So my month long of annual leave has finally ended. (Wish it would never end) My job was a common topic with friends and families during my vacation. While some thought my job was like a waitress, some thinks that I'm always on vacation, some thought I only need to be pretty and bimboic, our conversations opened up their eyes to the real world of a cabin crew. So here are but some of the questions I'm thrown with. Let me attempt to answer them kay. ;)
Disclaimer: I'm writing from the stories and experiences shared among my fellow citizens of the skies too, so it ain't just what's going on in my airlines. And please, this is by no means of tarnishing the image of my airlines. It's just for sharing some funny and "unforgettable" experiences we had on board.
1. Your job very tiring hor?
Firstly, let's talk about odd working hours and jet lags. Imagine this.
Scenario A:
Working from 1am to 1pm on Monday and Tuesday, and then 5pm to 5am on Wednesday, 2am to 2pm on Friday, 6am to 6pm on Saturday and 9pm to 9am on Sunday.
Scenario B:
Waking up in a +2 time zone on Monday, +5 time zone on Tuesday, -3 time zone on Wednesday, +5.5 time zone on Friday, +1 time zone on Saturday and back to +8 on Sunday.
Tell me about it man. If you don't understand, nevermind, just know that it's messed up.
And there're times when we have to work 4 sectors a day, that means meeting over some 800 to 1200 people in a day, greeting them hello and goodbye, showing them to their seats one by one, helping them with their bags, serving them, meeting their needs etc. Sometimes pax can be demanding, so does flight deck crews. Sudden technical problems may arise, other cabin crews can be lazy, you get the picture.
2. Your job very easy hor, like waitress only right?
Waitress? Hell yeah. As well as a janitor, nurse, fire fighter, nanny, kuli, teacher, zoo keeper...........
When we first starting flying, a friend of mine came back stating "I'm not sure if I'm a cabin crew or a zoo keeper." We all laughed. Why? Our cabin seems to have the magic of transforming into a zoo. I tried googling for images but couldn't really find any. Here's a close one.
Image sourced from Google. This incident was after a sever turbulence. When a cabin transforms into a zoo(normal flight, no turbulence.), imagine all these under the seats and around the leg areas. (Not exaggerating.) We cabin crews are obliged to keep the aisles clear to avoid anyone from tripping or getting hurt. Thus, clean aisles.
As for janitors, we try our best to keep the lavatories usable for passengers. We have a rule to check our lavatories every 15 minutes. But sometimes, it's tough to keep up especially on a short flight (1-2hrs flying time) cause we have to do the meal service and other stuff. What are the worst case scenarios when we can't do so? Overflowing toilet bowls.
On certain flights, passengers do not know how to use the flush button. Aircraft toilets only vacuums the junks down when you flush. So imagine things pilling up and a turbulence decides to spill them out. Damn.
We also have the job of being a nanny when parents decides to sleep and let their kids play tag in the cabin. Some are merely toddlers who couldn't speak yet. So good luck chasing them around, making sure they don't get hurt and don't cry when you get them.
On other days we also have to play the role of the "old-pms-fierce teacher". When parents fail to get their kids to sit down or wear the sit belt during critical times, they would send us some signals and request us to work our magic.
So here comes the fierce lady in uniform who points her fingers at them indicating "if you don't put on your seat beat, somebody's gonna get hurt real bad!". Lol, I felt so funny recalling those times.
Sigh. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Please remember, our main primary on board is to ensure your safety. And that means we give you oxygen when you're having difficulty breathing, we give you CPR when you pengsan and we remind you to go back to your seat and wear the seat belt so that you don't fly up and hit the ceiling and break your back during a severe turbulence. Try not to add more funny roles for us kay? ;)
3. Is it true that pilots and crew always sleep around among each other and they're unfaithful to their partners?
Some, not all. And so does doctors, lawyers, politicians, celebrities, teachers, gardeners, salesmen, hawkers etc. Do you get my point here? It happens in every industry. Just because our scandals happen up in the sky or in some romantic 5 star hotel Paris it doesn't make it any more different than other scandals in the world. And the choice lies in the hands of the individual, just like any other industry. It's not really a crew culture.
4. So fun hor your life, always fly here fly there, like always on holiday hor?
Well, my answer is always a yes and no. Yes for long layovers, No for round trips and short layovers.
