Free More Confessions of a Hostie by Danielle Hugh Page B

normally, thus allowing access to those stairs or aerobridge and to let catering and cleaners come onboard. See, my emergency training and study have come in handy after all.
    Rather than approach Mr. 48C and instantly use my authority to have him comply with the safety regulations (as I would love to do) I take a more diplomatic approach. I walk past him and begin my safety and security checks from the front of the zone. Mr. 48C is not the only one who has to be told to bring their seat upright or to secure their tray table. He is, however, the only one who is busy speaking into a phone and has a big bag unsecured and placed beside him.
    Only two rows from Mr. 48C a man has his seat slightly reclined. I deliberately talk louder so that my intended audience can hear. ‘Excuse me sir, it is a safety requirement for take-off that you bring your seat all the way upright. Thank you very much.’ This man complies with my request, of course.
    I then move on to Mr. 48C. He is still on the phone, and it seems like he has not heard a word I have said.
    â€˜Excuse me, sir?’
    The rude little man does not acknowledge me at all, but I can hear him tell whoever is on the other end of the line that he has to hang up soon. I could just as easily wait until he has finished his conversation, but I could just as easily start yelling at this ill-mannered little man. I choose to tread the middle ground.
    â€˜Excuse me again, sir, but it is a safety requirement that you turn off the phone immediately and—’
    He interrupts me, ‘Yeah, yeah, I am turning it off now. Don’t get your knickers in a twist.’
    Now I want to yell. The middle ground is moving very quickly to the high ground. However, I control myself.
    â€˜Sir, you will turn the phone off now, then you will bring your seat upright, stow your tray table and then take that bag on the seat next to you and place it on the floor under a seat in front of you. All this needs to be done now.’ I walk away and continue my safety checks.
    I have met rude and obstinate passengers many times before. Usually it is men who are chauvinistic, and I presume they just don’t like taking directions from a woman. We had one such case on a flight years ago. Another female hostie had an issue similar to what had just occurred to me, but in her case the passenger had constantly argued and eventually even abused the flight attendant. She ran off (in tears) told the (female) onboard manager about this, who was also subsequently abused by the passenger, so the captain had to get involved. The captain told the man he needed to firstly adhere to every safety request the cabin crew instructed him to do and also apologise to the crew he had abused.
    The man refused to apologise, and the captain had the man escorted from the aircraft by ground security. We later heard that the man joked with ground staff that he would simply catch a later flight.
    Well, that’s not how things turned out for him.
    When a passenger fails to comply with a captain’s directive, they firstly forfeit their ticket, without refund of course. They are then banned from flying, not only on the airline that they had committed the misdemeanor with, but on all airlines.
    Mr. 48C has fortunately, for his sake, turned off his phone, returned his seat to the upright position, secured his tray table and stowed his bag. His facial expression remains sour though.
    When I do my safety demonstration, he does everything but look at me. This guy doesn’t just have a chip on his shoulder; he has a chip on both his shoulders.
    It’s probably not a coincidence that the rudest of passengers generally travelling on their own, I think to myself. No one can stand to be around them.

someone’s manners are often a window to their soul
    To avoid looking at Mr. 48C’s unpleasant expression, after take-off, I go to the front of the plane to see Helen’s beaming face (or as most of the crew now