An utterly shocking air-hostess-institute ad: Seventy bloody thousand..!

A mockery of all the other professions where 'desirability as a female' is not the major criteria…
Disclaimer: I have taken around 400 flights in the past few years. Having witnessed the sheer HARD-work first hand, I have deep respect for the Air-Hostesses. This post is NOT ABOUT the air-hostess profession per se, but about a stupid ad by an air-hostess-training-institute.
Secondly: Whether you like it or not, “desirability as a female” is the SINGLE most important criterion into the selection process and I have no moral issue it.

The Ad: shows an impudent young girl who talks about her 'starting salary' as "Seventy bloody thousand!!! Who needs an NRI?" Her tone and demeanor and everything else will bring the word "F***ing" (instead of bloody) to mind in later recalls. The totality makes it clear that her entire capital is her gender, looks and age and she looks at life through roses and greeting card wisdom!

What I did not like about it:
1. Rs.70,000/- per month is a great value in the Indian salary context. If you don't agree, just think how many who retired by 2005 would have dreamt of crossing that figure even towards the end of 30-35 years' professional life? Is this girl doing more value-addition? It is a kind of insult to all those who were in much more socially productive professions, but never made this kind of money.

2. Forget retired people. Just recollect/imagine how much effort and grit YOU required (or will require) to cross this figure. Realize that that effort/grit can be trumped merely by the right "desirability as a female". I felt insulted. Don't YOU?

3. What about the millions of other girls who will not make this kind of money (nurses, doctors, teachers, lawyers, clerks, accountants, etc.) because they are in jobs where they choose NOT to capitalize on their "desirability as a female". Is "finding an NRI" the ultimate salvation of a girl's life? I would like to know the opinion of some female readers on this one.

4. This ad shows money as the singular output of a job. If we are talking purely of money, then Rs.70,000/- per month is waaay toooo cheap. The movie ‘Corporate’ showed that there are girls in that demography who make that kind of money in 24 hours, OK?. Doesn’t this ad promote the “money is the ultimate goal” culture? Yes, I see some boys too nowadays, but the numbers are miniscule. And yes, the ‘desirability’ criterion remains applicable with boys too.

So, I thought the ad insulting to both sides:
Those who join are being told, “Look – the hard-work etc is all ok. At the rock bottom, you are just a piece of *** otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”.
Those who choose join other professions are being told: “Look, you may slog for the rest of your life. That cutie next door will gift a Toyota Camry to her dad/boyfriend you can’t even dream of!”

Again, these are ‘facts-of-life’. Facts are facts, they cannot be right or wrong. The issue is not with the facts, but with the values projected by the ad. The attitude projected by the impudent girl in the ad is entirely unfit for an air-hostess. (At least an air-hostess-training-institute should know this.) This “Seventy bloody thousand” line has the potential to ‘get into the head’ of quite a few girls of that age. I can imagine the plight of many parents who will be forced to cough-up the astronomical fees against their judgment or lose face with their daughters purely on monetary grounds. I do hope the ad is withdrawn soon because it projects the wrong values.

Ohh! hullo, come back!!! Where is service management angle in this?
Service Management Issue: The service catalog lists services which are ‘stated’. However, in service management, for good customer satisfaction, ‘implied’ services are as important as ‘stated’ services. In a service management situation, if you fail to grasp the implied services correctly, you are headed for failure, regardless of your competence on the ‘stated’ services.
Now, please don’t read any innuendo in ‘implied’ services. Some of them are:
1. Making customers ‘feel’ pleasant and happy from welcome to exit.
2. Being very difficult to “shout at”. (it is difficult to yell at a 20 yr old girl!)
3. Invoking ‘gallantry in customers’ to cover shortcomings in service. People say ‘koi baat nahi!’ more readily.
Though an average middle-aged man would fall miserably short in these ‘implied’ services, there is nothing morally wrong with these services. Facts-of-life!

Cheers!