Glamorous and Laborious

Terry Morisson has been an airline stewardess for 6 years. She is 26, recently married. Read her story and say if you like this profession or not.

The majority of the stewardesses are from small towns. It's supposed to be one of the nicest professions for a woman — if she can't be a model or in the movies. There are all the great benefits: flying around the world and meeting all those people.

“When people ask you what you're doing and you say "stewardess", you're really proud, you think it's great. It's like a stepping stone. The first two months I started flying I had already been to London, Paris and Rome. But after you started working, it's not as glamorous as you thought it was going to be”. We had to go to stew school for five weeks. We'd go through a whole week of make–up and poise. I didn't like this. They make you feel like you've never been out in public. At one time they wouldn't let us wear false eyelashes and false fingernails! Now it's required that you wear false eyelashes, and if you do not have the right length nails, you wear false nails.

Everything is supposed to be becoming to the passenger. You do meet a lot of movie stars and a lot of political people”

Stewardesses are impressed only by name people. But a normal millionaire that you don't know doesn't make an impression on you. The only thing that really thrills a stewardess is passengers like Kennedy or movie stars or some political celebrities.

“I think our average age is 26. But our supervisors tell us what kind of make–up to wear, what kind of lipstick to wear, if our hair is not the right style for us, if we were not smiling enough. They even tell us how to act when you're on a pass. You're not supposed to walk off with a passenger, hand in hand. After you get out of terminal that's all yours. They say you can spot a stewardess by the way she wears her make–up. At one time all had short hair and everybody had it cut in stew school exactly alike. At one time they told us we couldn't wear anything one inch above the knees. It's different now.

The other day I had 55 minutes to serve 101 couch passengers, cocktail and full–meal service. You do it fast and terrible. You're very rude. You don't mean to be rude — you just don't have time to answer the questions. You smile and you just ignore them. You get three drink orders in a hurry. There's been many times when you miss the glass pouring, and you pour it in the man's lap. You just don't say "I'm sorry". You give him a cloth and you keep going. That's the bad part of the job.

Doctors tell stewardesses they're gonna get wrinkles all over their faces because they smile with their mouths and their eyes.

Quindlen. Public and Private; in thin air// the New York times, №16, 1993

Reading Comprehension Questions.

1. Where are the majority of stewardesses from?

2. What are the great benefits of this profession?

3. Where did Terry Morisson have to visit in first two months of the career?

4. Did she have special training to work as a stewardess?

5. What is the ideal look of a stewardess according to the rules?

6. What kind of people can they meet?

7. What is the average age for the stewardess according to Terry’s opinion?

8. What rules of stewardess’ dress code have been changed?

9. What is the shortest period of service for a stewardess?

10. What is the horrible part of this kind of work?

Task 3

A. Decide if the following statements are true or false.

1. Terry Morison has been working as a stewardess for 7 years.

2. Usually most stewardesses are from big cities.

3. The first cities for Terry Morison to fly to were the capitals of Britain, France, and Italy.

4. She has changed her opinion about this job as a glamorous one.

5. Terry had to go to stew school for half a year.

6. One of the most important subjects was the lesson of style.

7. Stewardesses are impressed by people with big names.

8. One day Terry had to serve 200 passengers for 55 minutes.

9. The stewardess must always be polite.

10. Doctors say stewardesses often have problems with eyesight.

B. Write out all the compound nouns from the text.

C. Write 10 sentences to describe another romantic profession.