Chapter 8: KEEPING CALM

KEEPING CALM

I believe that the key to responding to people who are angry or disrespectful is to calm yourself and stay calm while responding. Seriously, for me, there is no point in responding angry or disrespectful back. It only drains your own energy and makes the situation worse. Clearly, the person doesn’t know how to behave, and I would like to show the person, that I grew up with manners and of course know how to treat people. When I saw this person yelling at me, I was in shock, I didn’t know right away what to say, but for sure yelling back and disrespecting him was not an option for me. So when he was finished, I looked at my colleague and then looked at him and responded with: “Sir, I believe you are waiting for your food and you are very hungry? This is not the way you talk to people, but I’m more than happy to give you our 5-star service after serving these customers in front of you. Thank you”. My good friend always tells me this famous quote: “When they go low, we go high”. Of course, sometimes we can get so angry, but if you think about it, there is really no point in replying disrespectfully. Usually, when people act like that, they don’t know better, they don’t have the proper education, are narrow-minded or it’s just a cultural thing. The important thing is to make sure you tell them, that the way they talk to you, should stop immediately.

After some hours we were flying back to our home base and the flight was peaceful. We were flying all morning and arrived home around 10.00am. I came home, took my uniform off and went immediately for a shower. This is the best part of coming home after a flight. I then jumped in my bed and answered some messages. Suddenly I wasn’t tired anymore, this feeling when you want to sleep, but you just cannot sleep. Very irritating, so started staring outside my window and thinking about certain things. I just had my first flight as a flight attendant, something I always wanted to do. I was clearly living my dream, but you know, I wasn’t excited at all. Maybe because of the customer, but I didn’t really have a feeling. What could it be? Was I just tired, but couldn’t sleep? Maybe this is not really my thing; but how could you say that after one flight? I closed my eyes and told myself that I will enjoy it more, for now, let’s just sleep.

Later that day, I woke up around 06.00pm, started texting people to know if they are in town. Sadly everyone was having flights or already on minimum rest, so they couldn’t leave the apartment. Well, that’s how my day ended, having dinner by myself and making myself tired in order to sleep. My next flight was the next day in the evening, so I decided just to watch movies, gym and stay in my apartment till my next duty.

Finally, it was time for my next flight and I started preparing myself for this flight to Karachi, Pakistan. Again Pakistan. The best thing about this job (besides seeing all the countries) is that the customer profile is very diverse. Every time new people, new attitudes and new behaviors. While preparing I was just hoping that the customers will be relaxed and kind, so not like my first flight. But on the other hand, it makes the job exciting and there is some action. Haha. I put on my uniform and headed to the airport to get on the flight. Luckily this time I got my briefing question right and we were all ready to operate the flight. The flight was full, and we started boarding (customers entering the aircraft and taking their seats) a little bit early, to leave on time. The best part of boarding or what I usually do, is to spot good-looking people, hope they sit in my zone, so I can look after them during the flight. For me that is what makes the flight exciting and fun. Of course, the crew as well. Suddenly this customer enters the flight, very cute long hair and casually dressed. Well, not in my zone, but on my side, so I had to walk by a couple of times. Suddenly the customer says not to wake her up during the flight and she wants a blanket, because it was cold. A little attitude and suddenly she wasn’t that good-looking anymore. Again a sign that beauty from the outside is important but from the inside is way more important. I asked my colleague for a blanket, but she forgot to bring it and even I forgot to crosscheck with the crew if they gave her the blanket. After 30 minutes, this customer calls me and tells me with even more attitude like before: “Uhmmm… I asked you for a blanket, it has been 1 hour already and still nothing... it is really cold here you know”. I apologized and gave her the blanket. After a while we were ready for landing and my colleague was getting the cabin ready for landing. This particular person was sleeping with her blanket over her head, so we had to wake her up by tapping her on the shoulder. We did this a couple of times by saying: “Mam...Mam...Mam”. Suddenly this customer wakes up and started shouting saying: “Don’t wake me up and that’s not how you wake me up. You have to say excuse me and don’t touch me”. I was just standing there, shocked and started laughing. You know, some people are just ridiculous and at this moment I don’t have time for this sh*t. I looked at her and said: “Mam, we are ready for landing, prepare yourself. Thank you”. Well first impression can be wrong. In this case VERY WRONG!

Again, a hectic flight, happy to be home, showered and jumped in my bed. At that point, I wasn’t really feeling the moment of excitement I should feel. I mean, I’m living my dream and still I’m not excited or enthusiastic about it. How could this be? Living an actual dream should be an amazing feeling, right? Well, I think we can be wrong sometimes about our dreams and its more than ‘ok’ to realize that something you always wanted, is not what you thought it was.