Our airlines has been pretty generous with long layovers. When I say long, it means at least 48hrs and above. Destinations that I've personally been to with long layovers are Guangzhou, Kuala Lumpur, Washington D.C, Manchester, Johannesburg and Paris. Other places that I have not been to with long layovers are LA, Toronto, New York, Singapore, Madrid, Frankfurt etc. Trips like these we'll have ample time to rest and explore the place. Some of my colleagues went all the way to Venice when they have a 50hours layover in Milan. The best part of such trips are the hotels are paid for and so is the breakfast. I'm a big fan of hotel breakfasts!
On other days we get short layovers (24hours and below). On these days, we'll knock out right after the flight, wake up for food and go shopping or visit 1 site and head back to rest. When I first started flying I used to be super gung-ho and headed out right after I drop my bags in the hotel. Instead of lotsa walking, I felt like I did lotsa floating. Such are also the times I get super annoyed when people ask me for souvenirs. (especially those that I'm not close with at all!) We hardly have the time to take a dump and yet we have to spend our precious time going around looking for your souvenir. Pfft. Ok enough of bitterness :P I usually get people souvenirs when I see something and thought of them. So it's really special. Nowadays souvenirs are all made in China and the same! I see the same items selling in Istanbul, Tunisia and India, all claiming to be their local product. Even stuff in London are made in China and you can get them for 20times cheaper in China.
5. So, what do you like about your job?
This, is a good question. Let's try to list the reasons down.
(i) I love the long days off. One thing special about my airlines. We have a rule that each crew should get at least 5 consecutive days off in a month. You can have longer days by swapping your flights. The longest I had was 14 days, usually 7 to 9 days. These are the days I get to travel or go back to Malaysia. After flying for a year, I've went back to Malaysia for 6 times and went traveling in Singapore, Cape Town, Beijing, San Francisco and Tunisia. After flying for a year, we're entitled to a month of vacation too. I Spent 3 weeks in Malaysia and a week in Cambodia for my vacation month. Get to spend CNY at home too. This March I have 8 days off and I'm contemplating between Japan or Taiwan for Spring.
(Damn. Now I know where my money went!)
(ii) I love the free/ discounted tickets. By free I mean we only pay the airport tax. For example, we pay around RM100 for a round trip of JED-KUL-JED and less than RM200 for JED-JFK-JED. Discounted tickets are also available from other airlines that we have code sharing with. For example, a trip from JED-DXB-PEK-DXB-JED cost around RM1000 (fares+taxes) with Emirates. (DXB-Dubai, JFK-NewYork, PEK-Beijing)
(iii) I love the freedom it gives. When I say freedom, I mean time and financial freedom to do the things I love. There's many things in life that we would love to do but are constrained by 2 factors - Time and Money. Each month we fly about 15-18 days and we're off for the rest of the time. For our job, we don't bring our work home. Besides needing to recuperate, we're free to do what we like. We have the time for hobby. Some of my friends would bake and make desserts, some dating, some boiling soap opera, some body building. As for me, I travel, read, spend time with God, connect with people etc. oh, I'm also trying to improve my cooking skills. Recently, I found a website called Skill Share. There's so many short courses up there from photography, marketing, branding, design etc. I'm gonna try them out soon. And when I say financial freedom, I mean I can afford to go on my trips, buy the books I want to read, buy a friend dinner and sign up for a course in skill share. To many, such are unnecessary expenses that has to be cut out. I'm blessed to have the luxury to afford them.
(iv) Apart from the perks given by the job, it's also fulfilling at the same time. Our job ain't some bimboic (not sure if this word exists) job. It requires a lot of problem solving, wisdom and flexibility. Different issues arise every other day. (such as running out of chicken) We have to be at our tip top condition. After all the challenges, it's fulfilling when the entire set of crew deplanes with a smile on their faces chit chatting and joking with one another. It's fulfilling when the supervisor taps us on the shoulder saying "well done!". It's fulfilling when the super demanding and unruly passenger leaves the plane with a smile on his face saying "thank you."
So yeah, here's the 5 common questions I've been asked and here are my answers.
Oh! My company is hiring in Kuala Lumpur on 17-18th March. If you're still keen for the job after reading my post, make your way to try it out. I don't mind giving you some tips if you need any.
Thanks for reading! ;)
