Flight attendant in US refused to let plane take off till passenger cleaned up mess they made

The crazy stories that come out of flights are never-ending. It also shows the terrible parts of being a flight attendant. Recently, a flight attendant refused to let a plane in the US take off after an unknown passenger spilled rice on the aisle. The flight attendant demanded that whoever spilled the rice clean it up so that the plane can take off. 

What happened? 

• The incident took place on a Southwest Airlines aircraft on April 15. A fellow passenger filmed the entire scene and shared it on social media. 

Because my travels seem to involve unintentional comedy:
Just boarded the plane and somebody spilled food. The flight attendant screamed “who spilled rice?” and is walking up and down the aisles. They are refusing to leave the gate until someone cleans the rice. pic.twitter.com/f5SfdjZcGr

— Jennifer Schaper (@jenschap) April 15, 2023

• The entire situation seemed pretty comical, but also revealing about a flight attendant's life on the job. 
• A flight attendant on the plane was furious that someone spilled rice on the aisle and went up and down the flight screaming:

• The flight was grounded at the gate as the flight attendant demanded the culprit clean up the mess. Eventually, the crew had to send out for a broom to clean up the mess. 
• While the culprit did not show themselves or clean up the mess, a fellow passenger shared that the flight attendant seemed very mad. 

• To make matters worse, another passenger on the flight took advantage of the delay to go to the toilet and ended up delaying the flight even longer as the person wasn't seated. 
• And apparently, the passengers weren't served any refreshments on the flight which seemed like payback. 

Update: there were a few bumps so they didn’t give us beverage service. I think it was punishment. #RiceGate @SouthwestAir

— Jennifer Schaper (@jenschap) April 15, 2023

While this situation seems comical, it is just one of the many things flight attendants have to deal with. For the record, it is NOT a flight attendant's job to clean up the mess created by passengers. They are only there to ensure the safety of passengers and are not housemaids. 

Here are a few incidents where a flight attendant's patience was tested: 

Who cleans up after children?

• An American baseball player Anthony Bass was furious at United Airlines for making his 22-week pregnant wife clean up after the mess created by their two toddlers on a flight. 

The flight attendant @united just made my 22 week pregnant wife traveling with a 5 year old and 2 year old get on her hands and knees to pick up the popcorn mess by my youngest daughter. Are you kidding me?!?! pic.twitter.com/vLYyLyJC54

— Anthony Bass (@AnthonyBass52) April 16, 2023

• The children had spilled popcorn and the pregnant mother was made to "get on her hands and knees" to pick it up.
• When Bass shared the incident on Twitter, netizens were quick to reprimand him for expecting flight attendants to clean up after his children. 

Genuinely curious who should clean up the mess your 2 year old made? As a parent of three kids I am the one responsible for them.

— P wentink (@pwentink22) April 16, 2023

• Many said that children and their mess are a parent's responsibility. 
• The flight crew isn't paid to clean up after passengers and there are usually ground cleaners employed for the job who clean up a plane after passengers have disembarked.
• Despite this, some flight attendants revealed having to clean up everything from spilled juice to dirty diapers stashed in the seatback pocket. 

Drunk passenger vomits and defecates on flight

• In March, a drunk passenger on an Indigo flight from Guwahati to Delhi threw up on the aisle and also defecated near the toilet.
• The incident came to light when a fellow passenger shared a picture of a flight attendant cleaning up the vomit on the floor.

Indigo 6E 762 : Guwahati to Delhi.Intoxicated passenger vomited on the aisle and defecated all around the toilet.Leading lady Shewta cleaned up all the mess and all the girls managed the situation exceptionally well.Salute girl power🙏#Indigo #girlpower #DGCA pic.twitter.com/iNelQs48Tc

— Bhaskar Dev Konwar @BD (@bdkonwar) March 26, 2023

• Unfortunately, this is not the job of a flight attendant. However, the passenger who shared the picture lauded how the female flight attendants handled the situation and called it "girl power".
• Netizens pointed out that this isn't "girl power" and it shouldn't be glorified. 

The flight crew seem like victims here. This is a disgusting part of their job. Glorifying this as "girl power" is beyond my comprehension. This is similar to calling manual scavengers as the heroes of our society, instead of acknowledging that they are victims of corruption.

— Ishan Chattopadhyaya (@ichattopadhyaya) March 29, 2023

[ALSO CHECK: Worst flight fights of 2022] 

Who cleans up the toilet?

• It needs to be noted that flight attendants are not paid or expected to clean up the toilets either. They only "tidy" up a bathroom, which is replacing any empty dispensers like soap, lotion, toilet paper, etc. 
• Janice Bridger, who claims to have worked as a flight attendant for major US airlines for 25 years wrote this on Quora, about when passengers asked her if they clean up the bathrooms: 

• Myriam Frafar, who also claimed to be a flight attendant, said this on Quora:

Flight attendants are not home maids, servants or cleaners. This was made amply clear by a flight attendant on an Indigo flight in 2022 when she screamed at a passenger for calling her a servant and behaving rudely. 

[ALSO READ: Drunk man on Air India business class peed on woman]