Tea, Coffee or Me?
November 6th 2006 02:33
My grandmother enjoys pointing out that former Australian PM Paul Keating met his wife Anita, while she was a flight attendant, and he a passenger on her flight. A non-hostie friend likes to remind me that her aunt, a former hostie, found her future husband on a flight. Even when I was at the hair salon the other week, the hairdresser asked me if I ‘had ever met any handsome businessmen during my flying career?’
These statistics and questions in favour of hosties meeting “prince charming” while at work make me feel like a big fat failure. For I only ever seemed to be fending off the advances of one type of male passenger, that who would fall into the category of “loser”.
There are plenty of attractive, pleasant young men who travel on planes. Sometimes these passengers can cause many a hostie to get flustered and completely distracted from tasks she (or he) is supposed to be doing. Once, there was a truly exceptional specimen of eye candy in business class who the hosties refused to serve. His gorgeous green eyes, chiselled jaw line, olive skin and perfect physique, combined with an unfaultable dress sense and natural charm, made the girls tremble with excitement and fear. Fear taking one look at him would render them speechless, cause them to spill tea or drop chinaware.
Beautiful men can be a real hindrance at work. Disapproving looks from their girlfriends/ wives can be of equal distraction.
So back to the losers. I was selling duty free one day, and as per usual the company had run out of the promotion gift. Being the nice, professional hostie that I was, I wrote a note for a first class passenger stating he had spent over a certain amount, thus entitling him to the free gift, adding my name and staff number. I told him that he should hand the note in to a hostie on a later flight, where hopefully the promotional gift would be available. He mistook my professionalism for interest, and proceeded to demand my telephone number and a date for lunch that week. I’m no model type myself, but this guy was hideous. His rotundity could barely be contained in the spacious first class seat, an open top button on his shirt revealed a rug of chest hair, which was incongruous with his balding head. Politely as possible, I told him I couldn’t remember my phone number and was busy every day in the foreseeable future.
On another day of selling duty free, a business class passenger asked for my opinion on a necklace he had just purchased. It was cheap and nasty but of course I had to say it was nice. He said ‘here take it. It’s a present for you’. I refused, using the excuse that my company didn’t allow me to accept presents from passengers. Not only didn’t he cease to persist trying to give me that ugly necklace, but he then attempted to ask me out for lunch or dinner, whichever was more suitable for me. My answer was neither, as ‘my boyfriend wouldn’t be too happy’. Can you believe he replied “I don’t mind if your boyfriend joins us for lunch’??!!! The fool was about my father’s age and my height (= very short for a guy). Ewwww!
Next time you’re a passenger, remember that unless the hostie asks ‘tea, coffee, or me?’, you can assume s/he’s being friendly and nice simply because it’s a requirement of the job. If you are a hottie, by all means ask a hostie out, it'll make her day!
These statistics and questions in favour of hosties meeting “prince charming” while at work make me feel like a big fat failure. For I only ever seemed to be fending off the advances of one type of male passenger, that who would fall into the category of “loser”.
There are plenty of attractive, pleasant young men who travel on planes. Sometimes these passengers can cause many a hostie to get flustered and completely distracted from tasks she (or he) is supposed to be doing. Once, there was a truly exceptional specimen of eye candy in business class who the hosties refused to serve. His gorgeous green eyes, chiselled jaw line, olive skin and perfect physique, combined with an unfaultable dress sense and natural charm, made the girls tremble with excitement and fear. Fear taking one look at him would render them speechless, cause them to spill tea or drop chinaware.
Beautiful men can be a real hindrance at work. Disapproving looks from their girlfriends/ wives can be of equal distraction.
So back to the losers. I was selling duty free one day, and as per usual the company had run out of the promotion gift. Being the nice, professional hostie that I was, I wrote a note for a first class passenger stating he had spent over a certain amount, thus entitling him to the free gift, adding my name and staff number. I told him that he should hand the note in to a hostie on a later flight, where hopefully the promotional gift would be available. He mistook my professionalism for interest, and proceeded to demand my telephone number and a date for lunch that week. I’m no model type myself, but this guy was hideous. His rotundity could barely be contained in the spacious first class seat, an open top button on his shirt revealed a rug of chest hair, which was incongruous with his balding head. Politely as possible, I told him I couldn’t remember my phone number and was busy every day in the foreseeable future.
On another day of selling duty free, a business class passenger asked for my opinion on a necklace he had just purchased. It was cheap and nasty but of course I had to say it was nice. He said ‘here take it. It’s a present for you’. I refused, using the excuse that my company didn’t allow me to accept presents from passengers. Not only didn’t he cease to persist trying to give me that ugly necklace, but he then attempted to ask me out for lunch or dinner, whichever was more suitable for me. My answer was neither, as ‘my boyfriend wouldn’t be too happy’. Can you believe he replied “I don’t mind if your boyfriend joins us for lunch’??!!! The fool was about my father’s age and my height (= very short for a guy). Ewwww!
Next time you’re a passenger, remember that unless the hostie asks ‘tea, coffee, or me?’, you can assume s/he’s being friendly and nice simply because it’s a requirement of the job. If you are a hottie, by all means ask a hostie out, it'll make her day!
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