RobMac,
I can only wonder at how bad the minority were that caused you to post such an angry post. I am not cabin crew, so I am not defending myself. I work on the other side of the door and these days only have the pleasure (or not) of meeting passengers when the flight is complete and I get to do the 'bye-byes'.
I would just like to explain a few things that may explain a lot to you.
Regarding your first point, that of addressing passengers as passenger, not by their title. On any given day I can fly with up to 24 different cabin crew and carry up to 596 passengers. No one can remember that many names, and to make it easier to understand who we are talking about when info is being passed between the crew (who's names we often can't remember either) we use the term passenger. It is not used to denote the lowest form of life on the aircraft. (That, particularly on long haul, is the FO
) However, when CC are dealing with individuals, I have only ever heard them referred to as Sir or Madam.
Your second point I can concur with part of the sentiment. However being slightly over fond of one's own appearance and and deportment is a side effect of being a people person. the traits go hand in hand yet I have come across many who appear to mince/swagger/swing their hips down the aisle who are at the drop of a hat make the customer feel like the only person on the plane. And your last remark in point 2 was a little below the belt - are you one of these people who are so busy on their mobile phone at disembarkation that you don't notice the pilot stood there? During the flight all communication with passengers is made by PA only because the government says we are not allowed to leave the flight deck unnecessarily.
Point 3. Don't knock airrage if you haven't seen it. My experience of it involved police, but noone was injured. To someone like yourself it may not have appeared to have been airrage. To the person (another passenger, not CC) involved it left them deeply traumatised. I have never encountered CC using airrage as an excuse to be rude.
From my side of the door I don't get to encounter the passengers until the end of the flight, and I can honestly say some of them would test the patience of a saint. You would not believe the things people say to me because they believe 'the customer is king/queen'. There is not a ticket that you can buy, not for any price, that allows you to be unjustifiably rude in a way that was not at all provoked by the staff member. As most airlines don't have a direct hotline to God to get cheap saints, they tend to take on human beings instead, and so you get the wide range of personalities that I encouter at work every day. I admire many of my colleagues (and yes, I do wonder how some of them got their job) but I have to say I could not do their job, and if I ever had to I think every so often I would snap, maybe not in a big way, but maybe I would find it hard to put a smile on my face. So many passengers accuse CC of being sourfaced and yet have no idea that their behaviour was the cause of the unhappy CC.
Robmac, as you said, respect is a two way street.
Edited to finish what I was saying when the electrician switched the power off.