Flight Attendant Burnout: When the Dream Job Stops Feeling Like a Dream

We're talking about flight attendant burnout, what it is, what it looks like, why it happens, and some ideas we've learned along the way from our many, many years of flying.
I'll take that kind of flight attendant that knows what's going on over the one that's like, what airplane is this?
And I'm like, We're you're trained.
You are qualified on this aircraft.
What do you mean you don't know what type it is?
If you don't, there's usually a safety.
There's a thousand things.
Door type.
There's so many things you should be able to see.
And if that doesn't work, also like tacos on a taco shelf.
What is a taco shelf?
Being a flight attendant is one of the best jobs in the world until it isn't most days.
Long days, short overnights, endless passenger requests, schedule changes, crew members doing the most or the least, and trying to balance a personal life outside of aviation can take a serious toll on your mental health.
Today we're getting into a little bit of self-care.
We're talking about flight attendant burnout, what it is, what it looks like, why it happens, and some ideas we've learned along the way from our many, many years of flying, and that may just help you from losing it on yourself or passengers or your family, your next family function.
Are you saying I lost it on you recently?
Uh, not me per se, but maybe some people adjacent to me.
Okay.
I don't know.
But before we get into it, how's flying going for you lately?
Um really good.
I have decided I think this is one of the topics we'll talk about later, but I recently decided to like mix up my flying.
Um, and it's been really good for me.
Um, started doing some different sorts of turns, did a couple trips recently, which I'm not known for doing a good time St.
Louis or Kansas City or one of the places that are down there where all the people are member.
Um caught a little pull time, a little book time, just had a little relaxing overnight.
It was nice.
Yeah, that is nice that I don't get to order in Philly.
What pizza that you don't get to order in Philly?
You okay?
I'll tell you a little secret.
I'm um secretly obsessed with Hungry Howie's.
Hungry Howie's! I don't have them here, so I order them when I go on layovers where places that have them, I just order me a whole like meal of Hungry Howie's pizza.
I've never heard of this pizza, which is weird to me.
Are you gonna bring me some on your next trip or no?
Um we'll have to go somewhere that has a Hungry Howie's and we can share one because I can't promise I'll make it home to you with it.
Is it just not good leftovers, or you just eat it all?
I just eat it all.
It's literally my favorite pizza other than a little Caesars.
And you all can judge me all you want, but those are my two favorite pizza places.
Listen, cheap and consistent.
There's good pizza, there's trash pizza, but it's all delicious.
You can't go wrong.
Yeah.
What about you?
How's flying been for you?
Um, flying has been good lately.
I have just I think I too am reaching that like burnout phase.
You know, I feel like we go through these cycles as flight attendants where some days you're really burnt out and some days you really love it, and I'm kind of in a burnout phase because I find myself getting annoyed at the like smallest of details.
Like the other day I was flying with someone and he kept making this PA during boarding that was like, you know, go ahead and put your suitcase in, put it on its side, like a book on a bookshelf.
And I that is one of those things that just drives me crazy for no reason.
But I'm like, there this isn't a bookshelf, these are suitcases.
I would never put my books on a bookshelf like I would put a suitcase in an overhead bin.
Where someone made that announcement the other day because I was traveling for other things not work, and the person instead of putting it like wheels, handles, and just flipping it upwards, they tried to put it in the bin.
Yes, wheels, handles, like handle at the ceiling, wheels at the floor.
They tried shoving it into the and they it and it not comprehending.
You like see them doing this and it doesn't make any sense.
Uh so I don't think book on a bookshelf is like a helpful phrase.
And then I had someone, she on the same trip was like, and if that doesn't work, also like tacos on a taco shelf.
What is a taco shelf?
She said taco shelf.
She said taco shell.
Do you know this person well?
No.
Can you tell me where you found a taco shelf and was it stocked with Taco Bell?
And do we need to go find it?
I was gonna say, anyone who's talking about tacos on a taco shelf is probably not a close friend of mine, but I I do want Taco Bell now.
Um, but I just I the stuff like that was really like just what wearing on me.
And I thought to myself, you know what you really need right now is a day off.
A day off.
And maybe a Xanax, but also a day off.
