The Blog

I was going through a post by Uttaran and it reminded me of some incidents.

1. I was flying from Bangalore to Mumbai in a Kingfisher Airlines flight. Generally when I fly, after sitting at the airport, I want water. And I want lots of it. So I finished something like 2 bottles before I got dinner. And at dinner I asked for another bottle. Sometime went by, and I finished the bottle they had given me with the meal, and I wanted more water, and so I hit the call button. And the air hostess came back, and while she was handing me one bottle, she suddenly decided to hand me another saying, “I am sure you will want one more” with a smile I treasured for the rest of the flight

2. The flights in europe. The one from Hamburg to Paris. Sripathi was sitting at the back, so I don’t he knows this one :). I don’t like tea or coffee. And the thing I loved about Air France was that they had a hot chocolate option. But it is just that. Hot water and chocolate powder which is a bit on the bitter side. I wanted to add some milk in it and they forgot to give me milk and I asked the air hostess for some milk. There was a lady next to me (no clue from where) who did not speak english (probably german though) and she gives this really nice smile (now, somehow I got the feeling that she was mothering me, but then I just wanted the milk :P), and hands the milk she had and then air hostess comes back and gives me milk with a really nice smile. (OK, I seem to have a weakness for nice smiles..)

3. The flight from Paris to Lyon was even better. I wanted both a pepsi and hot chocolate. And the flight was empty and the air hostess was really cute with an even better smile (yep, that seems to be a trend)

4. The flight from Bangalore to Paris and back was similar. Both times I had the window seat and the person next to me went to sleep so I could not get out. And the air hostess used to give me stuff and then give me the expression, “Don’t be a naughty boy now. You should also go to sleep now”.

Now the thing is that while I do realize it is part of the service to be nice, and to be polite and to always smile, what I did notice was the smiles were nicer to a set of few people (which included me). This baffled me since I am not any model material or something. When I mentioned it to smartie, she was sceptical and told me I was only imagining stuff. Then I thought about it, and I realized one thing. Most of the passengers in the flight don’t treat the air hostess humanly. They  order her around, don’t ask her politely, don’t smile. Basically I could go on. And my parents have brought me up to be nice to people. To treat them like you would treat yourself. Smile, be polite, don’t order. Gets you better service, and hopefully keeps them happy as well.

Then again it may just be that my smile is a killer ;). There was this one awesome evening I had in Goa. I was travelling that night, and mom had given me list for her shopping. It involved me going ot the pharmacy which is probably the most crowded place in vasco. And to think of my luck, it was one of the crowded hours. There was this cute girl inside who was handling customers, she caught my eye, and I smiled at her, and 10 seconds later she was right next to me asking me how she could help me. And bam, 2 mins later thanks to her I was on my way. That led me to temptations and it had to be really crowded again. I thought what’s the big deal, let’s try the smile trick again, and it worked! I was out in 2 more mins and back home in time to relax before going back to Bangalore.

When I mentioned it to smarty, I also realized, if it is a woman hostess, I tend to get things happening a bit more easily (such as the table I want, faster service, I could go on). I guess it all happens when you are polite and smile.

Now if only I could charm the pretty girls so easily.. But well.. that’s life