BOAC,
She felt humilated and confused. It seems the FD thought it was spurious which is why they weren't acting with any urgency.
Mesh's example actually goes to the heart of the problem. I could be just misreading the comment but Mesh seems to suggest that the CAs should have put their masks on and awaited further information. I'd like to know if this was a rapid decompression. Otherwise, what about 'monitoring systems', cabin altitude warning etc?
I know of a similar situation where the crew were down the back on a ferry flight when the masks dropped. No calls from the FD. The No1 went up to ask. The guys had not noticed that the cabin had climbed above 14.5.
On another occasion masks dropped, Crew were serving drinks but sat down and donned masks. Then the FD start chiming. No calls. The No1 does the monkey swing from mask to mask .. to find the Captain collapsed and the FO in dire need of help.
SOPs bring some order to the operational world. They don't always work as planned. JSL was simply suggesting that if something doesn't seem right in a training situation, what is the chance of it working as planned when needed.