Former flight attendant: Dealing with racist passengers is part of the job

Interesting, but I guess it makes sense as we all know the airlines are only interested in getting the $$$. Also, it must suck for flight attendants to be put in this position.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/post...ssengers-racism-is-part-of-the-job/?tid=sm_fb

 

Interesting read. If I was a flight attendant, I'm not sure if I could even keep my cool dealing with any racist passengers.

 

I loled when I read this

That can be read so differently depending on who you are.

 

definitely

 

Absolutely! I can ignore many things, but I'm not sure how long I'd be able to accomodate crap from racist/bigoted passengers. I think I'd likely be looking for a new job.

 

A lot of people who have spent time in a customer service job can tell you stories of dealing with racist customers.

I used to answer phone calls for a large company, and I can't tell you how many times customers would unload a bunch of racist rants because our companies automated phone service repeated the directory options in Spanish.

 

I remember shortly after 9/11, three young men of Middle Eastern descent entered a restaurant. They drove all the way from Chicago after graduating from medical school. They had internships in South Florida. The all-white patrons watched them hard and remained silent. A waitress took their orders. The other patrons continued to watch them. The men talked amongst themselves in their language. This made the other patrons even more suspicious. The men, aware of the scrutiny, made a remarkable about 9/11 and they laughed a little. They paid and left. The waitress called the police. The men were stopped while they were on their way to Key West and were arrested. The police put their luggage in the bomb squad truck and destroyed their clothes. They weren't carrying a bomb or other lethal weapons. The waitress was called a heroine and the police praised her for her decisive action. But for the three men, their lives were changed and the internship was cancelled.
The mother of two of the men hired an attorney to sue the police and the waitress who reported them to the police. She cited that the waitress was racist. The waitress said that she was doing her duty as an American citizen. After careful review, it was decided that though the waitress was right to report suspicious activity, she had jumped the gun in her assessment of the three men.

I remember the time when I was on my spring break trip in New York. I was trying to relax while riding on the subway train. The train stopped and in stepped a young black man wearing a gray overcoat and a large cardboard box strapped to his chest. The box was held together with duct tape. We all looked at this man. Was he a terrorist? The man looked at all of us and said hi. He opened the box and inside the box were candy bars and other snacks. We all breathed a sigh of relief. Some of the passengers bought some of his stock.

Stranger danger is important to watch out for anywhere you go.
But coupled with racist paranoia, it's a bitch.

 

Aircrafts carry people from all over the world, running into a racist on a plane is like running into rats in a sewer.