I feel like there are different, I mean, not to get too deep into it, but I feel like there are different kinds of burnout for flight attendants too.
I feel like there's like that six-day stretch burnout where you're just over being at work for the week.
Right.
And then there's that like early burnout where you're like mildly questioning your job.
And then there's that like five-year burnout where you're like, Why did why why am I here?
What am I doing for me?
Why am I here?
What am I doing?
I do feel like you can break it down in that way where you have short-term.
Put me on a six-day stretch, and I have short-term burnout, short-term burnout and long-term two days off, and I'll inside again.
Yeah.
And then you have the long-term burnout where you're supposed to just everything about it is making you wonder why do I live in this city?
Why am I based here?
What am I doing?
Where is my life going?
Yeah.
Weird.
So, what what is burnout to you?
How would you define it?
I think just that.
Like, there's two level of two levels of burnout for me.
There's like the I'm in too deep, I've been flying too many days this week, and I really just need a day off or a vacation to like fix me.
Or there's like long-term burnout, or there's like I just question all of my choices in life.
Yeah.
I think burnout for me is just full-on exhaustion mode.
Yeah.
I'm spent in every way, shape, and form, whether it's short-term or long term.
Broader, broadly speaking, it is just that that feeling that you get when you're questioning, can I do this anymore?
Whether that's short-term or long term.
And I really feel like we as flight attendants, you know, you find yourself you're cynical, you're negative, you start complaining about everything.
Everything coworker.
Everything just starts compounding.
And I think that's where like I really have to take a step back and be like, Am I burnt out?
Do I need to do something about this?
Yeah.
It's currently where I'm at in life.
Like, even when it comes to international, like this summer, we had all of these amazing destinations come back, and people were like, Oh, I think I'm gonna pick up this city.
Oh, I think I'm gonna go fly here.
Oh, I can't wait for a layover here.
And I'm like, I want to go home.
Yeah, I I don't want that.
And so that's when I feel like I've really noticed, okay, maybe you need to do something about this because if you're not excited to go somewhere like Prague, that's problematic.
Yeah, maybe you're the problem.
Maybe I'm the problem.
I don't know.
But yeah, I I feel like that is one of those big indicators of like, okay, something is happening to you.
Um, what what do you think causes the burnout?
What are some some things that you find trigger that for you?
Um, mine is mostly in the way that I build my schedule.
I I've been flying for a really long time, so like the long-term burnout I haven't had because for like a really long time, because I really enjoy what I'm doing at the moment.
Um, it's the short-term burnout for me that I experience mostly, and I um the triggers are like too many days in a row, too many early mornings, uh lack of sleep, trying to figure out how to like fit everything else in along with flying.
Um, and I get really frustrated at that, and that really causes burnout for me.
Yeah, I definitely understand that.
Sometimes those long days just wear on you.
Even if everything goes right, some days those those trips just take a toll.
Well, and I like to like work the longer days, so it's I don't have to work as many days in a month, but then you get into the middle of like six twelve hour days, and you're like, I can't do this anymore.
Why am I doing this?
Right.
Yeah, for me, I uh I always notice that this happens for two very specific things, and one is I don't want to have a bad crew.
Yes, because I think I can get through anything with a good crew.
Uh-huh.
I've had trips where you were home days later than you thought you were gonna get home, and I should be just a miserable human being.
But because I've had people that I can laugh and laugh with and work with, and I don't feel like I'm doing all the work, I don't feel like I'm carrying the load myself, those people get me through those those ugly days.
But on the flip side, you have those crews where everything is a fight with a passenger, or they make up policies of their own, or they're just not doing anything, and you're like, Am I alone on an island here?
Those days are where I find myself really losing my mind because even the easy days become hard because you've got people you're working with who are creating problems out of nothing, who are making things harder than they have to be, and that I think wears on you more than anything.
And you know better than anyone, because I mean you're my husband of a long time now, but when I'm in a funk, I'm just in a funk.
There's no salvaging it.
Like once my mood dumps, I'm I'm out of it.
I'm all the way checked out.
I I there's like you I cannot recover.
So, like, if you're with a bad crew and you feel like you're on an island and you're only one doing the work, like it's just so frustrating, and then my mood dumps, and everyone else is like, Oh, what's the problem?
