Wow, JDiver, that is depressing. I am all for chucking discriminatory hiring practices, but the lack of respect for basic politeness on the job is kind of unforgivable. There are plenty of other American customer-service-type professions that somehow train their employees in manners.

Most times when I go to a hotel, I get a survey asking about the attitude and demeanor of the front desk staff. While I am sure they encounter plenty of unpleasant people, they somehow still manage to be perfunctorily polite with me, which is all I really want.

For FAs, when they are not engaged in safety-related duties, they should be polite to paying customers, treating them as they would like to be treated. For some people, this is apparently quite difficult.