Stressful flying partner

     Its been a very stressful week in the skies for me.  On the aircraft I work on only two flight attendants are required.  So we of course work very close as a team with just the two of us.  For the most part its nice but about ten percent of the time I get a person who just doesn't work as a team or just doesn't do the job by the manual as instructed.  I am not perfect by any means so before anyone thinks that I am 100% by the book 24/7 this is just my rants and vents.  By the book I mean by the flight attendant manual (FAM).  On the first day I met my flying partner she was already on the plane before me and had made herself comfortable in the position that I had planned on working that day.  According to my FAM the senior flight attendant will decided where they wish to work.  I had told her that I wish to be flight attendant A today (front position).  In a very senior base like mine its unusual that I get to decide where I work being that I am a pretty junior line holder.  With that said she just looked at me and said oh OK well I thought since you were senior you would work the B position (aft galley).   I told her to never assume where the senior person wants to work, always ask.  At least that is what I do.  Since we were on a 3 day trip I told her we could switch every day.  Not all flight attendants in the company see it that way but it drives me crazy to be in the same position everyday for a paring.  

        This flight attendant is fairly new but has been out of class long enough to know the rules.  She was all over the place and complained about everything.  And when I say everything I mean EVERYTHING!  Venting is OK but when you cant find anything positive about your job, maybe this isn't the job for you.  Of course we all vent about that one passenger who wont get off the phone or but their seat back up for landing.  While I performed the safety demo she read the demo from the aft galley.  But she didn't read the demo in order they way its suppose to be so it threw me off my retinue, which made ME look like a fool in front of the passengers.  I have close to 4 years flight attendant experience, she has 6 months.   I don't like looking stupid in front of my cabin.  I asked her why she kept skipping portions of the safety demo and her answer was oh I kept loosing my place while reading.  While I have no response to that I kept thinking maybe you should read over whats written in the manual, take your time while announcing the demo and you should be fine.  The demo is nothing to joke around about, this is really important info!

     I always give the B flight attendant space to set up for the beverage service.  Some of our flights are short but over 200 miles and we have to do a full beverage service.  On a 37 minute flight and 86 passengers to serve there is really no time to waste.  I usually wait until the plane levels off before attempting to drag a 200 pound cart into the cabin.  I like to work smart, not hard!  I go to the back to try and help out and she is sitting down reading a book.  In the nicest way possible I said we need to prepare the cart and brew the coffee etc.  She continued to read her book so I started to brew the coffee and get the cart sat up.  Finally she put her book down and said to me that she was going to get that done.  Of course I am thinking no your not but its OK we are all set and ready to go.  Passenger interaction is great especially on long flights.  This wasn't a long flight so the service had to be fast.  She didn't think of it that way.  While I got about 6 rows done she had served 4 drinks.  She was too busy flirting with all the male passengers.  We moved the cart and again I had finished about 6 or 7 rows and she was still talking to the first row she had started on.  Come on lady your not on a date your are work.  SERVE SOME DAMN BEVERAGES!!!!  This entire trip was nothing but full loads and short flights with beverage services.  As you can image I was getting very tired of pulling my own weight and some of hers.

     The first day of the trip we had to report at the airport very early so by the time we got to the hotel for our layover I was very tired from doing double duty and being up at 3:30am.  All I wanted to do was nap or just sleep off the entire layover.  She wanted to do out for dinner and drinks.  I told her maybe and if I am up for it ill call her room.  I was taking such a good nap and then the room phone rang.  ERRRRAHH back to nap I go.  An hour later I hear *BANG BANG BANG* on my door.  Its a bad nightmare that wont go away.  I got up to look out the peephole and it was her.  At this point I just ignored it and she went away.  What part of I am taking a nap and I don't plan on leaving the hotel room until tomorrow didn't she understand?!

      The complying continued  on the way to the airport the next day.  She was on the phone with her kid and when she hung up she was crying.  I asked her what was wrong (I wish I didn't!) and she said she is missing her sons baseball game.  Then she said its not right how she is never home with her kids, she hates hotel life and wants to be home every night.  Well I am not sure if you realize this or not but your a flight attendant which requires you to travel 100% of the time and be away from home for days.  If you hate it that much then quit or wait about 10 years until you can be the number one line holder and get whatever you want.  She will probably quit in 3 months.  

     I know this blog is getting seriously long, and if you have made it this far without staring off into space then I thank you for reading!  By day three of our trip I have had it and refused to pull more weight then I had too.  As far as compliance checks  I did my portion of the plane same with cleaning up I only cleaned what I was suppose to do.  I HATE doing that, we are a team we should work together but if I showed her that I would do her share of things she would slack off and get lazy.  You do your half and Ill do mine from now on its SOP standard operating procedures.  I really hate that because I love working as a team.  I want to show the passengers that flight attendants can still be pleasant despite what is thrown in front of us everyday. I want people to see I love my job and take some pride in it.  I feed off other peoples energy and when there is nothing but negative energy it brings me down.  If there is something I can say to everyone that's a part of any type of crew its play your part in the team, there is seriously no I in TEAM!