Confessions of a Hostie 3 (7 page)

I have been asked 'What is more important;
safety or service?'

It is a clear choice: Safety.

Did you get there
safely
is a far more significant question than
how was your meal or how was the
movie?

In a perfect world each passenger has a
choice of meals, a working entertainment system, and a seat with
plenty of legroom. It does not always pan out that way. When
passengers complain - and they do - we try not to take it
personally. Some things are out of our control. Even so, you need a
thick skin to be in this job.

Working with Kathy continues to be a
pleasure. She's had 40 years of complaining passengers. There were
no individual entertainment systems inflight when she began flying.
There was next-to-nothing. Reading a book or watching a small TV
screen with only a couple of movies were the only forms of
amusement on a twelve hour flight, yet, according to Kathy,
passenger complaints were a rarity.

Kathy is not the type to start every sentence
with
when I began flying
or
back in my day
..., however I love
learning about the job 40 years ago. I ask many questions. Kathy is
happy to oblige.

When she first joined, the airline the Boeing
747, the
Jumbo
, was the latest and
greatest aircraft to hit the skies.

'I remember how huge it was, how impressive'
Kathy recalls. 'I thought to myself at the time, being the 1970's,
that if this amazing aircraft is flying around now, what will be in
the air by the turn of the century? I remember thinking in the year
2000 that the Jumbo still looked like the Jumbo from 25 years
earlier. I know there were refinements and more efficient engines,
but essentially it was the same aircraft as a quarter of a century
earlier. The aviation industry hasn't changed all that much - and I
thought it would. I know it is much safer. That we can be thankful
for.'

Regardless of the changing times I sense
Kathy is enjoying the job more than ever. I guess she has limited
time left flying, wanting to make every moment count. I admire her
attitude.

I ask Kathy how long she intends to keep
flying. She talks frankly:

'As long as I still enjoy the job - and they
don't force me out the door - I'll keep doing what I do.'

When Kathy said the word
they
, she is referring to our company. Retiring is
something I had not given a lot of thought to - until now.

A job as a flight attendant, particularly
internationally, is unique. My closest non-flying friends in the
workforce include a school teacher, a dentist, a medical equipment
technician, an accounts manager, a café owner, and a police woman.
These are all jobs based in either a head office or one location,
working with the same core of people consistently. We hosties go to
work with different groups of people on almost a daily basis. If
something goes wrong we are accountable, but by-and-large we go
from trip to trip as virtually a self-managed team.

I have an overseer supposedly monitoring my
overall performance, but as I keep a clean slate I don't have any
dealings with that ground-based manager. I am not Danielle Hugh the
individual, I am a multi-digit staff number. If a ground-based
manager wanted to know what I looked like, they would need to look
at a picture on my computer profile. I am sure it is the same with
most large companies, with the added complication that my office is
at over 30,000 feet in the air.

There are advantages to being virtually
anonymous, yet, like most things in life where there is a positive
there is often a negative.

Kathy tells a poignant story: She returned
from a recent trip to find a male colleague sitting on a curbside
gutter crying. She knew the man well, making her way directly to
him. He had 41 years of flying, having returned from his last ever
trip - yet he was not crying because of retirement. He explained to
Kathy he was excited to enter the next phase of his life with no
jetlag and loads of free time. He described of just having returned
his staff I.D. This is the card required to enter the airport, our
company's buildings, car-park, and so on. On the way to the
security section to return his I.D he passed a staff room of
ground-based workers. A woman, who had been with the company for
less than 18 months, was being thrown a party as she was pregnant
and going on maternity leave.

The retiring flight attendant walked past the
office party. After handing-in his I.D, he was escorted from the
building by security personnel.

Over forty years with the one company, the
one job, and he is shown the door. That's it; not even a goodbye.
His tears were due to the impersonal way he had been treated.

'I was not expecting a gold watch or some
sort of lavish party' the man said, 'but to finish my last trip,
made to return my I.D, and then be escorted off the premises, well,
that is humiliating. I don't know what I was expecting, but not
this.'

Kathy treats every trip as if it could be her
last. She wants to leave on her terms, with no regrets. She has
seen so much in her 40 years of global travelling, yet she wants to
see more.

If we have no dreams, we have no passion.

For much of the flight home I talk with Kathy
about what she wants from her remaining 'hostie time'.
Surprisingly, she wants little. She has no bucket lists, no
definite plans. All Kathy wants is to enjoy herself.

With the trip finishing I hug Kathy to tell
her 'I can't express enough how enjoyable it was working with you -
and learning from you. I hope you fly for many more years to come -
and I hope we work together again.'

I meant every word I said. There should be
more Kathys in the world. I do hope I fly again with her soon, yet
the odds are I won't. It is one of the sadder aspects of the job
when working with great people and knowing you may or may not see
them again in the foreseeable future.

I have only two days at home before going to
Asia again; this time to Jakarta. On my last trip to Jakarta I did
some charity work. Dean came with me, so it is a destination we can
share conversation and good memories. There is no charity work
planned this time, although I do have a trip to Africa after my
Jakarta, so that trip may provide an opportunity to
give something back
. For now I have thoughts of
Indonesia.

