Crew 1: “Who’s on your next trip?”
Crew member 2 “Just let me check…Jolene is the CM, I better not be in business class with her she’s such a moll. I might go sick actually.
Crewmember 1: “Last time I worked with her she stood someone down because their hair length was below the shoulder”
Crewmember 2: “That’s it then, I’m defs going sick…”
Like all jobs, some cabin managers you gel with, some make you want to run for the hills. Luckily with flying, a bad cabin manager only lasts for as long as the trip does, and hopefully you’re working in the separate cabin from them.
In other workplaces, a bad manager breathing down your neck can be near impossible to escape. As the saying goes, people don’t leave jobs they leave managers, and while this is true in the ordinary sense, people don’t tend to leave flying (hence the seniors still who have been flying before I was born.) Instead of a manager you can no longer tolerate forcing you to leave the job, cabin crew tend to just go sick on that trip where there’s a on board manager with a bad reputation. Poor reserve standby person who gets called out to cover the vacancy.
By and large, most cabin managers are great to work with, but the bad ones do one or all of the below:
A Cabin Manager Who Micromanages
The job of a flight attendant is fairly straightforward. Once you know the service, the fundamentals pretty much stay the same. Bad cabin managers watch everything you do like a hawk. They simply have to control everything, from the way you set up the cart, to the precise timing you turn the ovens on for the second service. They’ll definitely let you know if you if they consider it one minute early or one minute too late.
Micromanagers don’t trust that you know what you are doing, and they always need to have their input often in a domineering way, and so help you god if you do the job a little bit differently to what they had in mind. If it’s a crew who is micromanaging me, I usually have no problems putting them in their place if it’s been going on long enough – but if it’s the cabin manager, it can be much more difficult.
A Purser Who Won’t Support Or Back You Up
Some cabin managers reward bad behaviour from passengers. If you have to cut off a business class passenger for their belligerent behaviour, a spineless cabin manager will overrule you or try and throw you under the bus. If the passenger makes an unjust complaint to the company about the crew, this cabin manager will not support their crew, instead laying the blame on some of the other crew.
Many on board managers make a big point of policing baggage at the boarding gate or before departure. If a bag is over the allowed weight limit or too big, it will be offloaded. There’s nothing worse than that manager who takes the path of least resistance and allows oversized baggage you when you’ve done your job and politely told the passenger their bag will need to be checked. It just makes them board their next flight thinking they are above the rules.
I once had a manager say in front of a business class passenger who I misheard request a white rum as a white wine, ‘oh he’s new, he doesn’t know what white rum is’ – not only was this embarrassing as I definitely knew what a white rum – aka Bacardi – was, it showed her quickness to sell me out, and as I’d been flying at that point for 6 months, I was barely new.
A Lazy Customer Service Manager Who Avoids Dealing With Issues
As crewmembers we are all part of a team, and no matter if you are an onboard manager or not, when it’s time to do the service it’s all hands on deck. Every crew member’s help is essential and have a role to play in making sure the several hundred people on board are kept fed and comfortable. Lazy customer service managers feel entitled to do less because they’ve worked their way up the ranks. One of the worst cabin managers I had was through a 7 day trip where they always found an excuse not to be in the cabin. He didn’t help out in the second service before landing, because of a headache. I would have given him the the benefit of a doubt if he didn’t seem to be invisible in other services throughout the trip, and always on his company iPad doing ‘paperwork.’
Also a good cabin manager will help resolve issues, whereas bad ones avoid dealing with anything challenging at all costs. For example when passenger wants to move seats or they are becoming irate because their special meal didn’t arrive, it’s frustrating when the manager wants to avoid any confrontation and/or extra work tells you to handle it. I like to handle things where I can and often I do, but if I come to you as the cabin manager to help handle the issue, it’s because I need your backup as the passenger is not listening to what I am saying.
A Flight Attendant Manager Who Rewards Bad Behaviour
When passengers complain about their meal, or their seat or their IFE and it’s obvious they are just being difficult or looking for something for free, it’s frustrating when the on board manager that gives them whatever they ask for to try and keep the peace. Yes, absolutely give them that duty free voucher or bottle of champagne when there’s a genuine service failure, but if they are just having a whinge, giving them anything they want means they are just going to try the tactics on the next crew.
Similar to the baggage issue above, if the passenger kicks up a stink and starts getting furious, this shouldn’t mean their needs a bowed down to. Rules are there for a reason. I’ve had to cut someone off for drinking too much and disturbing others around them, so don’t go and give them more alcohol to keep them happy when they complain.
These are just a few examples of bad cabin managers in the setting of being a flight attendant. Like all jobs though, all the other bad characteristics of bad managers also apply in the air. My advice? Grin and bear it and then chit chat about it to other crew. You know everyone else thinks the same and you’re not alone!!
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