Grandma Flemming was on an Air Canada flight with her grand kids an hubby when she asked a flight attendant (or stewardess, more on the proper name later) to remove some trash from the seat back in front of her. The stewardess refused, saying- "I don't do garbage". Blown away by her rude response, the 71 year old Mrs. Flemming became for forceful in her request to sit in a trash free aisle. She eventually removed the trash her self by putting it on the attendants food trolley (I call them carts). So the airline had security remove her from the aircraft for being "aggressive" towards a crew member.
Now you and I both know, you don't mess with grannies on a mission. When a customer expects that a simple thing like garbage free seating on their flight be met, that's really not to much to ask.
Flying over the years has dramatically changed. Why? Low budget airlines and rude stewardesses / stewards. When you and I grew up flying on commercial airlines, the "general unspoken rules" were different. The stewardesses were dressed very well, had great attitudes and willingness to make sure we were comfortable and happy. My parents always saw to it that we were dressed properly for the flight and were always courteous. Everyone on the flights I remember were always happy. Why? Because most were headed somewhere fun for vacation or headed home from a vacation.
Today, low budget flying has taken the "unspoken rules of flying" off the table. Passengers show up in what my mom would have considered inappropriate attire for flying. I would have never been allowed to show up at the airport in pajamas, shorts and a t-shirt, flip flops and un-showered. But thanks to low budget airlines, those rules are considered old fashioned and no longer necessary.
Speaking of old fashioned flying, when did the term Stewardess / Steward become a thing of the past?
I prefer the throw back term, "SKY GIRL" myself.
Here's some history behind that one: The first Cabin Crew were generally men on airships, who were referred to as a group as "Flight Attendants", but were individually called Stewards, a term taken from ship crews. As is the term "Purser" for the Chief Steward.The first female flight attendant was a woman in 1930 named Ellen Church, who was a registered Nurse. Naturally, instead of calling her a Steward - a male-gendered term - she was referred to as a stewardess, as were those that came after her. Over the next decade or so, women were employed in the profession almost exclusively, at which point "stewardess" became the term in the common vernacular, because "stewards" had become incredibly rare.In the last 15 years or so, the terms "steward" and "stewardess" have both slowly fallen out of favor, replaced by the more gender-neutral terms "Flight Attendant"(Singular) and "Cabin Crew"(Group).