train wrecks

Have you ever felt like you are watching a verbal train wreck? Last night I attended a friend of mine's Christmas party and witnessed two train wrecks. During the fist situation I was simply a bystander. We were all standing around talking and this guy was trying to flirt pretty hard core with another girl. He kept putting his foot in his mouth by saying such gender stereotypes about women and hinting that he thought this girl fell under those stereotypes. Now he has meet her a couple times, but doesn't really know much about her. In my opinion, he was basing most of his thoughts on the way she looked and presented herself. He would make such arrogant statements and kept offending her, but thinking his statements were valid. He said he was 29, but I think he was acting like a 17 year old. Simply because she is a cute blonde, doesn't mean he should assume she is an airhead. She is a very smart woman with a good job and in my opinion she is totally out of his league. I rather enjoyed seeing him put his foot in his mouth over and over again.

Later on in the night I was able to see a train wreck fist hand. Just a little back story on the party, most attendees were married or in committed relationships so being a single female, I was in the minority. My fiend had told me about this one guy who was coming that was recently single. She said he was a pilot that we worked with and lived in the neighborhood. She said he was a nice guy but seemed to display some gay traits so she wasn't sure but thought maybe his eccentric tendencies could be explained by him being a metro sexual. He was one of the first guests to arrive and I tried to make small talk with him, but he didn't seem very interested. Later in the evening this couple and a "Scottsdale Lite" (Now I'm stereotyping but typically this means possible botox/boob job, lots of money she also appeared to be a bit of a cougar)and from the minute she walked in he was glued to her for the rest of the night. It was rather humorous to watch especially when she was leaving and they did the exchange phone numbers dance. Later in the evening I happened to be standing near him, so I started a conversation. Very general, not too depth, but somehow he asked me how much longer I thought I was going to keep flying. I immediately answered probably another twenty years or so and he said Why? I quickly responded, well how long do you think that you will keep flying and he said till they make me retire. I asked why should it be any different for me. He said that THIS JOB was never meant for a career. I explained that I love this job for the flexibility and the ability to have as much time off as I needed when I have children some day. I strongly believe that some flight attendants are able to spend more time with their children even with flying then I would with a 9-5 Monday through Friday job where Id barely be home in time to feed the kids and put to bed. I thought of all people, he as a pilot would understand. I was so offended, but totally called him out and boy did that feel good. I am so sick of people thinking that once we have kids, that we have to stop flying. Did we somehow morph back to the 50's? Now don't get me wrong, it will be tough especially right now when I have no senority and can't even hold a set schedule, but it's not impossible. Shortly after I defended myself, I excused myself from the conversation. I think what frustrated me the most was that he didn't see anything wrong with his point of view and didn't apologize for making himself look like a arrogant chauvinistic pig. Just wait till we fly together one day and he needs to use the Lav, he just might have to hold it till we land.