I’ve just received a company-wide message from the airline that I work for telling me, “All cabin crew are invited to wear Christmas hats over the festive period!” The exclamation mark at the end suggests the company thinks we’ll all be utterly delighted at the thought of it. I’m not: I feel weird enough in a uniform already, and adding a Santa hat is more enforced jollity than I can take.
I’m not one of those cabin crew who’s dreamed of doing the job since I was a kid. I just made the mistake of doing a journalism degree without having rich parents. I was a millennial with inflated expectations, and I’m paying the price, OK? I’ll dress up and smile and serve you mini pretzels, with pleasure – after all, it’s my job. But please don’t make me wear the stupid hat as well.