You want me to scream at everybody today?
Just let leave it alone today, please.
Thanks so much.
You know, when your computer breaks and you get to a point with it where the only thing you can do is like force restart, you hold that button down.
This is where we get with you.
Where the only way out of this situation is to put Andrew home and in bed and let him force restart, and we'll try again tomorrow.
Yeah, please just leave me alone until I can do this again.
Absolutely.
The other thing that really wears on me and really causes burnout for me is just feeling like the airline you work for doesn't give a shit about you.
And this happens on the worst of days.
Things are already compiling, things are adding up, you've got delays, diversions, reroutes, recruits, reassignments.
You're supposed to be home at two, you don't get home until the next day, and the airline just forgets about you.
And people don't realize this about this job is that we are forgotten about a lot.
We are just the number to these airlines at most airlines, not all the airlines, but for the most part, we're just forgotten about.
And scheduling loses us in the system, and it just it really dehumanizes you and makes you feel like okay, no one is looking out for me except for me and maybe the crew, if I like the crew, and we vibe, but otherwise, you you just end up feeling like just a number, and it's awful.
And I just wish that these airlines would understand how easy it would be to recover us as humans, because the next day, all you need to do as like a manager is come on the airplane and be like, Man, I saw you had a shit day.
Thanks for keeping it together, thanks for doing great work yesterday.
But instead, they come on and they're like, actually, we need to talk about your attendance, or we need to talk about this passenger complaint that you had like nine months ago, when it's not the time for it.
Like, look at my schedule.
You saw that I had a junky day, just come on the plane and be like, Thanks for doing great work yesterday.
We know it was hard on you.
That is a hundred percent what I'm talking about, though, is you have these airlines that could so easily improve employee morale and in improve the way people feel about where they work by just showing a tiny bit of compassion.
And that's what kills me is they send out these trainings and they do all these like memos and things about showing compassion for passengers, showing empathy, caring about people on their journey or whatever the case may be, and then they go and treat us like we're robots.
It's like if I had a long day or I had a medical issue, a diversion, something where I need to process.
If I had someone that just made a phone call or even emailed to say, Hey, are you okay?
You had a rough day, that would mean so much to me and cost so little money and so little effort.
And that's where I really feel like a lot of times burnout comes for me is just the way that I'm treated by my airline.
I bend over backwards for these people, they say nothing.
Something happens to me, no one is there to be found to support me in a time where I just need someone to check in.
Well, and I think that people forget that like this isn't the type of job where you can, and I'm not saying you should do this, but you can't go outside and have a smoke break.
You can't take 20 extra minutes on your lunch break to like go decompress from you know someone standing in front of you and screaming at you for the last hour.
Like we're we're kind of trapped.
So, like, I think that adds an extra layer to the burnout and why it happens so quickly too is because you don't really have time to like decompress because the moment you land, there's someone standing there being like, You ready to board?
Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head too.
I just need fresh air, I just need to step outside and get fresh air for like 36 seconds.
Thanks so much.
Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head too with the idea of like a proverbial smoke break.
Yeah, like we all need that minute to go catch our breath, take a deep breath, inhale, exhale, and just center ourselves for a minute.
Whereas we don't get that.
And the few moments where we do get that are those moments where we're sitting on the jump seat in the galley eating our lunch, and a passenger pokes us with trash.
And I think that's where the confusion is with passengers when they do that and they're like, what, you're at work, you know, uh I need you, whatever.
Yeah, okay, I'm at work and I get it, but also this is like the 30 seconds that I have to myself to check on myself, to take care of myself, and I'm supposed to be there for you.
Like, I don't get a lunch break, I don't have a designated time of day where I get to go decompress unless I'm on some international flight where there's without somebody coming.
Why are you using the guest bathroom?
Exactly.
It's like, well, people are in line.
Well, I've technically been in line for an hour and I too have to pee.
Like it's things like that where you just really find yourself kind of at your wit's end and you're like, I just don't know if I can keep doing this.
Like, I'm gonna snap on somebody.
Um, and I definitely think those are some of the major warning signs.
You know, you end up dreading every trip, you're calling out more than usual.
I feel like sometimes you gotta call out.
