Yesterday I completed what is called an “Operating Experience” with my airline. An Operating Experience is when you get on the plane and pretend to be a flight attendant, but there are real flight attendants there telling you what to do and when.
That last part…the “what to do and when” part is the terrifying part.
I graduate from flight attendant training tomorrow. After that, they SAY that I am ready to work as a flight attendant. Let me tell you: I can keep you safe on a plane. But…I don’t yet know when to serve your drinks, I can’t reliably answer questions, and I haven’t yet operated an aircraft oven on my own. So…good luck to me! Sorry to all my passengers.
From my understanding, I’ll go, and I’ll figure it out. Over time, I’ll get better at it.
So, that’s my plan. Go. Be chill. Be kind. Do my best. Learn. Get better.
So what was yesterday like? Intense at times. My classmate and our evaluator boarded the aircraft much later than the crew because it took the customer service people a long time to get our tickets properly set up to sit in the jumpseats. This meant that while people were boarding, I had to try to dive between them to check my equipment. (Before the first flight of the day flight attendants have to make sure emergency equipment like fire extinguishers and personal oxygen are in proper working condition). I had to do my best to help passengers while making sure that I was reading announcements at the right time.
After boarding, things weren’t so stressful. I felt my waitressing experience from 15 years ago served me well (carrying trays, remembering drink orders, having people interrupt to make requests while I was in the middle of a task). The Flight Attendants we were working with were kind and helpful. The pilots were exceedingly nice. The passengers were kind as well.
I had a few mishaps: I began briefing the wrong rows for exit row procedures, and halfway through realized my error and then said, “You five back there, you can forget what I’m saying.” Then I had to finish the briefing and move forward one row to actually brief all the correct people. Someone didn’t like their beer so I attempted to poor it out in the garbage…only to suddenly feel splashing at my feet and realize that the trash bin had been removed from the compartment and I had essentially poured beer all over the floor.
Despite the minor mishaps, the day went smoothly, and the job was more fun and exceedingly less stressful than my hospital job. What a relief! (I realize that there will be challenging days as a flight attendant, but at my old job EVERY day was challenging for me once the pandemic hit).
Afterwards I found that I was physically EXHAUSTED. My legs hurt, my feet hurt, my back hurt, and I was very very tired. I’m not quite sure why. I only worked one day and now can rest. In the future I anticipate that often I’ll be working trips in which I have many flights with short (10 hour) rests in between. I’m a little worried that I’ll be falling apart at the end of a 4-day trip given the level of exhaustion that I experienced at the end of the day yesterday. I was wearing 3 inch heals yesterday (they’re the only uniform compliant shoes that I have right now, but I will have several more comfortable pairs in a week or so). My hope is that most of the pain and exhaustion was because of the shoes. But, we will see.
Right now, I’m a bit apprehensive about the job, and admittedly, apprehensive about finances. I made this change in a bid for happiness. My old job made me a lot of money, but also made me very unhappy. This new one is making me very little money, and I hope that it will make me happy, but I’m nervous that it won’t. Time will tell!
For now, I’m grateful for where I’m at. This change is welcome and appreciated.
*all opinions are my own
Adventure Fam 
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