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Dontstealmyicetongs
Emu Egg
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Joined: 15 Sep 2017
Gender: Female
Posts: 1
Location: Gatwick

15 Sep 2017, 8:21 pm

Hi everyone, I have never posted on her before so this is a start. I was curious as to whether any of you on here are also Cabin Crew (or Flight attendant or air hostess... Only one job but a thousand names) and how you feel in the role? I work for a major short haul airline in the UK but I won't put who just in case it upsets them :lol:

In what areas do you find you have more difficulty? I am not great at soothing and calming nervous passengers as I am not good at thinking of useful things to say to them but complaints and rude people shoot over my head now. There are good and bad aspects of the crew being different every day because if you simply can't stand somebody you flew with you never really have to see them again, but there are also days you don't particularly connect with the person you're sat with all day/the whole crew and it can feel very solitary. Plus you can meet some truly lovely people but you never see them again because you're always so busy so you wind up feeling quite lonely. I haven't made any work friends apart from people I occasionally message on Facebook, is this common?

Also I am curious if anybody who works for an airline told their employer about their diagnosis?
Bottom line, I just want to know how others in a similar situation to myself work with it on a day-to-day basis. Or if there was anything you wanted to know from me that might help?

Cheers, hopefully I'm not completely alone on this venture and maybe there is somebody else mad enough who decided to start flying here too! :heart:



B19
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Joined: 11 Jan 2013
Gender: Female
Posts: 9,993
Location: New Zealand

15 Sep 2017, 9:03 pm

I have an AS neighbour who worked for a major airline for almost 20 years. She is very empathetic in nature, which would have been an advantage, and I surmise that the strict routines and specific training for all possible scenarios would suit some of us very well. Unlike offices, where rigid team work doesn't seen to work for us, flying is different - you fly with different teams on different flights, so it's not like being stuck in an office team of the same few people permanently. Benefits are not as good as they used to be - flight staff can't fly free when off duty anymore (at least with Air NZ) as they could in the old days, they have to pay now like anyone else.



AprilR
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Joined: 8 Apr 2016
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,518

06 Oct 2017, 1:44 am

I'm considering this, but scared that i won't be able to do it..



AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Age: 61
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,660
Location: Houston, Texas

21 Oct 2017, 12:32 pm

As a cashier at "MegaMart" (not real name) where I now work, I get good at various skills because I work at it over time. For example, when someone has trouble with their credit card, I say, "It might be your card. It might also be our system, we've had some trouble with it." I say it matter-of-factly.

Isn't that a good polite way of engaging with the customer? I think so. And please notice that I don't over-explain. I feel I'm matter-of-fact also in the length of what I say.

At the beginning of the transaction, I usually say, "Hi, thanks for coming in. Did you find everything you need?" That's more on the friendly, inviting side. Some people are talkative, and I welcome them talking.

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I also use similar skills in staffing a table for political activism, which is something I enjoy doing even though I haven't done it in a while.