Why are flight attendants always so__________? (Fill in the blank)

As a person who spent over a decade clad in blue polyester, support hose, and bunion inducing, pointy toed pumps, this is the question I get the most: Why are flight attendants always so- bitchy, grouchy, hostile, mean- fill in the blank.

Well, having been one, it’s hard for me to see them like that. I know them as my hardworking, hilarious, former coworkers who can take the worst hell trip and make it, well, a little less hellish. Though if by chance, you do come across someone intent on wrecking your flight, it may have something to do with this:

Sent to me last week by a flight attendant friend(who shall remain nameless),and picked up today by the Today show (I swear Matt Lauer looked truly disturbed), it seems the good people at Northwest Airlines, in yet another ill-advised act of nincompoop employee relations distributed a booklet of money saving tips to workers whose jobs will likely be cut the second the airline can outsource them.

The booklet, meant to encourage employees to “manage their money better” and “prepare for financial emergencies,” included the following helpful tips:

Instead of dining out at an overpriced restaurant, or spending your hard earned dough on popcorn and a movie, why not take “a date for a walk along the beach or in the woods.” - Yes, in the woods, where no one can hear you scream.

Tip #48: “Move to a less expensive place to live.” --Gee, I never thought of that!

Tip #59- “Never grocery shop hungry.” --Thanks mom!

But the best, most helpful tip of all urges one to not be “shy about pulling something you like out of the trash.”

A Northwest spokesman agrees that “some” of the suggestions “were a bit insensitive” and has removed the helpful tips from the booklet and their employee website.

I don’t know about you, but reading that sure made me a bit cranky, annoyed, grouchy, _____________ (fill in the blank).