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Lore
Any of you remember those beautiful layovers in Zurich?
The Hotel (a Sheraton, I think) was set at the base of mountains and woods and had a coral behind it where they kept cows. Anyway, I had not been back very long from being re-called from the stike and picked up a Zurich trip. It was summer and the weather was gorgeous. We had a wonderful layover, but our FSM had dissapeared the night before with another crew (Other Airline) and we didn’t see him until pickup. He didn’t look very “perky” that particular morning, and then told us about his unique experience the night before. He had gone “Cow Teeping”.
We had all gone to the pool to get some sun and “debrief” when we got in, and that’s where he met the the OA crew and went to dinner with them. Sometime during dinner they exchanged stories of growing up (He was Portugese, they were from the Midwest - farm country). One of their pastimes (and maybe some of you have heard of this) was “Cow Tipping”. Cows sleep standing up. I guess the idea is to walk up to a sleeping cow and push it over.....REALLY! After dinner and much vino they decided to try this with the cows behind the hotel. It was very dark, and late. They couldn’t see very well. Our FSM made the grave mistake of picking the BULL to “Teep over”. This bull was NOT happy about being woke up in the least and charged at him. The fence around the coral was not that high, and mostly wood, BUT.......had a wire running across the top of it and YES FOLKS had a small electrical current running through it.
As he went to climb over the fence to escape the charging bull, he straddled the wire. Now, I don’t care how small of a current it was - when it’s in your crotch it AIN’T TOO PLEASANT!!!!!
He made it out without getting scored by the bull, but was walking funny for awhile! I doubt very much he ever went COW TEEPING again!
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Linda
I had been flying for about a year and was talking to a first class passenger in seat 4c. I was buddy bidding with my roomate Kathleen , a stunning brunette. The gentleman had called me over to thank me for the great service. He said “You really do a great job, but why do you waste your time working here” You could do something that makes alot more money.” A the same time Kathleen walked by me with a coffee pot and said “excuse me sweetie” and grabbed a handful of my butt as she passed. The passenger said”OK Never mind”
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Barbara
While in training in Kansas City, Kathleen, who would become my roommate in New York and I became quick friends. She was from a very affluent family in Houston and had the best of everything, the finest clothes etc. . One afternoon I went with her to a salon to have her hair done. It was from a full page add she found in Vogue. The cut was long in the back but very short bangs. It entailed them putting 6 different color shades to achieve a layered multicolor look. She paid $250.00 and was extemely thrilled by the cut. Sh looked exactly like the model in the picture,so she was very excited to show up with her new do saying” Well what can they find wrong with this? Its straight out of Vogue”. When we arrived at the seminar I went to get us some coffee and asked her to go find us two seats together. As I approached the room she came running out. She said “you will not believe this” I went into the room and there was a huge poster in front of the room with pictures of “hair dont’s “ In the very middle of the poster was Kathleens haircut picture that she had just paid so dearly for. Needless to say the instructor had her re do it.
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Rhonda
One of the best things we ever served in F/C was the English Trifle on the Coast to Coast flights. The Pax loved it. So I can’t understand why no one is taking it. I push the cart back to the galley thinking there will at least be plenty for the crew. I then notice in the galley mirror that the entire front of my hair has whipped cream in it.
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Leslie
Here’s one that was embarrasing for the supervisor. I had just transferred to STL from JFK and had been late for 2 flight. Thats only because I hadn’t yet learned where the hitchin post was in ST Louis to park my donkey in the employee lot..anyway....I was called into the office to see a supervisor. She proceeded to tell me how different things were here in STL, and unlike JFK, they would not put up with tardiness. She sat on the corner of the desk and said “See our job is very different from everyone else in the world. We work in an airplane, and our plane is our office, if you will. When regular people are late for work, they can still get to their office, no problem. When we are late however, our office has “taken off into the sky” and she makes a gesture with her hands like a plane taking off. I just stared at her in disbelief. She said do you understand? All I could say was “uuhh huuhh”
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Deborah
Summer of 1973.... My new roommate, Nancy, and I are called out on resv. to work JFK-CDG. Both new, & junior, we get stuck working F/C on full 747. I didn’t know much about Nancy yet, except she was 4 years older than I, and had grown up all over the world as the daughter to someone in the diplomatic services (making her quite worldly in my eyes !). Me, I’m barely 21, and just out of the ole cactus patch, having my first TWA interview in LAX the first time I had ever been out of little old Tucson, AZ. I’m chicken to take on that F/C galley, & opt to work aisle. Nancy’s working feverishly setting up the aisle. I pick up the F/C menu and study it like a human anatomy textbook. After takeoff, I’m working the appetizer cart. I don’t have a clue as to what is what, but I’m asking if they would like some WHORE DE OVARIES, I have some PAAY-T, some little black egg things on toast, more SHAM PAG KNEE ?, some smoked fishy thing SALL MOON. All the paxs are smiling up at me, I think I’m doing a TERRIFIC job ! After winging around F/C, I get back to the galley and find Nancy sitting on the spiral stairs, holding her legs tightly together, with tears running down her cheeks. I was so concerned if she was OK. She asked me if that was an act, or for real. I had no idea what she was talking about. (She DID finally explain !) I was mortified to go out and pick up, so I made her switch positions with me !!
