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Old Feb 18, 2013, 7:01 am
  #1  
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An article about FA life on Asian airliners

Here: Is being a flight attendant all that glamorous?

But there are several things caught my attention:

Firstly, the pay is really good. For SQ, we can easily hit S$4,500 a month
And right after that:

Within two months, she had bought her first S$3,000 branded bag
In my book spending 2/3 of the monthly income on a handbag, is not considered 'normal'. Moreover it is not normal if this handbag is 'first'. I have not seen such kind of behavior even among college students back in States, but in Singapore and in Asia in general it is perfectly acceptable...
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Old Feb 18, 2013, 9:04 am
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Originally Posted by invisible
In my book spending 2/3 of the monthly income on a handbag, is not considered 'normal'. Moreover it is not normal if this handbag is 'first'. I have not seen such kind of behavior even among college students back in States, but in Singapore and in Asia in general it is perfectly acceptable...
I taught two years at a Japanese women's college. Yes, it's more than normal - this type of conspicuous consumption is absolutely a status marker among peers. It connotes wealthy patrons - enjou kousai - and/or family.

The Ginza spend/income ratios of these girls were much worse than the SQ FA.

And at least in the SQ case the FAs are earning their own money.
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Old Feb 18, 2013, 5:44 pm
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Originally Posted by redtailshark
I taught two years at a Japanese women's college. Yes, it's more than normal - this type of conspicuous consumption is absolutely a status marker among peers. It connotes wealthy patrons - enjou kousai - and/or family.

The Ginza spend/income ratios of these girls were much worse than the SQ FA.

And at least in the SQ case the FAs are earning their own money.
+1. Young Asian women spend a fortune on bags. Sometimes quite a lot more than they actually earn.
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Old Feb 19, 2013, 2:23 am
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Not 'necessarily' my view, but came across this (referenced in another research piece about Singapore's low fertility rate):


http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singa...092109660.html
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Old Feb 19, 2013, 5:23 am
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Originally Posted by 5khours
+1. Young Asian women spend a fortune on bags. Sometimes quite a lot more than they actually earn.
I thought all women did that? And not just bags, shoes are an equally-strong magnet when it comes to attracting ladies to open up their purses.

About the article, I thought that FAs earn quite a bit less than that. I guess I made my assumption after reading how little LH FAs get, figuring that this must be an industry-wide thing.

I still cannot believe that line about someone leaving an accounting job though.
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Old Feb 19, 2013, 9:43 am
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Originally Posted by aster
I still cannot believe that line about someone leaving an accounting job though.
Ahem, entry level accountants have to work >55h a week in Singapore and seniors are not in a better position either.

My wife, who had >20 years of experience in US in Fortune 50 companies in a corporate finance, got a contract after our relocation in Singapore as senior financial manager in one very large company. Well, her (local) boss on her third day at work when she went to ask him several questions about local financial system, screamed at her with words 'at your age you should know this and not ask such kind of stupid questions'.

Would you have this kind of job? No matter how much it pays?

Last edited by invisible; Feb 19, 2013 at 10:35 am
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Old Feb 19, 2013, 11:35 am
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Originally Posted by invisible
Ahem, entry level accountants have to work >55h a week in Singapore and seniors are not in a better position either.

My wife, who had >20 years of experience in US in Fortune 50 companies in a corporate finance, got a contract after our relocation in Singapore as senior financial manager in one very large company. Well, her (local) boss on her third day at work when she went to ask him several questions about local financial system, screamed at her with words 'at your age you should know this and not ask such kind of stupid questions'.

Would you have this kind of job? No matter how much it pays?
You cannot work in Asia especially after working in N.America or Europe, Asia's culture is very different, there is age and race discrimination. They work from 8am to 8pm. Now only if you get a management job as an expatriate you will be fine in that environment. It is sad but that is the reality.
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Old Feb 19, 2013, 9:06 pm
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Originally Posted by djjaguar64
You cannot work in Asia especially after working in N.America or Europe, Asia's culture is very different, there is age and race discrimination. They work from 8am to 8pm. Now only if you get a management job as an expatriate you will be fine in that environment. It is sad but that is the reality.
In the corporate world, OK, true enough. But not in the academic sector where it's quite the reverse.

私の大学でわ過労死を 見ませんでした。
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Old Feb 20, 2013, 12:35 am
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Originally Posted by redtailshark
In the corporate world, OK, true enough. But not in the academic sector where it's quite the reverse..
But not homogeneously so ... there is a huge admin body attached to each academic institution grace to over regulation. And these jobs are quite luxurious with no deadlines or clear objectives.

