# Did this flight attendant overstep her bounds? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703 "2011-11-22T01:44:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/41 "2011-11-22T17:24:24Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > Wrong. If she could hear the sink, she would know I _did_ wash my hands. Airplane bathrooms are gross–I wouldn’t touch anything in one without washing my hands before leaving. I did mention to her, however, that the paper towels were difficult to get out of the dispenser. Yeah, you and your dirty hands aren’t gonna fool someone like her with such a lame attempt at damage control. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/42 "2011-11-22T19:09:19Z")
Another vote for “She was deadpanning; get over it.” ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/43 "2011-11-22T19:10:11Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Um . . . what’s the joke? Nobody said it was a great joke. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/44 "2011-11-22T19:25:55Z")
I couldn’t wait until they turned off the “fasten seatbelts” one time. It was taking forever. I asked the attendant nicely and was told to wait. I saw someone else get up and go to a restroom so I did the same. As I was approaching the restroom an attendant suggested I go back to my seat and I said I would after I went to the restroom or they would be cleaning up urine. I got a nasty look but I didn’t get tackled or further questioned about my bathroom habits. If she was making a joke to the OP then it was a bad joke and kind of rude. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/45 "2011-11-22T19:45:11Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > She made a joke, she was being friendly. Making a light-hearted joke (“did you wash your hands?”) is one thing; putting a customer uncomfortably on the spot in front of other customers (“[prove you did by telling me] what color is the soap?”) would have annoyed me a bit too. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/46 "2011-11-22T19:46:48Z")
It was a joke, but unlike the plane, it failed to land. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/47 "2011-11-22T19:48:56Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > If she was making a joke to the OP then it was a bad joke and kind of rude. Kinda rude? Man, if a stewardess asked me if I had washed my hands, my autopilot response would be, “How is that any of your fucking business?” ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/48 "2011-11-22T20:06:23Z")
Another vote for slightly missed joke. We have West Jet which also goes out of their way to be entertaining and not stuffy. One attendant did the whole seat-belt spiel in rhyme and it ends with “let’s get this Boeing going”. I have also seen them do toilet paper unrolling contests down the aisles. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/49 "2011-11-22T20:12:43Z")
Lame joke that fell flat. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/50 "2011-11-22T20:28:41Z")
The flight attendant was just making a small joke. As any viewer of Pee Wee Herman knows, when someone asks you if you washed your hands you say “no I didn’t!” and put your hands all over their face. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/51 "2011-11-22T20:36:38Z")
I sense quite a bit of hostility in this thread toward the flight attendant. Another reason why I dislike flying are all of the self-important passengers who are regularly rude to the flight crew and each other. You get what you give. I’ve had my share of rude flight crews. But I wouldn’t throw it back at them while flying. Would not do any good at the time. They can always pull out the [interference with a flight crew](http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/63mcrm.htm#9-63.110) and really mess up your day. Doesn’t matter if the charges don’t stick. You get detained and they get the last laugh. I’ve seen it done to other passengers more than once. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/52 "2011-11-22T20:43:00Z")
Another vote for a joke that didn’t play well with the intended audience (you). I fly enough SW to make their A list in the first 2-3 months of the year, and I dread it when I have to fly anyone else. Rather than get testy, I would hope I would be quick enough on my feet to respond “I judge soap by the content of its cleanliness, not by the color of its additives” or something equally silly. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/53 "2011-11-22T22:21:22Z")
I washed my hands in the blue water. ---
**Author:** ![Igrapeape](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Igrapeape](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Igrapeape)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/54 "2011-11-22T22:32:24Z")
I wouldn’t let that get me and IMHO no overstepping. The best thing there would have been a quick come back, “same color it was when we took off” or “not quite sure, but you should get some of that nice purple soap, I really like that flavor” Of course the easy out would have been like Al Bundy used to do and say no and then rub her hair or pat her shoulder in a congratulatory method. > [@OpalCat](#): > > Yesterday I flew home to Boston from Tucson, AZ on Southwest. We connected through Chicago. On our second flight (after an almost 3 hour layover) I really had to pee quite badly. When the flight attendants came through with snacks I asked one of them if she had any guess as to when they’d be turning off the “seatbelts” sign so that I could get up and use the restroom. She said she didn’t know. A few minutes later she came by and told me that in an emergency she wouldn’t be able to “allow” it but that she wouldn’t tackle me, either. I thanked her. > > Cue forward 20 minutes or so and the “fasten seatbelts” sign finally goes off. I get out of my seat and go back and use the restroom. When I came out of the room, the flight attendant was there pouring drinks. She looked up at me and said “did you wash your hands?” to which I truthfully replied “yes.” Then she asked me “what color is the soap?” > > I had no idea. I wasn’t looking at the soap. The way I use a soap dispenser is to pump the soap into a closed-up fist anyway, since I’ve had “soap-spurting” accidents before that got soap on my shirt or whatever. > > Anyway, the point is that she made me feel really self conscious and it was very accusatory like she didn’t believe I’d actually washed my hands. I was a little offended. So what do you think? Was she behaving appropriately to question me like that? ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/55 "2011-11-22T22:36:36Z")
I think she was trying to make a joke, but it came off as weird and rude. I probably would have just given her a ‘look’ and not responded (which is what I do to anyone who says something rude/awkward/inappropriate - most often customers/patrons where I work). One of my best friends is an attendant for Southwest. He is basically a one-man comedy routine on flights, and I’m sure he annoys plenty of people, especially since he has a bizarre and deadpan sense of humor (he’s had complaints before). But he is fully within his rights according to the company to make small talk and joke around with passengers, other attendants, and the pilots. Flights are boring and I can’t fault attendants for trying to keep themselves entertained. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/56 "2011-11-22T22:51:47Z")
I should add that the rest of the flight was fine, and that was the only comment that made me go “huh??” even by that flight attendant. She was nice the rest of the time, it just seemed like an oddly accusatory question to ask a passenger–basically accusing them of lying. Especially when I HAD washed my hands but HADN’T looked at the soap. (I use pump soap by putting my thumb on top of the pump, and making a fist around the nozzle part, and pushing down. The soap goes into my closed fist, where I then rub it against my other hand, then rinse. I never see the soap except as bubbles–and those are generally white regardless of the color of the soap. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/57 "2011-11-22T23:42:37Z")
You could, of course, have just made her feel awkward by saying “I’m colourblind”. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/58 "2011-11-22T23:57:42Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > it just seemed like an oddly accusatory question to ask a passenger–basically accusing them of lying. It was a joke… nobody expects you to memorize the color of the soap. Just a funny way of raising an eyebrow and saying “are you sure about that?” with the expected (and normal) response of someone chuckling. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/59 "2011-11-24T16:06:41Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > If she was making a joke to the OP then it was a bad joke and kind of rude. Bad jokes always are. If it was a hilarious joke, everybody would be saying it was NOT rude, and people need to loosen up! Anyway, I see it as a joke. I also would have said “Before or after?” hh ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703/60 "2011-11-24T16:51:00Z")
> [@thirdwarning](#): > > We love you, you love us. > We’re much faster than the bus. > > If I could remember the second verse I’d post that, too. Try: “We [del]love[/del] hate you, you [del]love[/del] pay us 'Cause we’re faster than the bus Now please sit down and shut the fuck up Or the Sky Marshal will tase your butt.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-this-flight-attendant-overstep-her-bounds/603703.md?page=4)