Coffee, Tea, Or Kelly Clarkson?
Indian Airlines has instituted a policy of grounding cabin crew members who are one kilogram or more overweight (one kilogram is approximately 2.2 pounds):
"We are part of the service industry, and have to be more presentable. So we are trying to get the cabin crew members to be fit. If any cabin crew member — male or female — is found to be exceeding the ideal weight according to his or her height, the person will be grounded and not allowed to perform in-flight duties."
There used to be a three-kilogram "weight grace," but that has been eliminated. Now, if you're more than two pounds overweight, you have 45 days to shape up or, I guess, you're fired. Charming.
"We are part of the service industry, and have to be more presentable. So we are trying to get the cabin crew members to be fit. If any cabin crew member — male or female — is found to be exceeding the ideal weight according to his or her height, the person will be grounded and not allowed to perform in-flight duties."
There used to be a three-kilogram "weight grace," but that has been eliminated. Now, if you're more than two pounds overweight, you have 45 days to shape up or, I guess, you're fired. Charming.
posted by mo pie at 11:23 PM
12 Comments:
I won't even go into how awful this is. But I have to ask, what time of the day do they weigh them? If you weigh me in the morning I am 1-3kg (2.2-6.6lb) lighter than I am in the afternoon. It depends on what you have consumed that day. So, they can fire you for drinking a litre of water?
How bout that. At least they were honest--they could have said something like, "We need to keep flight weight down so as to keep fuel costs in check."
It bugs me that they are quoted as saying they want their "crew members to be fit" when you know they just want hot stewardesses. If they had a bulemic air hostess with diabetes and heart disease who also looked good in a mini-skirt, you know they wouldn't care. I don't even have much of a problem with that since there are certain professions where you are supposed to look thin and pretty (stripper, receptionist, stewardess). It just seems silly for them to bring up a bullshit PC excuse like that, but I guess that's standard in public relations.
Wait, are you seriously equating receptionists and "stewardesses" with strippers? Have we gone back in time somehow and nobody told me?
Yes, PQ, I'm hoping that's not what you meant. I used to be a receptionist, after all. ;)
It does all seem remarkably badly thought-out. Two pounds and you're suddenly not "presentable"? I'd also like to know what they're basing "ideal weight" on... probably BMI, I guess. Which we all know has its limitations.
I never did see why anyone would want to be a stewardess. Hideous uniforms, cramped working quarters and a high chance of pouring hot coffee over someone if the plane hits an air pocket... it's bad enough being a waitress on land!
Wow. My aunt was a flight attendant in the 70's, and she is a tall woman. They had a maximum weight requirment and I remember she was ALWAYS dieting to make weight because she was taller than most of the other women and had to be very thin. It was really tough on her. Now sure there are physical requirements to be a good flight attendant (navigating cramped spaces, lifting passengers with disabilities in an emergency) but strict, super-slender weight requirments are completely insane and very damaging.
As a former flight attendant I find this apalling but not surprising. The only reason this sort of thing doesn't go on in US based airlines is because of non-descrimination laws. FYI flight attendants are not there just to look "hot" and serve you drinks. They are the ones who are supposed to save your ass when things go wrong...this requires clear thinking and physical strength. Last time I checked low blood sugar from lack of eating is not condusive to either!!!
Yes this is appalling and yes it does piss me off that they're using "fit" as a substitution for "not fat."
To PQ's comment: I read that as more of a jobs where historical (and maybe currently) personal appearance counts out of proportion with job ability.
Back in the day, "Good Front Office Appearance" was very common in job descriptions for receptionists. It's not explicit any more but it is still around. I'm working with a young temp right now whose assignment previous to this one was at a company where, in spite of all of her call center and multi-line phone system experience, they made her interview for a temp receptionist job. She didn't get it. (They did give her a temp spot in their Acct's Payable department. A place where she had no experience at all.) The girl who did get the receptionist job is tall, thin, very pretty and according to "L", doesn't bother to great clients entering the firm, is really bad at answering the phones, and can't get lunch orders right. "L", who is a person of size, shrugged it off and said "Hey, now I have accounting stuff on my resume..." I got mad on her behalf. But you know, she has a point. Their loss, my gain.
Also, FWIW, I used to work with a factory planner who shocked us all the day she announced that she was leaving the company to work full time as a stripper. (Unbeknownst to us, she'd been doing it part-time for a few months.) Within two years she had paid off her mortgage, her car, and her previous student loans. After another two years she was able to finance a whole new degree, plus a Masters, as a physical therapist. All while working about 20 hours a week. All before she turned 30. As much as my inner feminist wanted to hate her for exploiting herself like that, I just couldn't help but admire her business sense... Not to mention she has a really interesting take on who was exploiting whom as far as the dancer/customer relationship went. Now, she is well respected in her new field, happily married, a mother of two, and she has no regrets. Not everybody's cup of tea as a life choice and not a typical dancer's story, but hey, it changed my judgment of strippers/dancers quite a bit.
You know, interesting point Beth.
I've often thought that if I had born with the body for it, I would have completely been a stripper. I'm from Vegas, and the best can earn up to $3,000 a night! It would be really nice to only have to work for a couple of weeks during the summer and be fine all year, than work 20 hours a week while I'm in school and still have to take out student loans to get by. And yeah, the feminist part of me kind of yells at me a little, but on the other hand, if they are going to be dumb enough to give me that much money for not doing much, why not take advantage of it?
Too bad no one wants to see a 4'10" size 24 dance on a pole...
:)
Sorry Anonymous - didn't mean to imply that serving drinks is all flight attendants do... just speaking as a general walking disaster who knows she could not do that job even if they'd have her (which they wouldn't).
So, lifting weights, which would result in increased muscle mass (and therefore weight), and which might allow you to open the emergency exit more quickly and carry more passengers to safety--that's frowned upon, too?
Well hell, if they'll pay for a trainer....
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