Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Confession of a Flight Attendant

Don't get overly excited, this is more of a frustration than a confession... Let me explain!

As a Flight Attendant I'm trained for various events from how to: Evacuate an aircraft in less than 90 seconds.. (A great job you saw just a few weeks ago on US Air Flight 1549)
I've been trained to put out a fire, Use an AED (Defibrillator), CPR, pour coffee @ 35,000 feet even with turbulence ...

My Airline thought I was smart enough to do all of this....
So where do I find my frustration? When I get to the Layover Hotel...and the hotel
Alarm Clock...!!!! YES, I said Alarm Clock...
In the various hotels we stay @ the alarm clocks range from Mickey Mouse easy to you need to have a PHD from VMI to program it!
Hotels try, they do try to have the newest gadgetry alarm clocks. Some have pictures on them, some you can plug-in your IPod, Some hotels even toss in a CD to play soothing sounds to help you fall asleep.. Yet every layover you have to question: Is the time right? Will the power go off? Is the time on PM, Is the alarm on AM... Is it set 5 minutes early from the last person that was in your room or right on the nose. Trust me, I was in the lobby one time 30 minutes early, come to find out the clock in the room was set 15 minutes ahead... and I'm always in the lobby 15 minutes early...
USE your Cell Phone: Most Flight Attendants use their cell phone as an alarm clock, sure that is doable .. UNTIL you are sound asleep all snuggled up in New York, when a friend calls you from
Portland, Oregon & you get that apologetic voice on the other side saying "Oh did I wake you up?" It's okay I have to get up in 3 hours...
Get a wake up call: Do you like to play craps? That is always a gamble.
Knock on wood, I've never missed the crew van because I woke up late..

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh you are SO right! lol
I skipped wake-up-calls after that special one in IST saying "sorry Miss,this is Pick-up-call, wake-up-call I forgot!". after that I invested 9Euros in my own Travel Alarm Clock and it never disappointed me!!!
hope you got through the Tornado safe!
greetings from Austria,
Claudia

Unknown said...

I use my cell phone. Luckily it will automatically adjust to the local time so I can reset my clock in the room. I don't have many friends that know my cell phone number so I haven't had any of them wake me. I used to carry an alarm clock, but the cell phone works much better for me.

I've found wake-up calls completely unreliable.

Unknown said...

From a "fellow" FA - Hi! Enjoying your blog.
Wanted to follow, but can't see where to on your site.

UpUpnAAway said...

Hello Brenda, I "used" to have a follow button: Hmmm Now where did I put that???

I will work on my Follow Button!

Thanks for looking!

Shelby

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Fort Worth, Texas, United States