Yeah, I know we're I'm not like encouraging abusing sick time, but some days we all need a mental health day, and that counts for something.
Mental health is is an illness.
Absolutely.
You should use your you should use your sick time to cover that illness.
Yeah.
So I guess the next question is how do we prevent this?
What are things people can do to avoid burnout and to maybe calm down a little bit?
Well, I think one big thing that you can do is ask yourself why.
Why what's the why behind why you're flying?
Like go back to the beginning.
What was it that like really caused you to chase after this job?
Because this isn't an easy industry to break into.
I mean, there are millions of people applying every day, and you were one of like 300 that got selected to even go to training.
You were one of you know 800 that made it through training that month.
Like there's just so so what was the why that made you chase this job in the first place?
Because I promise, like, if you look back, that's still going to be your driving factor.
Yeah, I think back to personally my why.
I remember being so burnt out talking about burnout in a nine to five job that was like a seven to seven because we were so busy all the time.
We were short staffed, it was a nonprofit.
I was I was stressed out, and I my whole point of this job was that I wanted to be there for other people and be rewarded and feel like I was doing work that mattered, and I lost myself in it.
Like I became nobody in that situation, and so I started this job because I didn't have to check my email every day.
I could take a day off and not think about the work that I was doing.
I could call out sick and nobody was like, Well, what about that project that's due?
Like life went on without me to some degree, and that alleviated so much stress from me as a person that I was like, well, shoot, I don't think I can ever give this lifestyle up because if I want to bid a week off from work, I can do that.
If I want to drop a trip, I can do that.
Like, I don't I don't have to stress out about bigger tasks and day-to-day stuff.
I want to work 12 days with a day off so that I can have 12 days off, I can do that.
Exactly.
And it feels great.
Like that those things remind me of do I want to go back to a nine to five?
Do I want to have someone breathing down my neck and micromanaging every task?
Do I want someone emailing me when I'm not at work saying, hey, did you finish this project?
I'm not at work, I don't want to think about it.
So you can keep working on non-work hours.
Yeah.
I'm so lucky we don't have to work.
I agree.
Uh, the next tip we have for how to prevent it is to have a life outside of flying.
And I'm talking non-airline friends, people that you can have conversations with about politics, pop culture, religion, all the things you shouldn't be talking about at work.
Go have those conversations with people in your life, spend time with friends, spend time with family, spend time with people who no pun intended, keep you grounded.
You know, you need to you need to fill your life with other things than aviation and the people around you that make you feel human again.
Um, and even if you do have aviation friends, go do non-aviation things with them.
Um, I mean, we're blessed to have both spectrums, uh both people on these spectrums.
We have really good non-aviation friends, we've really great aviation friends, but even the aviation friends like go sit at a coffee shop and leave work out of all of this.
Go antiquing, go like do the things that the two of you love to do together as friends and leave work all the way out of it.
Be friends on and off the plane, at work, not at work.
But I mean you can do both, I think.
Yeah, that's such a good point, even with your non-airline or even with your airline friends to be able to have relationships that are non-airline related.
I think we've got a few of those where it's like, okay, let's talk about kids, let's talk about your family, let's talk about what roller coasters you went on at Six Flags.
Like, there are other things to talk about than let's just go play trivia shit.
Flying.
Let's go win some trivia.
Mallory and Lindsay.
We've been and Caleb, we've been flying, or not flying.
God, see, I can't even turn it off.
We've been hanging out with a lot of our fly friends and doing non-airline things and a lot of trivia, apparently.
We love a trivia night.
We should do a two guys in a plane trivia night in Philly.
Text us if you want to come.
Yes.
Uh next we have uh take a trip, use your benefits.
You work hard for those benefits, and honestly, that was part of my why.
Like I lived in a small town and I wanted to get out and see the world.
And um, I know this sounds cheesy, but sometimes I just flip through the pages of my passport to remind myself all of the places this job has allowed me to go that I would have never considered seeing in real life.
I don't think that's cheesy.
I think that's beautiful because truly, without this job and without these experiences, would you have done what you've done today?
Would you have been to the places you've been to?
This is what I'm saying.
No, would still be valid uh vacationing in Florida Bama like everyone else does.
