"I am not your Mom!" Wow!
Jun 24, 2013, 1:16 pm
#46
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Singapore
Programs: SQ KF (ex-UA)
Posts: 588
I have gotten the lecture about saying "please" in the past too. From an ex-CO crew, unsurprisingly.
Usually I am quite polite but there are times when I am tired, distracted, etc and forget to say please. In which case the role of the FA is to be professional and do their job. Lecturing customers on manners is totally uncalled for.
FA's should direct such lectures to their colleagues, many of whom could benefit from such training.
Usually I am quite polite but there are times when I am tired, distracted, etc and forget to say please. In which case the role of the FA is to be professional and do their job. Lecturing customers on manners is totally uncalled for.
FA's should direct such lectures to their colleagues, many of whom could benefit from such training.
Jun 24, 2013, 4:07 pm
#47
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 2,042
Was the tube oversized? Were the over-head bins full? In that case, the FA's comment may have been over-the-top. If not, you come across as not knowing how to stow your carry-on. More and more UA a/c don't have closets which means such requests really annoy the FA's...not your problem per se but that's the context. I would also refrain from using 'madam' in addressing people. Ma'am is OK particularly if you pull it off with some southern drawl.
Jun 25, 2013, 2:58 am
#49
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Back in Florida
Programs: UA 2K/2MM
Posts: 89
Reminds me of a flight I was on about six months ago. Evening flight - sitting up front with Mrs. blokay - no meals being served - and I was starving. Asked the FA if I could get one of those snack boxes they were selling in the back - she said "I don't work in coach". I said I understood - but could I still get one? She said "well, it won't be free" - in a voice that was snippy enough to send me over the edge. I said "look sweetheart, I don's give a crap where you don't work or how much it costs, but can you please get find a way to get me a snack box". Mrs. blokay was shocked - because I don't trip off the line too often. I have never called an FA sweetheart - or used the word crap to one - but I had had enough that day. Most FA's are pretty good - but every now and then one can meet a real piece of work.
Jun 25, 2013, 3:21 am
#50
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: HNL
Programs: United Gold
Posts: 1,581
Reminds me of a flight I was on about six months ago. Evening flight - sitting up front with Mrs. blokay - no meals being served - and I was starving. Asked the FA if I could get one of those snack boxes they were selling in the back - she said "I don't work in coach". I said I understood - but could I still get one? She said "well, it won't be free" - in a voice that was snippy enough to send me over the edge. I said "look sweetheart, I don's give a crap where you don't work or how much it costs, but can you please get find a way to get me a snack box". Mrs. blokay was shocked - because I don't trip off the line too often. I have never called an FA sweetheart - or used the word crap to one - but I had had enough that day. Most FA's are pretty good - but every now and then one can meet a real piece of work.
To stay on topic, two years ago I was doing the non-stop EWR-HNL so often I got to know the crew and one of the older FAs sorta adopted me, gave me two bailey's for the sundae, always asked me if I need something else to drink, slipped me an extra cookie, etc. She was great. Sadly I no longer see her on the EWR-HNL.
Jun 25, 2013, 11:21 am
#51
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: New England
Programs: UA 1P, Hyatt Diamond, HH Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,502
Poster tubes are standard fare for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to take their presentations to scientific conferences. All airlines are familiar with them, and they are nominally taken as carry-on luggage. They fit just fine in overhead bins (maybe not on the smaller CRJs, I don't exactly recall), but are small enough to fit in nearly any closet. The OP is correct that they can interfere with multiple other passengers' use of the overhead bins due to their length, and for the sake of not hogging space, are best put in a closet on a full flight.
In my field alone (neuroscience), there are tens of thousands of presentations annually, each of which has a poster, most of which are carried on. Over all fields of science, there must be a million posters transported annual (but that's a WAG). I'd assume that any FA that isn't familiar with posters must be new.
So, why the comment about not being the OP's mother? I don't care how bad a day the FA was having, or how young and helpless the OP looked, such comments are not appropriate for a professional in customer service.
In my field alone (neuroscience), there are tens of thousands of presentations annually, each of which has a poster, most of which are carried on. Over all fields of science, there must be a million posters transported annual (but that's a WAG). I'd assume that any FA that isn't familiar with posters must be new.
So, why the comment about not being the OP's mother? I don't care how bad a day the FA was having, or how young and helpless the OP looked, such comments are not appropriate for a professional in customer service.
Jun 25, 2013, 11:42 am
#53
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1K (MM), DL, AA, AS, HHonors, SPG, Kimpton, Hyatt, IC PC, Marriott Titanium (LT PLT), Hertz PC
Posts: 7,231
Jun 25, 2013, 11:59 am
#54
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Indianapolis
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Gold, HH Gold, SPG Gold
Posts: 383
Jun 25, 2013, 3:01 pm
#55
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Expat in SIN
Programs: UA Plat, TK Gold, *G
Posts: 1,452
I think I said something like "Would you mind making me a cup of tea, when you get a chance?".
If I wanted to be rude, I would have pumped the call button.
Jun 25, 2013, 3:24 pm
#56
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 8,634
Sorry to say, but I dont agree. I got up and walked up back the galley, not wanting to use the call button. You can be perfectly polite without using the word "please".
I think I said something like "Would you mind making me a cup of tea, when you get a chance?".
If I wanted to be rude, I would have pumped the call button.
I think I said something like "Would you mind making me a cup of tea, when you get a chance?".
If I wanted to be rude, I would have pumped the call button.
I have witnessed people get chewed out for not saying 'please' to service professionals in other fields, even when they've been very polite. It's as if some people got the "always say please" lesson as children, but only understood it at a surface level.