with free cocktails and several types of wine, then snap their fingers to have the dishes removed and never be expected to leave a tip?! Such awesome respect, huh? Now imagine who saves their sorry butt if they choke on that meal or have chest pains from overeating?
After 9/11, our job changed so much it is barely recognizable. We don't take merely coats stow carryon bags while boarding a plane now..we are also watching the behavior of every passenger coming onto that plane to make sure anyone who shows signs of harming anyone is removed BEFORE they have the chance to hurt anyone. WE answer to the passenger who is afraid to sit next to someone speaking Arabic into a cell phone. We are forced to act normal when the hair on our necks are standing up after watching someone board the flight we have been trained to watch out for.
WE are the ones that move around the planes to guard suspicious activity, while passengers watching movies are too busy to even notice.
WE are the ones who grab the heart defibrillator when someone collapses in the aisles and try to save a life that would be lost on a street corner. WE are the ones that stop a shoe bomber from blowing up the entire aircraft with your loved ones coming home for Christmas.
Now let's discuss our 'cushy' job. I am now paid less than I was in 1979 and work 40% more hours because the executives were allowed to file for bankruptcy and take my pension and my pay to pad their own bank accounts. I cannot retire because I cannot live on $35 a month for every year I have worked days and nights without being with my family for holidays or soccer games so said CEO can reap millions of dollars of my money.
My 17 hour work trip takes sometimes 4 days..over 75 hours on the job.
To work an 85 hour month takes over 20 days..24 hour days..working all night, staying awake while everyone around me sleeps. My days are your nights and my nights your days. Do you feel odd for a day or two after the Daylight Savings Time changes? Try 24 of those every 6 days and see how you feel. Do you check in for work and not go on the clock until you have been working for over 3 or 4 hours for free? Do you stand up watching for terrorists all night on a job where you used to cover people with blankets and assure them of a safe night's sleep...all for 40% less of your 1979 pay?
The weeks we are fighting Congress to be covered by OSHA and FMLA, as every other American worker is, you decide to publish this article to undermine our efforts. Thanks.
Your assumption that my job is 'cushy' is the most incorrect and anger inciting thing written about a career that is there to make sure you and y your family can go to grandma's for Christmas or to a vacation I have not had in years, and all in a safe and comfortable manner. You have all day..sometimes several days..to write an article several hundred words long ... cool!
Can you work a defibrillator? Save someone in a diabetic coma? Tell a terrorist from an idiot? Run to someone who collapses in a supermarket?
Guess what..we have journalism degrees, medical degrees, law degrees...lots of degrees. We are not just overpaid waitresses.
Waitresses make more money than we do and they go to their own beds in their own homes at night!
I do have the choice to change my line of employment. I choose to do this job because it's not just a job, it's a way of life. When a jet crashes, we all feel the pain. When a plane is blown-up, we all feel the fear. I have been trained and retrained every year for my job and I am good at it.
I hope you take a few moments to reinvestigate your feelings on my job.
Feel free to join me for a week and walk in my shoes. Perhaps you will then understand how hideous and demeaning the word 'cushy' really was to thousands of professional Flight Attendants who lay down their lives every day to protect your travel across the world.
Northwest Airlines F/A