Isn't it strange that the careers we once idolised when we were young have somehow lost their aura now.
One of these is the cabin attendant. I can still remember the days when flying was an exciting and glamorous experience. You would get dressed up for the flight, unlike today when you wear the most comfortable outfit possible short of donning pyjamas.
Being a cabin attendant was a dream career choice. Whether you got a degree in arts or political science or architecture, you would often secretly hope of applying for a job with the national carrier. Beauty queens who had completed their year-long round of duties often applied to become cabin attendants, and more often than not, they were accepted. Cabin attendants were good looking, they wore smart uniforms and chic hats, they sported beautifully coiffed hair and meticulous make-up. They smiled and made you feel special, pampering you during the flight with endless supplies of wine and peanuts, hot trays of food with crackers and little tubs of butter and jam that you always squirrelled away in your cabin bag for a rainy day. They walked tall, pulling their cabin bags behind them with an air of pride. The men were equally perfect.
You could only dream about a cabin attendant's lifestyle, jetting off to the far corners of the globe as part of the job: Paris, London, Rome, Tokyo, Sydney, Istanbul. You couldn't get any more glamorous and exotic than that. You could also make good money, as long as you were careful not to splurge it all on the Champs Elysees or in Knightsbridge.
Things have changed. Today there is no glamour involved with flying. It's probably the quickest way to travel long distances from A to B, but it's as tedious as it can get and because there's a heightened sense of human rights, you are no longer pampered by cabin attendants. Their main job is to ensure safety during emergencies. Luckily, however, as emergencies are rare, they while away the time with their trolleys of food and drink. But their job, as has been discussed widely on social networks recently, is not to help passengers stow their cabin bags in the overhead locker. Passengers are responsible for their own hand luggage, and if they can't manage it, they shouldn't be carrying it in the first place. That's how the argument goes.
That's fine for leggy, 170cm tall ladies whose eyes are level with the locker. I was born compact. I hover at just over 150cm. And despite trying my best to travel light, my cabin bag is always quite substantial.
I have a small bathroom kit with my essential toiletries and minimum make-up items. I have cabin socks for comfort, a shawl and a sweater for warmth. I have my reading material -- a book, a magazine, and an iPad.
If I'm on the way home, I'll probably be carrying a few duty free items -- chocolates for friends, fragrance for family. If I'm travelling to a cold climate I will probably be carrying a thick jacket. It all adds up, but there's nothing I can do about it.
Usually I try to put it under the seat in front of me, but sometimes it's necessary to resort to the overhead locker. If I have enough time and space, I can almost use momentum to swing the bag into the locker, keeping my fingers crossed that it hits the target and not someone's head. Usually there will be a nice gentleman nearby who sees my plight and takes pity on the hobbit.
At the end of the flight, I'll try and catch the gentleman's eye again. But if he's busy, I'll just do the desperate thing; stand on the seat to reach my bag.
The recent debate occurred when a passenger wasn't given any help by a cabin attendant. Numerous others recounted their own experiences with unhelpful cabin attendants.
On the other hand, the cabin crew have also come out in defence of their colleagues, saying that often the bags are really heavy, and sometimes passengers order crew members to stow it away for them.
In the end it's a matter of courtesy, which is a rare commodity in the modern world. If passengers are having problems and request a bit of help, I'm sure crew members would be happy to help out. Or if crew members refrained from making snide remarks to nasty passengers, things would not spiral out of control.
Let's all go back to the basics. Let's learn how to say "Please", "Sorry" and "Thank you".
Usnisa Sukhsvasti is the features editor of the Bangkok Post.