Middle Eastern Etiquette

Flying from France or Italy, our airline often had passengers who had originated in the Middle East and were continuing their journeys to the United States.

The women wore black robes (abayas or chadors), covering them from head to toe. The men wore European suits or white robes, some with checkered red and white headdresses.

Although the travelers were pleasant, we had problems with their lack of knowledge regarding Western toilets. In their countries, toilet facilities are nothing more than a hole surrounded by slanting tiles. A person stood with his feet on either side of the hole, squatted, and eliminated waste. Not knowing how to use airplane facilities, many stepped on top of the toilet seat and squatted.

Consequently, after a Middle Eastern person used our bathrooms, a flight attendant would have to enter and clean the footprints off the toilet seat. Sometimes we had to get on our hands and knees and scrub the floor. That happened if a passenger had used the faucet water to clean his private parts.

Standing in the rear of the airplane, I decided to teach the passengers the proper way to operate a toilet. The procedure had to be demonstrated, as they did not speak English.

I stopped a white-robed man before he entered the lavatory and through sign language asked him to watch me work the bathroom fixtures. While he stood outside looking in, I pretended to sit on the toilet seat. I stood up and guided my finger to the flush button. He reacted by quickly stepping backward, startled by the suction noise.

When I showed him that our airline objected to people washing their private parts, he shook his head in disagreement. And he really took offence to my being his instructor. Men from the Middle East gave orders. Women received them.

We had only female flight attendants on board, so I had no alternative but to stand at the sink and splash water toward the crotch of my plastic apron. Shaking my head, I said sharply to him, “No. No. No.”

Eventually he understood and explained the rules to the other passengers in line. From then on the rear lavatories had a modest amount of order, and I was relieved of most of my clean-up duties. Another few hours and we’d be in New York, where their friends and family would be able to continue with the toilet instructions.

Дата добавления: 2015-08-27