Is the Finnish summer that short after all? I don’t think it is, and I should know, having worked in my summer job as a cabin attendant for thirty years. It has been the same as being in a good and long relationship in this case – and why change when you are already happy?
To get our passengers “home for the evening” – the Finnair promise to its Finnish customers – often means working through the night for me. The joy of shift work is probably that work is placed at different working hours and sometimes also through various time differences. When the latter happens, time is like a local monetary unit: only to be used in the country in question. The price is the same whatever the currency . The same goes for the local time. Morning is morning, although you know that your family is sleeping in the Finnish night blissfully unaware of the Asian dawn.
The world has shrunk from a football to a tennis ball with the development of fast and direct long distance flights. Flying has become a daily routine, while our customers have become more international. They are more open and bolder in their willingness to hold a conversation. And you can take it from me that there is nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to the “small talk English” of the Finns! I can swear this with my hand on my heart for I have heard so many versions of different people speaking English. Between you and me, the fear of making grammatical errors is history.
The service itself during flights has not changed that much. One passenger always thinks that the trolley is in the aisle too often and the other one thinks it’s there too seldom. The third wants to buy chocolate and the fourth wants to be left in peace. Hmm… In my opinion the best thing is to create a pleasant safe atmosphere – and we can create that together with you, the passenger.
When it comes down to it, there are two things I would never change: good colleagues and passengers!
Helena Kaartinen
Finnair Cabin Attendant