Not Floribama.
Oh god.
Talk about painting a picture.
Florabama.
Listen.
I'm not into it.
I mean, you know.
I mean, it's no secret that we use our benefits.
It's no secret that we travel.
Um, and honestly, it's really what keeps me personally going um 97% of the time, is uh where our next vacation is and um the things that we get to go see and do.
I think the other thing to note about this too, as much as I love planning our epic adventures that we wouldn't do if we didn't have these flight benefits, it's the little trips too that sometimes make a world of difference.
Like I think about even when I non-rev to Boston to visit friends or family, or you know, we'll say, Oh, there's a Chicago like has a concert that we should go to and we hop over there real quick.
It's those little trips that really remind you, especially that you wouldn't have done that otherwise.
Like, I would never fly across the country.
Like, we went and saw a taping of Will and Grace one time, and it was one of those things where we lived in Philly, the the taping was in LA.
We would have never hopped on a plane to do that if we had regular jobs.
We did that because we are flight attendants, and so those little little moments of you know getaways really reset yourself sometimes.
It's just all it takes is like sitting in a window seat, staring out the window, and being like, man, aviation is cool.
Uh-huh.
Oh, great.
Uh, next up, switch up the type of trips that you fly.
This is such a mental health game changer.
And you are great at this.
I feel like I've gotten to this place where I'm on like a quarterly rotation where people are like, oh, like I never see you.
And I'm like, Well, I do turns now.
And they're like, Oh, I thought you only did international.
Not this quarter.
Like, that's really what it's become for me because I feel like just keeping it fresh.
I don't, I'm kind of a Virgo and kind of routine, where if I get kind of a kind of kind of I'm very much a Virgo and I'm very routine.
But when I get into a groove, I like to stick to that vibe of trip.
I can't do a month where it's like an international, a domestic, a red eye, a turn.
That throws me for a loop.
But if I can do three months of turns, get into a groove, three months of international, get into a groove, three months of you know, domestic layovers, red eyes, whatever, that really kind of keeps me refreshed because I'm able to have that structure and those boundaries kind of for myself and my schedule, but I'm also able to mix it up so that it doesn't get stale and I don't get like over it, you know?
Yes, because I have basically been flying the same three routes for the last years.
Years now.
Ten years is correct.
It's been almost 10 years.
I've been flying the same basic routes every day.
Um, and that's I mean, I got to look at it the other day, and while I mostly enjoy turns at this point, um, throwing in a trip, I mean I still primarily do turns, but throwing in a trip, throwing in a short turn, throwing in a turn to somewhere I don't normally go so that you can like see a different perspective of it, because you get so like so routine and it really the routine of it all sometimes causes burnout too.
So you have to switch up what you're doing.
It really does.
And I think that's what draws a lot of us to this job in the first place, is that you don't have to have a routine, but you can if you want to.
You can if you want to.
And that's such a nice balance of things with this job that you don't get in a lot of other jobs.
Uh next we have Get a Side Hustle.
Uh it helps with income and it mixes up the work that you're doing.
This is one of those things I feel like there's two sides to it because I remember when I started flying, there was a bar in Crystal City in Virginia, right outside of DC, that all the flight attendants went and worked at because we were broke.
Like you kind of had to do what you had to do, and so a lot of people were working two jobs um to make ends meet.
And while that part of it sucks, it can help alleviate financial stress if you have a second job, but it can also mix things up for you.
So you're not doing the same thing over and over and over again, getting tired of it.
And I feel like as our career progresses and you get a little more seniority, you find people are doing all sorts of jobs.
I mean, just people who own like little independent boutiques in the small town where they live.
You've got people who do law, people who do real estate, people who do accounting stuff.
You've got artists of all kinds.
Ask a flight agenda, they all have something.
Everybody's got that something.
Yeah, everybody's got some little side hustle, some little thing that keeps them entertained.
I'm always amazed at some of the things that people do.
Oh, yeah.
Are you not?
You have like 17 full-time jobs.
I only have like three.
Podcaster is one of them.
No, but I mean, do you ever fly with people and you're like, what do you mean that you're also um uh a pigeon trainer or whatever the case may be?
You don't fly with people at crazy jobs?