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Carol
I remember those fuzzy layovers at the Continental on Guam and lots of other stuff in this thread including F/As flying the A/C. One particular incident when I was a F/O on the 727 at LGA, the Captain calls A F/A to the cockpit and tells her his brother who is also a TWA Captain is meeting the A/C when we land at LGA. He says we look exactly alike and to treat him real good, give him a hug, when she opens the L1 door when we pull up to the jetway at LGA. You could easily tell she thought he was full of BS. So he pulls to the gate, jetway is pulled over and he moves the aircraft forward a bit, opens his window and tells the agent who is standing on the jetway to wait for him to open the door. The agent is a bit perplexed but sees the Captain getting ready to exit his window onto the jetway. That is exactly what he did and went over and opened the L1 door from the jetway. Well of course A F/A sees “brother” on the jetway and can hardly believe it is true. But she gives him a hug anyway having no idea that the Captain has pulled a fast on her. We keep the story going. She thinks this is the most incredulous thing she has had happen in her life. It was a long time later she was told the truth. This is the same Captain who would put a rubber chicken under the windshield wiper and tell tower and maintenance he had a bird strike.
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Lynda
On one particular flight I noticed a very cute man board and sit in my cabin section. Being shy around men I am attracted to, I didn’t know how to go about to get him to notice me. So I decided to give the most flamboyant demo of my life. All smiles; some direct eye contact with him and a few of what probably looked like a Laker Cheerleader moves. After what I thought was a FABOULOUS demo, he actually motioned for me to come over. I leaned in to hear the words I wanted to hear… “Hi, my name is ----. Would you like to meet me for drinks later?” But what he actually said was, “Your fly is open!” I bolted to the rear of the plane and never looked at him again for the rest of the flight.
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Rhonda
About ten years ago the hotel in Lisbon had very interesting doors. There were metal numbers on the side, a lighted doorbell and a big maids call-light on top. I had commuted from Denver and been up about 24 hours before getting to the hotel. The crew has talked me into a train trip. After two hours sleep, I slap myself awake and head to the lobby. My eyes are so bloodshot I can hardly see and I am basically just out of it. For no particular reason I am walking close the the wall instead of the center of the hallway. Down at the far end of the hall a man is heading towards me heading to one of the first rooms. I am about 10 feet from him when he gets to his room. Instead of going to his door he decides to stop in the middle of the hall and let me pass (remember I am hugging the wall). Man facing busy door - you guessed it- I think it is the elevator so I go stand next to him. So now the two of us are standing there facing his room. He doesn’t know what to do and I am just not getting it. Quite a bit of time is passing and he starts squirming around. I, on the otherhand, am checking my nails, looking at the doorbell and thinking he has definitely pushed the button, and actually wishing I didn’t have to ride the elevator with this wierdo who is acting strange - what’s with the squirming? Finally, he looks over at me and says, “Well, do you want to come in”. It was like in the cartoons where the character suddenly realizes what they are seeing and the item enlarges and jumps out at them. I look at the door and the bell and at him and I’m mortified and start mumbling about the elevator and run away with a really red face. I am sure he thought I was some 45 year old hooker trying to get in his room. By the time I got to the lobby I was laughing so hard I could hardly tell the crew what happened
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Nancy
Paris layover at the Concorde Lafayette. After a short nap I decided to go for a walk and enjoy the beautiful day and check out some menus posted on different restaurants to decide where to eat that night. I was wearing a Fredericks of Hollywood short dress of a chamois-type material with short slits up each side. I was bent over to read a menu on a restaurant window and the owner walked up next to me to unlock the door and go in. He said something to me, and not understanding French I just smiled and nodded and then continued with my walk. This walk took me through a construction area of road with lots of workers around. About a block after this rather expansive construction area I felt a draft and put my hand behind me to feel that my dress was up around my waist in the back. The front was where it was supposed to be due to the slits at the sides! I pulled it down and held on to it all the way back to the hotel where I immediately changed clothes and decided that a restaurant very far in the opposite direction would probably be the best place to have dinner! Always best to carry static guard when wearing certain material that clings to the panty hose.
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Mona
Being hi-jacked by a 17-year-old girl from Stl-Mci. Said she was wired with dynamite. Turns out, she wasn’t, but she kept me, Stella Thomas, the FBI, and everyone else jumping through hoops for 12 hours. And since we were not “blocked in” you should have seen my expense check for that trip!
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Edie
I flew quite a bit with my “best friend”, Jan Gianni. We had a flight with a “down-home-farmer” type passenger. Overalls, the accent, long gray beard, the whole bit. We got a kick out of him because everytime he asked for something he would say, “hey little mama, ain’t ya got no ...?” Ain’t ... milk? Or Ain’t ...window seat? As Jan and I are sitting on our 707 jumpseat, the Lav door flies open, this guy is sitting on the pot and he says, “hey little mama, ain’t ya got no toilet paper?” Jan said, No big daddy” and shut the door. That was in the 70’s and Jan and I still ask things of each other with “hey little mama...
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Pam
A little girl was coloring pictures, she was about 8, and made me a picture signing it, “you are i vury nice Studess”, I was FSM at the time and gave her a pair of TW wings.” When you grow up, you can be a F/A too”, as the PAX watched our exchange, she looked at her wings then at MINE and said “WHEN I GROW UP. WILL MINE BE AS BIG AS YOURS????”:
The PAX watched my face turned BEET RED and laughed....I looked at her Mom and said “Yes, Ashley, when you grow up, yours will be as big as mine....(grin)”
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Whew! Back to the Crew Lounge for a much needed rest! |
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