Around the World in a Bad Mood! Read Online Free PDF Page A

when you are brand, spanking new, everyone is senior to you. If you’re smart you will quickly realize that your job is to do exactly what the senior flight attendants tell you to do. To hell with what you learned in training! However you end up slinging the hash really does not make a lot of difference as long as everyone gets fed and watered before the plane lands. On certain days, when there is a little too much estrogen in the galley, disagreements can arise among flight attendants regarding the best way to do the service. Sometimes a tiny discrepancy can erupt into a major blowout. When people ask me about air-rage incidents, what often comes to mind are arguments among flight attendants over the way to do a service, but that is another chapter entirely. So dear new hire, when the fur begins to fly it is highly advisable to consult the manual . Just be careful someone doesn’t rip it out of your hands and throw it at you when you are reading it to them.
    T HE M ANUAL
    â€œF/A number 1 will deliver meals from cart number 1, working until that cart is depleted. F/As 2 and 3 will follow with beverage carts 3 and 4. When F/A number 1 has depleted cart number 1, he or she will park it at door number 2 and then go to the back galley and get cart number 2. F/As 2 and 3 will continue serving beverages.
    â€œMeanwhile, F/A number 4 will start meals at door number 4, working forward with F/A number 5 following with beverage cart number 5. When all F/As meet in the middle, F/A number 5 will back up to the galley to allow F/As 1 and 4 to get to the back galley. Then F/A number 5 moves forward and resumes where he or she left off before making way for numbers 1 and 4. The remaining aisle flight attendants work forward until all passengers have received a beverage. Then F/A number 1 goes back to door number 2 to get the remaining empty meal cart and starts pickup service. Numbers 2 and 3 will follow with coffee, working forward while F/As 4 and 5 will do the same, working forward from door number 4. Then everybody does the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around and that’s what it’s all about! Note: If there are only three F/As on board follow the alternate order of service. There should never be any variation in the order of ser­vice.”
    By the way, this is just one service for one aircraft type, and there are at least seven types of aircraft for which flight attendants are responsible. Then there is the emergency equipment, emergency-exit operation, company policies, schedule bidding, first-aid training, handcuff operation, death on board, birth on board, CPR, how to survive a ditching (including a course titled “How to Survive at Sea”), grooming, and, most important, how the captain likes his coffee!

Everything I Need to Know About Life, I Learned in Flight Attendant Training
    A SIDE FROM LEARNING about service, safety, grooming, and company policies, I learned a few other things in Flight Attendant training. Many of them have stayed with me throughout my career, and lately I’ve come to realize that they apply not only to my job on the airplane but also to life in general.
    K NOW WHERE YOUR NEAREST EXIT IS LOCATED: Whether it is a burning airplane, a burning movie theater, or a lousy relationship. You never know when you might need to get out of something quickly.
    A LWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN: Life is full of surprises! The exit you picked could be blocked. Maybe that special someone you’ve been dating isn’t your true love after all, don’t wait too long . . . assess conditions and find an alternate.
    E XCESS BAGGAGE: On the airplane, as in life, excess baggage is problematic. God knows most of us have it, but I have discovered that if you can’t carry it, lift it, or stow it, you might as well leave it behind. Most of the time it is something that you don’t need in the first place and it is just weighing you down. A lighter load makes the journey much more