No, I do, and I love it.
Um, truthfully.
I feel like that a lot of people kind of think that the flight attendant life is an unja an uneducated one, uh, and that we're all just there because we can't do anything else.
Like it's a very entry-level job, and it's not, and I feel like so many of us do really cool, really great things outside of the industry because this job allows us to work as little or as much as we want uh within the confines of our contracts and what those little and lot are.
Um, and it gives us flexibility to be so many places all the time that um it it is a job that lends itself to like side hustles, honestly.
It really is, and especially as you get more senior, you get more flexibility and control over your schedule, you can actually manage things.
Like I just flew with someone who manages a whole community theater company, and I was like, What?
That's busy.
He's like, Well, I only fly like minimum hours, but runs this whole playhouse, wow, you know, does directing and casting and supports community events.
And I flown with someone who's a mayor of a town, and I was like, I love this job for this reason because people are doing everything.
We have a lot of people that are going into politics from we do being a flight attendant, which I just I love seeing, but I just feel like this job is so routine and it's kind of for lack of a better phrasing, mindless.
Because like we it's so repetitive, we just do the same things over and over again.
But I think a lot of flight attendants, more than like extra money, take on the side hustles to like feel like they're using a different part of their brain.
That's such a why we're doing it.
Yeah, no, I I really feel like I hate to say mindless, but it really can be sometimes, you know.
I I feel like a lot of times we make jokes like I'm losing brain cells at this job because of the things that I'm doing and the things that I'm seeing, and you know, it's a very intense job that they're as routine as it can be, and also there's never a dull moment.
And I think that's the weird thing about it is it's it does a lot to your mind, but at the same time, also you want to do things that are more creative and really fuel that side of your brain a little more.
Yeah, I mean, because truthfully, I've been a flight attendant for almost 25 years now, and I've used my training a handful of times.
Right.
Between medicals and other things, I don't want to, but I've used my training like I could count on both.
I don't even have to take my shoes off to count how many times I actually use my training.
No toes counted in strong.
Um, yeah, but I I love that about flight attendance is there's so many types of people, and they're all doing incredible things, and I'm always inspired by the people that are out there doing awesome side hustles.
Yeah, and next up on the list is also hobbies.
I feel like that's a similar get a hobby.
Some of these people need to be told that though, because I'm like, you were really worked up over pilots.
You were really worked up over things that like the airline did to you at or made you do, right?
And still talking about it.
I'm like, yeah, they changed the type of napkin that we're using.
Why are you still talking about it?
That was three months ago.
Like, get a hobby, but it's the flight attendants who come to work who know where your airplane has been for the last three days, they've checked the maintenance logs, they know the crews that have worked on the airplane, and they're I'm like, please, please get a hobby.
I don't need those people do something else with your life because at least they know what's going on.
I'll take that kind of flight attendant that knows what's going on over the one that's like, what airplane is this?
And I'm like, We're you're trained, you are qualified on this aircraft.
What do you mean you don't know what type it is?
If you don't, there's usually a safety, a safety card, there's a thousand things, door type.
There's so many things you should be able to see.
Um, but no, I really I really think that a lot of flight attendants need to find that life outside of aviation.
You know, go join a league of some sort, like stonewall sports or things.
I mean pickleball it, go to a sip and paint class, find a community garden project, community theater.
I mean, there's so many things you can do that don't I personally don't feel like I have enough hobbies.
This probably speaks to me, and I need to go find some more.
Maybe this is your motivation.
Maybe this is my motivation.
I really think that it just I don't know, it does a lot for your mental health in any job that you have when you have something else to do that doesn't involve money that you're really passionate about and you can sink your teeth into and feel like a human being.
I mean, I've had I've done voice classes, I've done improv classes, I've done a lot of side things where I was like, this is just for fun, this is for me.
I just want to have a good time and be creative.
We need to go take a cooking class.
We could take a cooking class.
I will burn that place down.
I know we won't unintentionally, but we could go take a cooking class.
We should take a cooking class.
What's last on our list?
Uh get off social media, and we don't mean leave two guys on a plane.
Do not leave you too much.
Um, but you know, you get in those work groups and or aviation groups, and all you're talking about is aviation again, and you have to take a break, and you have to step away from the job that we do to um help avoid burnout.