I love Jakarta, not as a tourist destination,
but for what I call '
me-time
'.
There are so many self-indulgent things to do that are cheap and
accessible. Often I will look at my roster, when knowing I am going
to a place like Jakarta I will organize my upcoming beauty regime
around that trip. Things like haircuts and styling, pedicures and
manicures (or as Mary refers:
treatment for
paws and claws
), massages, facials, and general chores
like having keys cut and duplicated, shoes resoled, clothes
tailored, and watches fixed are so much cheaper and convenient in
Jakarta. The shopping is also awesome.

I love travelling with family and friends,
yet every so often it is nice to have some time on your own. This
next trip will be one of those trips. I actually asked if Helen
would like to come on the trip with me - and she would have loved
it, but she has her niece staying at her house for a few days.
Funnily enough, her niece wants to become a flight attendant. Helen
asked me if I could chat with her while she is in town. These next
two days will be my only opportunity so I'll attempt to shake the
jetlag and see them over coffee.

I joke that all the new female flight
attendants joining our airline are young, beautiful, and all named
either Amber or Holly. Helen's niece's name is
Holly
. When I found out I chuckled out loud. I
have yet to meet Holly (the niece), however Helen describes her as:
21, beautiful, eager, and she has always wanted to be a flight
attendant.

'You just described me - 20-odd years ago' I
teased at the time.

I am looking forward to talking with Holly,
being more than happy to help her or anyone else with a passion for
becoming a hostie. Doing the last trip with Kathy, with her 40
years of flying, has made me think more about my own career. I
reminisce about when I was Holly's age - and my desire to become a
flight attendant. I had little help in applying for the airlines
and even less idea about the realities of the job. I wasn't
completely naive, yet I look back to realize I knew
next-to-nothing. All I recognized is I really wanted the job.

When you have been in a job like mine for as
long as I have, you sometimes forget how badly you wanted it in the
first place. It is not always the case, but it was for me.

Most girls who now fly were like me, having
similar ambitions and dreams. Some crew, however, got the job by
default. I know Mary Gomez did. She had a girlfriend who truly
wanted to be an international air hostess. Mary had given it little
thought, but applied anyway. It is a story I've heard a number of
times; where two people apply, have interviews, and the one who
couldn't really care less about getting the job is the one who gets
it. Mary became a hostie, her friend didn't.

Getting the job is a hit and miss affair,
mostly misses. For the number of candidates very few get the
position. I'd love to tell you that I waltzed into the first
interview and they said 'We love you Danielle and we can't imagine
how we'd survive without you, so can you please start tomorrow' but
I can't. The reality is I was rejected on several occasions, over
several years, before finally securing the job.

I remember my first ever interview. It came
after months of applications to a host of airlines. I thought the
initial interview went well. It did, so I was invited back. I was
so excited. The second interview went well also - or so I thought.
I thought wrong. I was rejected and told I was unable to reapply
for a minimum of another 12 months. I was crushed.

What did I do wrong?

How could I have handled myself better?

What should I do next time (assuming there is
a next time)?

Rejection is a heavy burden, nonetheless I
dusted off the disappointment to apply again.

This time I was asked to attend an interview
for a domestic airline. I'd never really given much thought to
flying domestically, but at the time I said 'what the heck.'

This time I was better prepared. I found out
more about the real role of flight attendants; reading-up, learning
the terminology, the expectations, and the challenges. I was
prepared, relaxed, and confident.

Once again I bombed out.

Maybe it's me?

Maybe I'm not what they are looking for with
this job?

Maybe I am delusional?

I contemplated not applying again. I went
into justification mode: I already had a good job, I was university
educated, why would I want to be a 'trolley dolly' pouring tea and
coffee and handing out trays of food?

When I was at high school I once joked that I
wanted to join the debating team, however someone talked me out of
it.

It was purely a pun. I never wanted to be on
the debating team, but I can tell you that if I set my mind on
doing something, no one would talk me out of it. I have never been
a quitter.

I stopped feeling sorry for myself to apply
once again, including the international carrier who rejected me the
first time round. The year of being 'banned from applying' was up,
although it took almost two years to be
in the
right place at the right time
to get an interview.
During that time I had matured. I worked some customer
service-orientated jobs, studied another language, and improved the
other language I already knew - all to help build my résumé. I
travelled and loved it. I watched the flight attendants on each
flight during my travels, studying their every move. I knew I had
the right stuff. There would be no more excuses.

Third time around, and after two further
interviews, plus an additional medical, I was lucky. I was
accepted.

The day I was issued my uniform was the
proudest of days. I partied long and hard.

I couldn't wait to start my new career and
lifestyle. I hadn't given the training side of things a great deal
of consideration; all I could think about was flying around the
world and staying in five-star hotels. It took several months to be
give a start date, being the commencement of flight attendant
training school. When that day came the euphoria of being accepted
was quickly replaced with the realities of the training. It was to
be a sobering experience.

Mary Gomez was in my training class. I
remember that first day we met. Mary was gorgeous; looking about 16
and acting even younger. Most of the guys in my class were gay, not
all, but most. Even the gay guys were knocked over by Mary's
beauty. The straight guys couldn't stop staring.

Mary was there for one reason only: to party.
I don't think she had given the whole
I want
to be an international flight attendant
thing a great
deal of thought.

On our first day of training I could tell
that Mary was hung-over. She didn't care. She wanted to have a good
time. She had no plans, ambitions, or direction. She still
doesn't.

She dodged many bullets during our training.
The biggest one was emergency training. I took her under my wing. I
can honestly say that if it weren't for me Mary would have had to
choose another career path.