Confessions On A Velvet Cloud ...

If I have given the impression that I was getting bored with my job already during the first months of my flying career, well, I apologize.

In such a fantastic life, being bored was not my option and would never come to that point. But I was determined to accept whatever came along and on any brutal awakening I would meet…there was only one issue left for me: get out and… in a hurry!

I was an Airline Hostess, serving people like a waitress, but when the dessert of the meal came and it was time to thank you for your presence, for choosing TWA and say good bye, I would have landed  in another country on Earth, allowing myself to live fully my private adventures.

To explore the exotic hippy bazaars in Kensington London, the Louis Vuitton shop on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, my beautification at Eve Of Roma Beauty Institute in Rome, the shopping of fantastic hand-made shoes in Spain, even travelling alone on the ferry in Hong-Kong from Kowloon where my 5ft2 height went proudly above all Chinese heads…!

Who wouldn’t appreciate the positive sides …this incredible opportunity to meet people from all over the world and not be touched by the beauty of it all?

So when an ugly situation appeared during the routine of my work, I would listen, nod, smile, sympathise or agree with absolutely everything a passenger wanted to share with me, although with lots of modifications.

There are legitimate claims, yes. I would fix those instantly. But if it went from one remark to another, all negative, and from the same person, well, I couldn’t just let go.

I wouldn’t accept those in the long run because they were dangerously contagious.

I have read the words written by other female birds, and their confidences about unruly passengers and how they handled them, but these foul truths which surfaced didn’t fit my personality.

I strongly rejected the idea of spitting in the drink of a difficult passenger. I thought that was utterly primitive and vulgar.  I would hear peeping birds in the background, conspiring frightful scenarios just to relieve the bottled anger, accompanied with the effusive cursing of words I hadn’t yet copied.

I shun away from them…They were teen-ager pranks in my opinion and it wasn’t me.

However my observations showed the differences between a compulsive complaint and a humble or legitimate request. Most claims were never argued or repeated while I worked in the cabin.

Being attentive to the spontaneous burping of discontent and reacting instantly to it, I would calm the spirits clamped shut.

Humour did the trick…always, and without demeaning the human outburst, neither for a passenger nor for the quality of my services. This is the best way to make a growing ball of annoyance disappear into thin cabin air!

A win-win customer service was at its best.  

We understand each other.

We respect each other.

But we do not accept bitching about the…impossible!

                    One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing

                    is what we do for others.

                                                   -  LEWIS CAROL -