Cabin crew stereotypes?

[johnrizzo2000]

Hi all

I just wondered what you all thought about the views of people who seem to think that cabin crew are just like the stereotypes; like a male cabin crew cant possibly be straight, and a female cabin crew is missing brain cells! it annoys me that people immediately have their minds made up about you, just because you work in customer services, in a steel tube flying from place to place!

[ozangel]

Stereotypes will always be part of any job.

Walk in to McDonalds, what do you expect to see behind the counter?

I personally dont get offended by people stereotyping - as the word stereotype in itself screams to me that there are more than likely many exceptions.

At any airline there are always a number of your stereotypical crew, the ageing male with the creepy moustache whos more feminine than half the females, the ditzy young girls, camp boys, whiney crew whos daily highlight is moaning about their last trip.

What I noticed far outweighs those stereotypes in numbers is:

-The single mothers
-The family men
-The part time nurses
-The ex lawyer
-The pilots, doctors, lawyers, accountants, in training
-Gay pilots
the list goes on and on.

I have had the pleasure of working with a father daughter team, two sisters, a married couple etc.

The stereotypes are apparently socially more interesting. I personally love having a giggle when sketch shows send up aviation. Whether it be the elderly senile captain, or the mincing grrreat puff (to quote magda off fast forward) of a flight attendant, you have to be able to laugh.

Not having a go at you, but if a flight attendant gets annoyed as being cast as a stereotypical flight attendant by the travelling public, theyre in the wrong job. Theres far more interesting and important things to fill your mind with. Besides, it can be fun to 'act up' every now and then.

[purr777]

Very interesting discussion on Big Brother's Big Brain last night when they talking about transient professions such as waiters, crews etc as only ever forming shallow relationships with people. They were referring to Richard in the house.

[Virgin82]

YO!

I am not blowing my own trumpet... But I am a qualified nurse and currently studying for my masters degree... All my uni mates and friends that are doctors and teachers think I have a great job flying and they think we are all great and most comment on how hard and tiring it is........

I think it is mostly the uneducated who think we are all idiots or "tarts with carts" There are some wicked and interesting people that do our job and who cares what others think we know its hard work and you do need a brain to do it!!

Happy Landings xx

[johnrizzo2000]

i'm not actually crew, i'm ground staff!

[flyblue]

Stereotyping is a way for humans to save time on trying to define things. If you've had an experience before with a gay CC, even if it was on a TV sitcom, you'll save this information and use it (= expect the same) the next time you are dealing with CC.

We all are guilty of categorizing people: the Americans, the Brits, the Arabs, the dentists, the pilots, and expect from them some stereotypical kind of behavior, although each one of them has a different identity and is a different individual.

Being aware of all that, I decided to give people (belonging to a certain group) the "benefit of the doubt" and do some "sniffing" before drawing my conclusions (except about lawyers of course. In their case one is allowed to expect the worse).

[flybywire]

Being aware of all that, I decided to give people (belonging to a certain group) the "benefit of the doubt" and do some "sniffing" before drawing my conclusions (except about lawyers of course. In their case one is allowed to expect the worse).

I totally agree with you flyblue!!!! The thing that is interesting here though is, what part can you sniff??? ;):E

I don't mind stereotypes, especially crew ones, as they always make me laugh. I love it when I say to people my other half is a skipper and of course
they start making fun of this even bigger stereotype. However they soon change their minds when they realise that we're two people who've been musicians since we can remember, who made a career out of their flying passion in recent years but still remain musicians inside-out....and that's why we got together in the first place. Not a stereotype anymore then!

The same applies to dentists for example (you imagine they take pleasure in making you suffer), good looking pop singers who cannot sing, politicians who try to make themselves rich by making your earnings disappear with more and more taxes, doctors' receptionists who have been trained to be rude, and call centres operators who are called Ali or Singh!!

I believe that like in anything there's a bit of truth, and as for our industry we do have male CC who are very camp and female ones who can only talk about their wedding day and file their nails, pilots who are so ancient they expect you to bow everytime you enter the F/D and those who really have one mistress in every airport. There are also stereotyped passengers who think they can ask us out because they believe that flings and superficial relationships are part of the job!!:E

Stereotypes are not always bad...ask Branson, he uses them to attract more people to fly with VS!:D Besides, some of them can keep pax entertained when the IFE is not working ;)

[random_bandit]

Total agreement...as soon as I told people I got the job as crew...I was suddenly gay!
I always thought I worked for a grown up company
*Laughs*

[jennihopkins]

I must admit I haven't come across many people who hold these views of cabin crew since starting the job. When I told people I was applying for jobs as an air hostess i got the usual "oh you're just a glorified waitress" comments. but people now realise how much hard, tiring work it is and how there is a lot more ot it than serving tea and coffee.

even passengers have made comments to me saying "i thought this was such a glamorous job, but you guys dont even get to sit down do you! you are always oon your feet" and many of the passengers who sit in front of me while i am seating for t/o or landing say how they admire the job we do because we are so busy and have so much to do.

so i tihnk it is the minority of people who have these stereotypes. people who cant look further than their own hands!

[WexCan]

I have two career paths that I would like to follow. One is flight crew, the other cabin crew. Flight crew is difficult becuase of money, and cabin crew... well hopefully I'll get a CC job at some point. (Basically, I just want to fly - I'm sure some can relate.)

Anyone who knows about my little ambitions is always confused. They wonder why the hell I'm even considering becoming CC. Glorified waiter, haven't got two brain cells to rub together, gay, gay gay etc. To be honest, my response is to just change the subject. They can believe what they want to beleive - I know as long as I'm still interested in a crew job/in a good crew job what they think doesn't really matter. These are the same people who think that all gay men are camp or who think all blondes are stupid. Not worth wasting my time on them, to be honest.

[apaddyinuk]

When I was growing up all I wanted to be was like my dad, a pilot. I laughed off the idea of being crew because thats what my mum was. After 9/11 when the chances of getting a cadetship with the majors became a distant dream I decided to give crew a go while I saved a bit of money to put myself through flight training. Im now loving it and I have found myself admiring mum more for the job she did...albeit she did it back in the glamour days.
Instead of saving for flying school Im now studying for an honours business degree so that I can get more into the management side of things (nice management, not evil management).
Now it probably doesnt help the stereotype thing when I also mention that Im gay, but im certainly no mincer and regularly put the straight lads in awkward positions when the presume im straight!!! :}

[flyblue]

Just before logging into PPRuNe I downloaded some pics I took last night on a flight from GIG. There's a very straight male collegue being hugged and kissed by 1, 2, 3... 7 girls :E


Yeah, gay...:rolleyes:

[WexCan]

Now it probably doesnt help the stereotype thing when I also mention that Im gay, but im certainly no mincer and regularly put the straight lads in awkward positions when the presume im straight!!! :}

I'm exactly the same.

[johnrizzo2000]

I would also love to be a pilot, but cant afford it! The thought of settling into a 9-5 office job after university would kill me! I'd like to try being crew for awhile, and hopefully become a pilot or management! Some crew I meet in the airline I'm working for, are very camp, but there seems to be a lot of straight guys to! I'd try and not let the stereotypes bother me, and i'm sure working long-hauls and spending layovers with a bunch of female fa's would help me settle in! When I meet some of them on the ground, I kick myself for not being crew on their flight!

[friarkeasley]

same here as well. I can't afford to train to be a pilot yet, that is why I have applied and accepted a job as CC. I also laughed off the idea of being cabin crew a few years ago before I realised what it involved becoming a pilot (and how much money it takes!)