RIGHT SPEAK: Seeing is Believing: Passengers Do Some Gross Things on Planes

Tired of dealing with flight attendants? Well, they’re just as tired of you and me.

Crabby passengers led Shawn Kathleen, a flight attendant for seven years, to start a blog she called Rants of a Sassy Stew (rantsofasassystew.com). Among the features was a section she called Passenger Shaming, which highlighted the ridiculous and repugnant things airline passengers did, usually involving sockless feet.

Shawn Kathleen (who doesn’t use her last name in her blogging life) said she was fired from the airline that she worked for — which she also declined to name — and suspects it was because of the blog.

Yet Passenger Shaming, now spun off into its own entity (passengershaming.com, plus a Facebook page and Twitter and Instagram feeds), has become an Internet sensation. Despite the profiles on the “Today” show, “Good Morning America” and Time magazine, Shawn Kathleen, a 45-year-old mother of three in Columbus, Ohio, hasn’t cashed in on her fame. Instead, she is taking undergraduate medical courses as she figures out what to do next.

Here is an edited interview about the frustrations of being a flight attendant, the rise of Passenger Shaming and the state of the state of flying.

Q Why did you start blogging about your experiences as a flight attendant?

A There was a lot of frustration. That’s where the blog was born — the crazy things that happened and the crazy things that people did. I would be professional and courteous to their face, but then I would walk to the back galley and grab my journal and start writing: “Oh my God this guy just asked me for black coffee for the 10th time, and he got pissy and said, ‘Where’s my cream and sugar?’ “ and things like that. Or they would ask if they would make their connection, and they would want me to call the captain and ask him to fly faster.

Q Seriously?

A Absolutely! I’d get asked all sorts of ridiculous things. One time a woman rang her call button. I said, “Can I help you?” She said, “Are we moving?” We were at 35,000 feet. I didn’t know what to say. I had never been asked that before. I put it on the website, and all these flight attendants said, “Oh my God, that’s happened to me!”

Q Judging by the state of the airline industry, I’m going to guess it got worse as time went on.

A Absolutely. Behaviors got progressively worse. The sense of entitlement was really gross. “Get me there quicker.” “I want this and this and this and this.” “I’m in coach, but I want you to get me a drink every few minutes.” The main thing with the entitlement — or what I feel is narcissism — is they act like there aren’t 200 other people on the aircraft. It’s their world. There’s one flight attendant for every 50 passengers. We can’t be 50 places at once.