Turned down by airlines?
I was offered a job with the airlines after going through the selection process. I was then offered a job on a privately owned airplane prior to the start of training at the airline. I realized I could make a better living on this side of the fence and have never looked back. I fly an airplane with all the latest bells and whistles and have 6500nm range.
The copilot at Colgan Air was making 16k US a year. Mickey D's will pay you more than that. As to uniformed crew members your cabin attendants will pretty much take care of that, how come they don't wear stripes and such? What you think of as a uniform is just an outfit if they are by themselves. Maybe you should wear High Visibility vests?
Regarding the unwashed comment I used to drive a truck for my dad's little trucking company. Still have a commercial drivers license and love to drive when I can.