Flight attendants, just do your job - don't you dare try to entertain me

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This was published 4 years ago

Flight attendants, just do your job - don't you dare try to entertain me

By Alan Granville
Updated
Are we being subjected to a mile-high version of New Zealand/America/Azerbaijan's Got Talent?

Are we being subjected to a mile-high version of New Zealand/America/Azerbaijan's Got Talent?Credit: iStock

I have pinpointed the exact moment when I became a grumpy old man - this morning at 7.15.

It's when I saw the video of the Air New Zealand crew member singing over the intercom to a captive audience.

Now, it has nothing to do with the flight attendant himself. He had a great voice and belted out Amazing Grace in English AND Japanese (show off - arrgh, see the grump comes easily now). He was a huge hit - so good on him.

No, it was the thought in my head that, "I hope it never happens on my flight. Don't you dare try and entertain me - just do your job". And there it was - I became the travelling grouch without ever leaving my office.

The fact that the performance followed another recent Air New Zealand chanteuse led me to think that flying through the air is now going to be a mile-high version of New Zealand/America/Azerbaijan's Got Talent.

Australia and New Zealand has been relatively safe from aircrew doing their level best to audition for agents. The US and Canadian airlines, however, are awash with comedians who think the safety briefing is a 2-minute try-out for their own Netflix stand-up show. And as we all know, "entertaining" safety videos have a mixed history anyway.

A couple of years ago AirAsia crew left many scratching their heads when they decided a "moaning" contest was the way to entertain. European airlines used to play the paper towel game where passengers had to pass the rolls from row to row and avoid breaking it. Enforced fun - the horror!

A recent study pinpointed the worst age for the mid-life crisis - 47.2. That means I have another year to delve the depths of grouchiness. Researcher David Blanchflower, an economics professor at Dartmouth College, said a host of variables such as career and finances are behind this sudden drop in the "happiness" curve.

Neda Gould, a clinical psychologist and director of the Mindfulness Program at Johns Hopkins, said reflection on the past is also a factor. "We're looking back at experiences we may regret, and then we're looking forward and wondering what the next phase may look like. That can cause anxiety," she told CNBC Make It.

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I think one of the reasons that I have become increasingly moody on flights is that a lot of the "joy" of travelling has eroded. Dealing with security checks, the overpriced coffees, paying for every little facet that used to be free, the smaller seats. Reflecting on how we used to travel, even as falsely rosy-tinted it may be, plays a factor.

I just want to get to the location. If I'm travelling solo on a domestic flight, I'll say a cursory "hi" to my seat-mates and that's about it. Long-haul flights get some more conversation, and on the rare times - full blown dialogue. My 17.2" seat becomes my own little cocoon, and woe betide anyone who interrupts that. The fact I even use "woe betide" shows I have aged a decade in a day.

Look, I know flying is cheaper and quicker than its ever been, and yes, the crew need to break the monotony of the job by livening things up. They honestly do a great job and lots of people seem to love the entertainment. But on every flight there will be least one grumpy old man not bothered by all the fuss - that's my role now. I used to be fun at parties, now get off my lawn.

Stuff.co.nz

See also: Flight attendant goes viral after performing Britney Spears hit on plane

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