Yes, everyone has a story, and everyone can make a difference

I recently heard a wonderful story by a flight attendant who, after being throttled by one too many rude comments, was starting to think she needed to change careers. Then a passenger had a heart attack and was lying in the aisle.

His shirt had been opened and she was holding the oxygen bottle while a doctor on the flight worked the defibrillator and they desperately tried to resuscitate him. A passenger was tugging at her sleeve and saying “excuse me!” The flight attendant asked her to wait a minute, they were trying to save this man’s life. But the passenger kept tugging and the flight attendant realized this passenger might also be having an emergency. So she turned around to see what the problem was, at which point the irate passenger held up her coffee cup and said: “This coffee is cold.” Can you imagine? Can a person be that cold? 

A few weeks later, she saw a man get on the plane holding a black garbage bag, which is apparently a flight attendant pet peeve (“Seriously? Get a real carry-on bag!”), but apparently, people will sometimes just throw things into a garbage bag. This was in late September 2001, not long after 9-11, so flight attendants were particularly nervous about strange characters onboard airplanes, but she held back and did not say anything. She noticed him standing with the overhead bin open, guarding it with his hand and mentally labeled him as a “character” she would have to keep an eye on.

A short while later he got up when the seat belt sign was on and stood in the rear of the airplane waiting for the bathroom. She was struggling with the urge to tell him to sit down — after all, if the seat belt sign is illuminated there is usually a reason; the captain knows something we don’t, right? 

Finally she said, “Sir, the seat belt sign is on!” But he responded: “I know, but I really have to go.” So she let it go.

She was sitting on the jump seat next to the bathroom, and with him standing so close felt like she should make conversation, so she asked: “Are you traveling for business or pleasure?”