The academic world itself may have less grant pressure than in the US. But the lack of a clear and defensible tenure scheme assures a more diffuse pressure. It is nonetheless there.
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Old Feb 20, 2013, 1:38 am
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Originally Posted by invisible
Ahem, entry level accountants have to work >55h a week in Singapore and seniors are not in a better position either.
The starting salary for a university graduate in accounting is roughly $2500 per month. A senior with a few years experience would be around $3500-4000 per month. Then perhaps some years later after that, you get to the supervisory level, you would be able to easily hit $4500 per month.

After that, AVP is roughly $6-8k per month, VP is higher again.
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Old Feb 20, 2013, 6:21 am
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Red face

Originally Posted by redtailshark
In the corporate world, OK, true enough. But not in the academic sector where it's quite the reverse.

私の大学でわ過労死を 見ませんでした。
I am not quite sure if you are referring your experience to only in Japan. In Japan, if you are caucasian and preferably with blond and blue eyes, yes, I still believe it definitely works. You should take full advantage of it.

貴方の勤めていた大学では、過労死は起こらなかったでしょうけれど。

Back to the main topic, I think this is common in any nationality with both gender in any age shouting "Look at me. I am beautiful!!"
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Old Feb 20, 2013, 8:45 am
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Originally Posted by invisible
Here: Is being a flight attendant all that glamorous?

But there are several things caught my attention:



And right after that:



In my book spending 2/3 of the monthly income on a handbag, is not considered 'normal'. Moreover it is not normal if this handbag is 'first'. I have not seen such kind of behavior even among college students back in States, but in Singapore and in Asia in general it is perfectly acceptable...
The most abnormal part of the story is that a young woman who is "qualified" to be an SQ flight attendant acquired her first designer handbag by buying it herself.
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Old Feb 20, 2013, 9:30 am
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Originally Posted by Awesom Andy
The starting salary for a university graduate in accounting is roughly $2500 per month. A senior with a few years experience would be around $3500-4000 per month. Then perhaps some years later after that, you get to the supervisory level, you would be able to easily hit $4500 per month.

After that, AVP is roughly $6-8k per month, VP is higher again.
Guess I learned something new today - I thought that accountants were really raking in the cash here. In some countries a tax advisor is a lawyer's job whereas in others it is actually the accountant who can become a tax advisor. Now a very sharp accountant who becomes a very good tax advisor should do much better than someone who just does the books, right?
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Old Feb 20, 2013, 10:23 am
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Originally Posted by sushiinSYD
I am not quite sure if you are referring your experience to only in Japan. In Japan, if you are caucasian and preferably with blond and blue eyes, yes, I still believe it definitely works. You should take full advantage of it.

貴方の勤めていた大学では、過労死は起こらなかったでしょうけれど。

Back to the main topic, I think this is common in any nationality with both gender in any age shouting "Look at me. I am beautiful!!"
Ah yes, 日常の私は大学で同様英会話で憧れを見た.

There's published research on this phenomenon:

http://thegrandnarrative.files.wordp...pring-2002.jpg

http://thegrandnarrative.files.wordp...ron-bailey.pdf

There are a number of people who think is not confined to Japan, either. Similarities in Korea:

http://thegrandnarrative.com/2010/07...relationships/
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Old Feb 21, 2013, 7:21 pm
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Continuation of the story with interesting revelations

Part 2: Dealing with passengers from hell

Couple quotes:
In his almost decade long career as a flight steward, Rick has done everything from warming up milk in an ice bucket while balancing a screaming baby on his hip, to chasing couples hoping to join the mile-high club out of plane toilets.
Certain Asian passengers, for example, are commonly known for being blatantly disrespectful to stewardesses. “These men just yank at my skirt when I am distributing snacks or drinks. Once they pulled so hard at my colleague’s skirt she nearly fell down, and they laughed,”
Things get ugly quickly – many drunk passengers start to slur and use rude languages to harass flight crew who deny them more alcohol, or vomit on themselves and their neighbors, creating a scene and disturbing their fellow passengers.
Frank said that in worst case scenarios, if the passenger starts getting violent or verbally abusive, the crew leads him or her away to the back of the plane, where they try to isolate and sober up the person up. If they can’t control him, plastic flexi-cuffs are used to attach the passenger to male crew members, who stay with him for the rest of the journey until the plane touches down.
Hm. I thought that the behavior described above was a prime feature of air travel to/from Russia (Aeroflot and other Russian airliners have database of more than 2000 people who become drunk before or during the flight and started fights with other passengers or crew members) but apparently situation happens quite often in Asian airliners too...

Have not heard a single case like this in States last 10 years since 9/11. Last news story I remember was about a couple years ago when one agitated woman threw a coffee to a flight attendant. She ended up in jail for 6 month and lost custody of her two kids as a result.

Last edited by invisible; Feb 21, 2013 at 7:35 pm
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