Um, I think it's so funny when people from other airlines get in other airlines drama.
Oh my god, it is funny to a degree, but also sad.
Yeah.
Because they're like, oh, I know what they're doing over there in the whatever airline.
And I'm like, why are you so concerned what's happening over there?
Unless it involves like fighting for fair wages and better contract protections.
Like, why do you care that they got whatever?
I don't know.
People just get really wrapped into it, and those work groups on like Facebook or whatever social media platform we're using, they can be so toxic.
And that just adds fuel to the fire when you're already feeling burnt out.
Because now you sit at the gate waiting for your flight to arrive.
You've now scrolled through that Facebook group a thousand times, you know, and you've just found more reasons to be mad.
And then you get on the aircraft, and that's just sitting in your brain stewing, like it doesn't help anybody, you know?
Correct.
So stick to the pages and the accounts, like two guys on a plane.
The ones you love.
Find the humor and the heart and the stories from our beverage cart.
Um, I just feel like there is a way to stay connected with aviation without it kind of like sucking the life out of your soul.
Yeah.
And I feel like a lot of those groups really go the wrong way sometimes.
Or get off Facebook and go find a friend who works in aviation that you can sit at a coffee shop or a bar with and just throw up all the bad stuff that's happened to you at work and then pick it up, go bowling, and go back to work.
I love bowling.
Me too.
But no, you're so right.
Like, go have that conversation in real life and say, are you feeling burnt out?
Because me too.
Yeah.
And what can we do?
Yeah.
Like have those friends with or those conversations with friends and real people and kind of try to reset your psyche a little bit.
I like that.
Wait, did I come up with that and I say I like it?
Look at me.
Maybe, but you know what?
That's fine.
Two guys in a plane, we're here together with the same brain.
Um, but one thing I always say too is like it's okay to hate your job.
I feel like that's a thousand percent normal to leave a long day of work and be like, man, work sucks.
Who genuinely loves working?
Like, even if you have the coolest job in the world, there are days where you're like, I'm tired, and that was a lot.
I think it's okay to h hate your job for a minute.
Yes.
If you really hate moments, you have to like take a step back and be like, what's really going on with me and why do I really feel this way about my job?
But I will say, and I try to uh when I'm working with other crews, if you do hate your job that day or you like woke up and you're having a rough day, and you just know you're not there a hundred percent, communicate that with people.
Um, I feel like what's that I don't know, there's that author that like 80 50-50 in a marriage or relationship.
I've brought her up before, I think it's Brene Brown.
Oh Brene Brown.
Sure, but I like that theory.
But anyways, if you're not feeling 100%, that's fine.
Tell somebody.
Yeah, somebody else has an extra 10% to give you, or we can step in and take care of situations and let you chill in a galley that day because we are feeling 100% and we're happy to be at work and have our job.
But if no one, I mean, if you don't communicate that you really just don't feel like being there that day, no one knows to help pick up slapp for you, and then you're just out there picking fights with people for no reason, and you don't need to do that either.
Yeah, I think that communication goes such a long way.
I think we all get annoyed when we're working with someone who's not giving 100%, and you just immediately write them off, and your head is lazy or whatever the case may be.
So, yeah, I mean that's the thing about being crew, is we all get it.
Yeah, we've all had those days.
So when you can say to your crew, hey, I'm not I'm not 100% here today, and I'm sorry if I come out whatever, we're gonna be way more compassionate as your coworkers and be like they're going through something.
Yeah, I I'm not in it today.
Sorry, friends.
Yeah, I'm there, I'll take care of it.
And then honestly, that always puts me in a better mood when I'm that person because I'm like, okay, I feel seen and heard by my crew.
We're gonna get through this.
Because you know how it is, we don't count trash runs until you don't do none, and then we're all upset that you're not doing them.
So yeah, it's really way better if you just tell us what's happening.
You don't have to like go into specifics about your life, but just uh, I'm not I'm not a hundred tonight.
Right.
Tell me that you're having a hard day rather than me going, we've all done a trash run and you haven't.
What's going on?
It's gonna be a lot better for everybody when you just communicate that.
Correct.
