Next Round of FA Stories

Have a couple of good new tales from the sky that happened (or I heard about) recently:

1. On a media-crowded flight, one of our frequent flyers stood up (in the exit row), took his pants down and delicately stepped out of them. He then placed them on his seat and made his way - in just his boxers - to the back of the plane. When the astonished flight attendant in the rear of the plane spotted him, she asked him if he was ok. "Fine," said he. "I just got hot." When she told him he'd have to put his pants back on, he agreed without complaint, went into the lavatory and took care of business, went back to his seat, where he put his pants back on and TOOK OFF HIS SHIRT!

2. I spent more than the normal amount of time with a mom and her two young kids on a flight recently. Both kids were adorable, especially the little girl, Ruby, who was around 3. Her big brother had horrible pain in his ears during descent, he had spilled his oj earlier, they needed ear buds for the tv, etc. This is all in a day's work for an FA, so I hadn't considered that I had given them any special attention. It's just what we do, ya know? I forgot that it wasn't all in the norm for little Ruby, though. When they were exiting the plane, she enthusiastically threw her little arms around my legs and gave me the biggest hug ever, huge grin on her face. Made my week!

3. I had a lady on my last trip sitting in the exit row. Another FA observed her with a neck brace on her neck. Some discussion among the three FAs and the gate agent revealed she had taken it on and off a number of times since arriving at the gate and it seemed she never had it on when speaking with an airline employee. Hmm.....Anyway, it wasn't a good idea for her to be physically impaired in even the smallest way and still sit in the exit row. When approached and asked about it, she stated she needed it "only for traveling", but she was perfectly capable of opening the emergency exit, and besides, her husband could do it. It never occurred to her that if there was an actual emergency, her limitation, albeit small, could possibly have dire consequences. And what if her husband was not conscious? She claimed to be a former FA and raised such a stink when we made her trade seats out of the exit row. If she was a former FA she should have understood all of this already. We got witness statements, and got many a chuckle when all of them unanimously agreed the lady was out of line and our employees handled the situation calmly and professionally.

4. All 5 of my crew members almost got run down by an airport shuttle in Kansas City the other morning. A police cruiser was parked where the hotel shuttle was supposed to park, leaving no room for the hotel shuttle so our van driver parked in the "blue zone" intended for the airport buses. The bus driver was so livid at this he laid down on the horn and screeched to a halt just behind us, barely missing two of our FAs and all of our baggage. The shouting match that ensued was not pretty. Hating conflict the way I do, I high-tailed it out of there and ran to security!

5. My new favorite story that happened this week though, is this one: I was coming through the cabin with a trash bag when a gentlemen I was right beside poked me in the arm, then waved his finger in a circle over his tray table. All without saying a word or even bothering to look up from his book. Apparently he was requesting that I clean the used service items off his tray table. A small thing, true, but it can grate on the nerves when one is treated so discourteously without even a nod or a thank you. Especially considering that 99% of folks gather their trash items for you and place them directly into your hands. I just about lost it in front of him I was laughing so hard. At least I can still laugh at it....