Rude or Respectful. Which Audience Member are You?

When someone is given the task of standing before an audience to give a presentation, the appropriate and courteous thing to do would be to pay attention -- or at the very least, acknowledge them by making eye contact.  Would you ever dream of sitting during a presentation and pulling out a book to read or your smart phone to play games?  Would you blatantly close your eyes to take a nap or put your earphones in to listen to your iPod?  I think most of us would agree that being a respectful listener is most appropriate.

Yet as my family took several trips this past summer, and as the in-flight crew was giving their safety demonstrations (5-6 minutes, maybe), the aforementioned bad behavior is exactly what I saw.

As a former airline employee, it has always bugged me when passengers completely ignore the flight attendants during their safety presentation.  I know, I know.  You might argue their spiel is a waste of time, and that information is on that card in the seat pocket in front of you anyway.

If the cabin suddenly loses pressure, are you going to be the calm one that pulls the card from the seat pocket in front of you and reads about how the oxygen masks work or how to inflate the flotation device in the 3 minutes you have left before you pass out?

You might contend that you travel so much and have heard it so many times, you do not need to hear it again.  However many times you have heard it, the flight crew is STILL under FAA regulations to make their spiel and the courteous thing to do is to put down our books, take out our ear buds, and give them our full attention.

I don't know if you've ever had to give a presentation in front of a group before, but it is a little unnerving when no one seems to give a flying fart about what you have to say.  Respect, people.  "Just a little bit."  Not to mention it takes like 5-6 minutes of our time.  In the grand scheme of things, that isn't very much.

I worked for Delta for nearly 8 years, and what can I say?  I'm still loyal.  We flew Delta quite a bit this summer, and I have to say I love their latest in-flight safety videos.  I'm sure their marketing gurus pitched these in response to, "How can we get the attention of the passengers during the safety announcements?"  Very clever and I applaud Delta for their ingenuity.

While I think these are brilliant, I challenge you, dear passengers, to show a little courtesy and respect the next time you fly the "friendly skies."

Now - for your viewing pleasure, a few of my favorites...