Uptight Crew

I know very well that being a flight attendant is not what it once was, if it ever was what it once was. The conditions are worse and the benefits are less. It must be an especially trying job when it comes to the holidays, with frantic schedules, bad weather and passengers behaving about as badly as they ever do. I say all this to confirm that I am sympathetic to their plight, and that is a prerequisite to declaring that I'm not happy with them.

I flew home for the holidays this year, and I never do enjoy flying. This most recent flight was in fact not that bad. The Burbank airport makes things a lot easier, and my usual airline is mostly tolerable. I can't complain too much, except that on this occasion I must say that I'm not entirely pleased with the conduct of the aforementioned flight attendants on this flight. Now, I know they were tired and burned out, because they said so several times during an hour-long flight, but nonetheless...

Apart from owning up to being tired (and perhaps too much so to be totally effective in their duties), they tended to openly discourage contacting them if anything were needed- saying of the flight attendant depicted in the symbol accompanying the call button, "She clearly doesn't work here anymore". I cannot argue with that assertion at all. As a parting shot, we were told facetiously that Phoenix (my destination) was a place where one's "wildest dreams can come true". Laughter was heard throughout the cabin, except from me.

That bon mot was followed by a rather blunt directive to get off the plane. This, as was everything before it, was not delivered in a hostile tone exactly so much as one friendly on the surface but expressive of a sleeping giant underneath that one would not want to wake up. I resolved for the duration of the flight not to need anything or to draw the flight crew's attention to any undue degree, and this seemed to pay off.