So long as you call your post 'a rambling', I thought maybe I can ramble along too.
In Eastern countries, the flight attendant's job is usually not a career job, but a job between finishing college and settling down (getting married) for reasonably good looking females. The younger employees in such a job tend to have a sense of 'national pride' while serving you and are more eager to please you. It is not just another unionized job for life for them. In my observation, that works out better for travelers, in terms of their attitude and their desire to please the customer. The flight attendants of European and N. American airlines do what is defined in their work description, and no more. I avoid such airlines for overseas travel whenever I can. My last encounter was an older flight attendant on a AA flight I took from Chicago to Delhi. She spilled orange juice all over me, right down to my shoes and socks. Some of it splashed on her clothes too. I muttered aloud to no one in particular, 'I am wet all over'. To which, she said, 'What about me, my dress is ruined too.' I could care less what happened to her, since it was of her making, and also her job is to apologize to the customer she inconvenienced, not complain to me about her predicament.
Another factor is that human being are the only living beings with a sense of aesthetics. Some of us may be indifferent to the appearance of the service personnel, but by and large, the customers do care about their appearance and how they present themselves. So, selection of service personnel, in which appearance/youth is part of the equation is not going to go away any time soon, except here in the West for unionized labor.
What did I get myself into this time?
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