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Her Name is Chanell
Aug. 24th, 2013 09:25 amI sat in the airport for several hours yesterday, but I managed to keep myself occupied working on the next Bear Patrol issue. The plane finally boarded around 5 PM, a small jet with three seats per row. I was on the side with only one seat, a favorite spot.
The sole flight attendant was a slender African-American woman. She walked up and down the aisle, telling people that they couldn't put a soda in the seat pocket, needed to turn the phones off, etc. She wasn't the warm and fuzzy kind of attendant. She was militant.
After everyone was on board, she stood up at the front and made an announcement without the microphone.
"I need two people from rows 4-8 to move to rows 15-18," she said.
Everyone looked confused and no one answered. It was somewhat phrased as a question, but it was a command.
"I need two people from rows 4-8 to move to rows 15-18," she quickly repeated, "This door will not close until two people agree to move to balance the plane."
The lady in front of me agreed to move. So did I. She didn't say thank you that I recall.
I moved to the VERY last row in the plane and ended up sitting in a double-seat solo, which was fine. However, I couldn't keep the flight attendant's attitude out of my head. At first I was irritated at her and her attitude, but I couldn't deny that she was definitely in control. I wondered if this was her usual demeanor, or was she pissed off because she got stuck with this flight or something else.
She went through her announcement and stated her name was Chanell (spelling was obtained from her tag).
She closed her announcement saying in a stern tone, "if there is anything I could do to make your trip more comfortable, please let me know."
It sounded like a dare. In my current, tired condition, I certainly wasn't going to take that one on.
I wasn't the only one who noticed this I think. I noticed a young lady digging her cell phone out of her apparently bottomless purse. She kept looking over the seat to see where Chanell was, before she pulled it out. Seriously.
The young lady wanted to grab a couple of quick shots of the clouds out the plane window, which she did, and then quickly put it away, again looking up to see if Chanell was in viewing distance.
The flight was relatively uneventful and quick. As I unboarded the plane, the last one to get out, Chanell flatly said, "thank you for flying United..."
I would have been disappointed if she had gone all sweet and lightness at the end.
It's good to be home.
The sole flight attendant was a slender African-American woman. She walked up and down the aisle, telling people that they couldn't put a soda in the seat pocket, needed to turn the phones off, etc. She wasn't the warm and fuzzy kind of attendant. She was militant.
After everyone was on board, she stood up at the front and made an announcement without the microphone.
"I need two people from rows 4-8 to move to rows 15-18," she said.
Everyone looked confused and no one answered. It was somewhat phrased as a question, but it was a command.
"I need two people from rows 4-8 to move to rows 15-18," she quickly repeated, "This door will not close until two people agree to move to balance the plane."
The lady in front of me agreed to move. So did I. She didn't say thank you that I recall.
I moved to the VERY last row in the plane and ended up sitting in a double-seat solo, which was fine. However, I couldn't keep the flight attendant's attitude out of my head. At first I was irritated at her and her attitude, but I couldn't deny that she was definitely in control. I wondered if this was her usual demeanor, or was she pissed off because she got stuck with this flight or something else.
She went through her announcement and stated her name was Chanell (spelling was obtained from her tag).
She closed her announcement saying in a stern tone, "if there is anything I could do to make your trip more comfortable, please let me know."
It sounded like a dare. In my current, tired condition, I certainly wasn't going to take that one on.
I wasn't the only one who noticed this I think. I noticed a young lady digging her cell phone out of her apparently bottomless purse. She kept looking over the seat to see where Chanell was, before she pulled it out. Seriously.
The young lady wanted to grab a couple of quick shots of the clouds out the plane window, which she did, and then quickly put it away, again looking up to see if Chanell was in viewing distance.
The flight was relatively uneventful and quick. As I unboarded the plane, the last one to get out, Chanell flatly said, "thank you for flying United..."
I would have been disappointed if she had gone all sweet and lightness at the end.
It's good to be home.
