A day and a half ago, I was having late lunch with Luke and even had an appointment to touch up my lash extensions, but it got rudely disrupted by an early call from control centre, activating me for a flight at 2am in the morning to Manchester, as my standby starts after midnight. Naturally, I knew I had to cancel all the plans I had that day because I had to pack for a long layover halfway across the world.
The only thing was, I wasn't activated for flying duty- but I was going to be travelling as a passenger to Manchester, and will be working back in Singapore with another set of crew. Perhaps another stewardess fell sick and was unable to operate the flight back, so I was called up to replace her. I said before that my job is a series of packing and going, and not knowing, and this is perhaps the best example of how unpredictable it can be.
I was a little bumped at first but honestly, more than anything, I see now that the flight was more of a blessing in disguise.
My parents sent me to the airport and because we were early, I told them to stay a little longer and have a drink with me. When they sent me off at the departure gate, it really felt like I was going far away and it was just so different than working. I actually felt a little sad to leave, and I was kinda nervous about taking a long flight on my own. You guys must be thinking like, "Girl, you're a stewardess. You travel all the time on your own." Haha, it's true, yes, but it's something that's out of the routine, you're no longer going with a set, suddenly you're all by yourself, out of your uniform and what's normal to you suddenly becomes a little foreign.
The set of crew who were working up to Manchester with me were a group of sweethearts. Everyone was so nice and took such good care of me. The minute I stepped into the aircraft, the chief steward called my name and handed me a bottled water. The next thing I knew, I had a whole row of seats to myself on a full flight. Everyone were eyeing on my seat(s) because naturally, everyone would love some extra space for themselves on a flight this long.
So, of course, I had the best time being a paxing crew on that flight.
Being put in a different perspective than I was accustomed to, I was able to see how it's like being a passenger on an SQ flight. I was able to see myself in the eyes of a passenger.
And indeed, I have to say, that perhaps to us, we're just doing our job and what's expected of us. But truly, what we provide to our passengers was amazing service. Even I can't deny it. You just can't help but ask,
"How the hell do the cabin crew stay so alert and energetic throughout the flight?
How on earth do they keep the toilets so well-maintained and clean even when it was probably used by the hundreds of passengers at least once per person?
How in the world do they still look so good and well groomed even after so many hours?"
As a cabin crew, we do complain a lot about so many things. And sometimes we complain about the work that we do, but the thing is, we do it anyway. So naturally that sometimes it doesn't feel like a chore, taking care of people feels like second nature. To us, it's nothing special but perhaps to the passengers, we're practically superheroes.
I definitely had more respect for my job after being on the flip side, it actually made me feel proud to be a cabin crew. I don't know, maybe it's just me, who's just so easily satisfied but being a passenger made me realise that our job isn't as easy as what people think, and sometimes we even forget to acknowledge our own hard work simply because we're just so used to it.
As you can already tell, I had a really good flight, and it's nice being here in Manchester. I guess I'll just relax and recuperate as much as I can before working for the flight back tomorrow morning.
Somedays, my job feels like the best thing in the world.
This is one of those days.
Love,
Ashhy
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