Tales From a Trolley Dolly

I've just finished reading 'The Sky Is Crazy-Tales From A Trolley Dolly' by Yvonne Lee last night. It left me reminiscing about my flying days long ago. Most of what has been written by Mrs. Yvonne Lee were mostly stories passed down from one generation of cabin crew to the other via CCN which is an abbreviation for Cabin Crew Network or in other words,she heard through the cabin crew grapevines. Not to discredit her mind you, I applause her for her initiative anyway. Wished I'd thought of it first.

During my flying days, I too have heard some of the stories that she had shared in her book...now I'm beginning to feel quite sceptical about the stories. Did I mention, one of the work hazards of being a crew is that after being on air for a long period of time...you tend to become a little 'off' and there is a tendency to exaggerate.

Like the infamous story about a particular local artist whom when asked by the cabin crew on how she'd like her tea, she had answered "In a cup, please." I'm still kind of sceptical with that particular tale because I had actually encountered such a scenario.

I was working in the upper deck business class on a flight from Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur. During the tea/coffee service, I was serving this large English man while I was on autopilot mode and asked him how he'd like his tea? His reply was "in a cup preferable while I'm sitting down please"...That woke me up but as I saw him crack a grin, I finally realized that this man was making a joke. Probably those dry english sense of humor that I never quite understood. I've related this experience to a few other crew members that I had flown with throughout the years...so when the 'tea in a cup' story emerged...I was quite sceptical about the gossip.

I remembered operating a flight to Frankfurt, after the meal service, my supervising crew and the galley steward had retired for their compulsory 2 hours rest period. I was left alone to man the cabin till it was my turn for rest. The cabin which was under my care was Zone E, the most remote cabin located at the rear end of the aircraft not to mention the largest as well.

There was this sweet German man who kept coming to the galley to place his drink order. He said he didn't want to trouble me by making me walk back and forth. He kept ordering vodka lime with an olive (which is kinda wierd because the appropriate garnish ought to be a twist of lemon)over and over again.

After his umpteenth glass, I heard loud gasps coming from the cabin and when I opened the galley curtain to check it out, this man popped in front of me, out of nowhere clad only in his bright green undies! I didn't know where to put my eyes. This man asked me to make him another glass of vodka, but by that time I had figured out (regretfully a tad late) that this man was absolutely drunk . When I told him that he has had enough...he actually threatened to take off his undies! That was a sight I wasn't willing to see so I told him to take a seat while I prepared his drink.

I was at my ends wit and seeked the help of the galley steward in the next cabin. The steward asked me for the man's seat number and told me that he'll take care of the problem. Phew, what a relief.

Peeking out of my galley, I saw the steward handing Mr. Underwear another glass of drink. I thought to myself "Is this guy nuts???"

The man had a few gulps and suddenly passed out. He didn't regain his conciousness till after anding and was still very dizzy during disembarkation. He actually attempted to disembark clad only in his undies. My supervisor had to stop him and help the man dress himself.

During our stay in Frankfurt, the steward told me that he actually put a drop of eye mo in this man's drink and according to him, when eye mo is mixed with alcohol, the person who consumes it will definitely pass out. Although thankful, I made a point to stay away from this particular steward because I thought if he was capable of spiking people...heaven only knows what else he is capable of doing.

I could go on and on with my tales from the air...but I'll just save my stories for next time.