I am sure you have noticed, when you are leaving the plane, one flight attendant and one pilot standing at the cockpit door.
Say this next time:
To the flight attendant: “Thank you for your excellent service.”
To the pilot: “Thank you for getting us up and down safely.”
I am going to do that on my next flight. (Then again, I tend to over tip as well.) But remember, they have a hard job. Plus they have to be ready for all kinds of urgent or emergency situations. Their job is intense, too. Sometime Google “humorous flight announcements” to get an idea of how some of these workers try to at least lighten things up. They also become the brunt of the joke many times because passengers can be super annoying. (One of my favorite examples of this is a YouTube video of the flight attendant trying to deal with electronic devices.)
Stop and consider all the people in your daily life who “serve” you in pretty much thankless, and under paid*, jobs. Then think of the ways in which our health and safety depends on them. Why not try a little kindness?
*(Incidentally flight attendants make a lot less than you might think. The average is around $20 an hour and as glamorous as you might think the job is, it is not easy work. Pilots make a decent wage but driving these modern jets with all the high tech involved is challenging and even more so when it’s back-to-the manual-controls in an instant. Remember Sully?)
Words from Warren 