Editor's Note » 

WHEN RUDENESS ENDANGERS

Published: 08/02/2012 - Filed under: Editor's Note »

• Print
• Send

Hotel lounge singers and flight attendants, delivering safety instructions, may not realise it, but they share one thing in common – they often find themselves performing before inattentive audiences.

Of course, listening to a song and listening to an emergency spiel require two very different focusing skills, yet I wonder why when it comes to something that may save your life and your loved one (s), some minds start to wander. There are even people, who display appalling manners, chatting loudly as two passengers did on a recent flight taken by someone who posted the experience on our businesstraveller.asia forum. So concerned was he that he was forced to “politely” touch  “the loudest of the two on the shoulder”, asking them to respect the demonstration.

Now, instead of acknowledging that they were behaving boorishly, the men (not gentlemen, mind you) retired to their newspapers but kept glaring at our reader throughout the entire journey, making him feel “as if I had a major problem or was some kind of rules sergeant”. He learned later on from the stewardess that such behaviour was becoming more commonplace, and the crew just had to learn to put up with it.

Bravo, dear forum poster. I commend you for your guts in putting those rascals in their place, even if it earned you dirty looks in the process. As for myself, I admit that I don’t speak up often enough when people (and their precious offspring) treat hotel lobbies, passenger holding areas, airplane cabins, quiet cars of trains and the like as extensions of their bedrooms or homes. I’ve learned my lesson when it comes to directly disciplining holy terrors, who kick the bejesus out of my airline seat because they’re bored or because they just love the way I reverberate with each mighty whack of their sturdy Nikes.

Always relay your displeasure at the consistent hammering of your seatback to the young culprit’s parents/guardian/companion through the flight attendant and never directly to the kid. Telling my tormentor to stop not only earned me black stares from the mother, but also audible mutterings of “Who does she think she is?” and more that I care not repeat, during the remaining one hour and a half of the flight. I don’t regret what I did, but it was mighty uncomfortable with someone hurling invectives at me behind my back – literally.

More and more cabin crew, it appears, are not afraid to show they’ve had it with impolite, arrogant and unruly customers, especially during a vital procedure such as the safety demo. Their tactics have been to name and shame the source of the loud chatter or say they would inform the captain that they were ready for take off only after they were confident the demo had been conducted (and heard) properly, among others.

When it comes to safety, especially mine, anything to ensure it, certainly has my vote.

Bookmark with:

ADD A COMMENT »