Greetings friends, family and internet cephalopods!
I venture forth onto my laptop today to share with you 10 reasons why you might be right for a career as a flight attendant, as opposed to {last week’s post}, wherein I gave you all the dirt about the job and why you might possibly NOT be right for the career. For those of you still interested (or bored enough to keep reading what I have to say), here is the sequel. For the few, the proud, the chosen….
- You Might Be Right For A Career As A flight Attendant If….you like to travel. And by travel, I don’t just mean gallavant around the world. There is the glamorous side to travel, and then there is the logistical side of travel. When I use the word, I mean be in perpetual motion while rarely leaving the actual plane. During your tenure, you will fly to some majestic places and stay in swanky hotels to be sure, but what I specifically mean when I say travel is airport hopping. You will sometimes see 5 states in a day and work 12 hours.
- You Might Be Right For A Career As A flight Attendant If….you can live out of a suitcase for 4 days. I am not exaggerating. Sometimes for 4 days and three nights you will be required to have enough clothes, uniform pieces, toiletries, food and entertainment to last you. Juggling your belongings in your accompanying baggage will become an art form of minimalism and physics.
- You Might Be Right For A Career As A flight Attendant If….you can get to sleep and wake up at very odd hours. It is not unusual for there to be a 4 AM wakeup for a 5 AM van to the airport for a 6 AM flight. If you only have a 10 hour layover, you have to make it your business to get enough sleep, and get to bed at sometimes an “unreasonably early” hour, such as 6 or 7 PM.
- You Might Be Right For A Career As A flight Attendant If…you don’t mind repetition. Check the emergency equipment, prep the galleys, open the bins, take your positions, board the plane, read the announcements, do the demos, brief your emergency exits, do the service, collect trash, do the final walk through, deplane the aircraft…..over and over and over. It makes time fly like you’re standing still.
- You Might Be Right For A Career As A flight Attendant If…you are a problem solver. There have been so many times when something that didn’t come up in training happened and I had to think of a solution on the fly (no pun intended). For example, when someone decided to put an open bottle of soda in the overhead bin and when we took off the rows behind them got splattered with the beverage. I had to jump up from my seat with a handful of towels and get to business while we were still climbing. If you can be calm under pressure and quickly execute a rational solution, you may be ready.
- You Might Be Right For A Career As A flight Attendant If…you are good at making small talk. People lean over and talk to you while you’re strapping into your jumpseat, ready to catch up on your favorite celebrity gossip magazine. They ask the strangest things, and expect you to entertain them with your answer. They will tell you about their brother’s wife’s cousin’s new baby and show you pictures. They will explain their latest business venture, and expect you to respond optimistically. If you’re a wizard at smalltalk and the good ol’ “smile and nod”, you might be perfect.
- You Might Be Right For A Career As A flight Attendant If…you can cook in a tiny kitchen. Galleys can get pretty claustrophobic. You have to cook food, place it on trays, move carts around, prepare drinks and scan the flight information sheet. All in one tiny place. This means you’ve got to know how to fully utilize your space.
- You Might Be Right For A Career As A flight Attendant If…you can pour a mean can of soda. Yeah, you’re probably giggling. Who would need skills pouring a soda? Well, when you have 40 minutes to serve 187 people a complimentary beverage using only a tiny galley cart, we’ll see who’s laughing. Oh, and did I mention if you put the ice in the cup first and then pour soda on it, it will overflow every time? You will start cursing to yourself every time someone orders a diet coke, lemmetellya. As a self-described soda jedi, I can tell you there are secrets to learn to increase your speed and skill.
- You Might Be Right For A Career As A flight Attendant If…you can read lips. You’re taking off, the turbines are roaring, and some genius decides this is the best time to ask you a question. You haven’t the slightest clue what just came out of his mouth, but you can lipread the words “flight” “how” and “long”. You confidently answer ” an hour and a half” because you are awesome at your job.
- You Might Be Right For A Career As A flight Attendant If…you can follow direction to a T. The airline industry doesn’t mess around. They have protocol for certain things you have to do, and the order in which you have to do them.
Have I forgotten anything? Have any thoughts? Enjoyed my post? Hated it? Please leave me a comment!