Um, but I do always tell people, you know, when you want to quit or you're feeling like you're on the verge of quitting, like I get it.
I think we've all been there.
But this is also the kind of job where if you give it up, you start from square one again.
And I've had people that I know in my life that have quit and have regretted it, and then they end up at another airline, and now you've lost seniority, you've had to go through training again.
There's like a whole thing.
So, as much as you might want to feel like you want to quit sometimes, please do if it's not for you, it's not the job for everybody.
But think twice before you do that, because I have seen a lot of people get, as we called it earlier, short-term burnout and quit for long term.
Yeah, and then it's too late to undo that.
Also, remember you have lots of options.
You have low time, you have leads, like figure it out, just take a break before you like fully throw in the towel, because uh a seniority part uh in US aviation is super important.
Yeah, it really is.
But hopefully these tips have helped you to alleviate some of the burnout.
Because trust me, when we say we've been there, we're there now, right?
And we understand that feeling.
Burnout is real, and if you're feeling it, you're not alone.
Um, the good news is it doesn't have to be permanent.
Sometimes it all takes, all it takes is just a few small changes, a little rest, a few days off, and a little perspective.
And who knows, maybe you'll fall in love with the job again.
The most important thing is that you take care of yourself because you can't pour from an empty airplane coffee pot.
Oh, I did.
Whatever that phrase is.
What is that phrase?
You can't something like that.
But I like your um, yeah.
I was trying to go somewhere.
Yeah, you never know, but you know, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Okay, before we go, do we have a galley gossip for everyone?
We do.
Should we do a galley gossip?
Okay.
So galley gossip is one of our favorite segments.
It's where we take stories from our audience, whether you're a passenger, a flight attendant, pilot, or just someone on an airplane.
Uh, we want to hear the craziest and wildest and funniest and most heartfelt stories, and we share them anonymously or not anonymously, depending on what you choose.
It's your preference.
Um, but today's story of Galley Gossip is from Becca.
Ooh.
And you'll never guess where this story is from.
Fort Lauderdale.
I'm telling you, all of the stories come out of Fort Lauderdale.
It never fails.
So Becca said, I'm a service dog user.
She's a standard poodle, about 45 pounds, so she squeezes under the seats.
I know me too.
Dogs.
I pre-boarded with my party near the back of the plane, so most people were unaware of the dog being in their vicinity.
As service dogs generally should go unnoticed.
Agreed.
Should absolutely.
The flight was relatively uneventful, some minor turbulence, and my service dog shifted positions occasionally, but stayed in my foot space, slash tucked under the seat in front of me.
I love how she's saying this because she knows the rules.
You're the best kind of passenger.
Well, touchdown was on the rougher side.
Touchdown.
If you start calling it that, touchdown! That's the most sports I'm ever gonna get in your life.
Um, well, touchdown was on the rougher side due to slick conditions on the runway, and my service dog shifted forward under the seat, and her cold little nose touched the back of the ankles of the person seated in front of us.
The poor person let out such an awful squeal that the flight attendant at the front of the aircraft came onto the PA system and told everyone to hit the call light if there was a medical emergency.
There was not, but we immediately began apologizing to the family for startling them.
Luckily, we all had a good laugh about it after deep planning.
We also apologized to the crew during final checks because they asked us, and then we all were able to laugh it off together.
That's actually a really sweet story, um, and not at all crazy.
No, but I'm just thinking about this poor little doggo that was like sliding forward on a slick runway and was like, oh no.
Oh no, oh no.
Boop.
Um, that's cute.
It is cute.
Becca, we love your story and we hope to meet your dog someday because they sound adorable.
Yeah.
Uh and keep those galley gossip stories coming for us.
Go to twoguysinaplane.com slash podcast to submit your stories anonymously or not anonymously.
We always love reading them on our show.
And if you want more behind the scenes content, you can join us on Patreon.
We've got exclusive access to new episodes, bonus content, exclusive merch, and more.
Go to patreon.com slash two guys in a plane and join our official galley gang.
Don't you all love how he thought I knew the words to all of that?
I did.
I really looked over, like, take it away, Andrew.
And he was like, nah, babe.
Thank you.
Join us next time for more humor, heart and stories from our beverage card.