Coffee, Tea, and Me?

I have several friends who are either getting divorced or are divorced.  We regularly have venting sessions about their dating horrors which brings me back to the time when I was a flight attendant.  I was single at the time and I could not believe the number of pilots and passengers, married and unmarried, who would hit on me.

The male passengers who were quite friendly were usually between  the ages of 30-70.  They were almost always consuming alcohol and thought they were the cat’s meow.  Some of them weren’t actually too bad but some clearly were not going to be on anyone’s Top 10 list anytime soon.  Most were either very curious, horny, or both.  The call button would be pressed several times (usually for more drinks) and questions were asked:  “What’s it like being a flight attendant?  Have you ever been in the cockpit?  What exactly do they do up there?  Can you ask the captain (usually during takeoff or landing) the score of the football game?”

The worst offenders, however, were the pilots.  I had heard stories about how flirtatious and unfaithful they were but was shocked at how true it actually was.  I would fly several routes a day and on at least one of those flights or hotel overnights I would be hit on.  On one particular trip, I went out to dinner with the pilots.  After we returned to the hotel I received a phone call from the co-pilot, who was married.  He asked if I’d like to come to his hotel room to “hang out”.  I also had another pilot who had an adjoining room who kept knocking on the door wondering if I’d like to come over to watch TV.  Uh huh, right.

Seriously, guys, what’s the deal?  It’s not like I’m Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie.  Maybe it’s the uniform?  Maybe it’s the fact I give out free pretzels?  I don’t know but whatever it was it was crazy.  The attention at first was fun but after a while grew old and then downright annoying.  I felt like a piece of meat that was being drooled over by a pack of wolves.

I now work an office job…not nearly as exciting and no drooling men, but at least I don’t have to worry about getting propositioned every 10 minutes or having a kid barf on me!