Learning To Fly

Tuesday 28th March 2006

Welcome aboard Emirates!



So who was it again that said we were merely high-class waitresses but low-class stewardesses? Who was it again who said if one's English is so good then why must be an air-stewardess and why cannot be (cliched!) lawyer, doctor, astronaut, NASA scientist? Who was it again that said stewardesses were bimbotic shallow-mellow WorldPeace advocates? Who was it again who called us pathetic for serving the brave and handworking banglas and maids when they finally get to return to/leave their poor little villages from/for greener pastures? Who was it again who summed us up as cheap "coffee, tea or me" freelancers? Who was it again who disagreed heatedly and was ridden with indignance when someone actually called us "classy"? Who was it again that said we were air-heads? Who was it again who said we had to work-to-travel, which made us lower-grade human beings than those who travel-to-work?

Who dares put us down? Who dares think he/she/it is of better human substance to be able to squish our flying pride?

I love my job. She loves her job. Those who do fly, also love their jobs. Really.

Tell me, when did you last go to work with a smile on your face, a song in your heart and a spring in your step?

I just did.

In fact, I do it before every flight. Yes, I had and still have my ups and downs in my two years (and more so!) with Emirates. Yes, my teething phase when I started in 2004 was a mite too challenging for my own good. Yes, I do have an iron-fisted CCM. Yes, I am still learning how to fly. We all are, aren't we?







No, I have yet to think of leaving.






No matter what one does for a living, inevitably, it's the happiness and satisfaction for one's own self that factors the most at the end of the day. And that picture, by the way, is of AnnaM and I, on our latest flight to Colombo. One which we finally got to do together. And yes, she's good at her job. If not, better than I am. And that's saying alot, tau! Heh.

Here's to having our heads in the air and stubbornly refusing to come down.