Originally Posted by kalia960
But FAs aren't proud of what they have to do. And they don't get paid well (really they don't). So service standards have gone down, and we have a lot of snotty FAs whose idea of their job is to sit there pretending to be waiting for emergencies. "We may not be well paid, but we are more powerful than you right now, we can be rude to you and you can't be rude back because we'll have the plane diverted to Halifax."
Wow, kalia...good to know that you have such a low opinion of us!
Personally, I am proud of the work that I do, and I can see the pride that most of my co-workers take in their work as well.
When I interviewed for my job, I was asked to place the following in order of importance: safety, service, job satisfaction, customer satisfaction. My response was that they're all equally important, and that they all feed off of each other. If I'm happy with my job, then it shows in my service - and my customers are happy. If my customers are happy, then I have satisfaction with my job because I'm working with pleasant people - and it shows in my service. If I'm keeping current on those safety measures for which I'm responsible and take it seriously, then it shows in my service and professionalism - and my customers' comfort levels increase in that kind of environment. And so on and so forth..our job is to get you to your destination safely AND comfortably - most FA's I know and work with take pride in both aspects of their job.
I've said it before: we are like lifeguards...most of the time, there are no emergencies to manage, no sick or injured passengers, no unruly passengers who (truly) are threats. But when those things do occur, we do know how to manage and deal with them. In those instances, the safety aspects of our work do take priority over the service.
Originally Posted by kalia960
Frankly, this is "dog bites man". The "man bites dog" news is when in spite of everything, you see many FAs who try to do their jobs well and are secure and confident and pleasant and eager to be of assistance. That, I don't understand.
If the attitude you described truly is the rarity and not the norm, then perhaps you are flying with the wrong people. I didn't look at your profile before beginning this response, so I don't know who you spend most of your time in the air with (and wouldn't it be sad and funny if it were my airline, after the rambling I've just done?
) But seriously, the image you describe is very poor...and since the vast majority of my co-workers don't fit it, I find it difficult to believe. Certainly those FA's exist, as all stereotypes do exist, but they are not representative of the whole.