On my training course for the airline, we were treated to a viewing of a comedienne I had never previously heard of. Her name was Pam Ann and her whole repertoire was a skit on the airline industry. If you've never had an aviation background, the jokes will just go over your head but if you have had an aviation career or are a passenger that is a frequent flyer, you will get the jokes. However, I found the jokes deeply unfunny. She seems to rely on crude humour, outdated stereotypes and blatantly insults people and their jobs to get a cheap laugh. Now, I am no prude. I am an avid reader of Viz magazine, I am politically incorrect and I also have been known to slag off various jobs in aviation, labelling their staff 'jobsworths'. I would never personally attack a company, publish a photo of an innocent girl doing her 9 to 5 or make racist remarks about a particular German flag carrier. What is Pam Ann's problem? She strikes me as a lady with a chip on her shoulder. Did she get turned down by flight deck? Was she bitter about the younger, thinner, prettier girls at her airline? Did she cling to gay men for approval, just as she does now? She reminds me a bit of some of the mature ladies I worked with (mature in age, I mean, not in attitude.) They were of that 'do as I say, not as I do' bitchy jobsworth attitude and would deliberately pick on new, pretty recruits and treat them like the Pulp Fiction gimp, while cosying up to the gay guys, fake laughing at their jokes. 'Oh butt plugs hee hee oh yeah I know what they are'. The same ladies only befriended the gay guys as they had tried too hard and failed with the pilots, the gays being her ally.
What I don't understand about this so-called funnywoman is the fact that she will call the likes of Easyjet and Ryanair common, then criticise BA and Lufthansa for being arrogant. What does this woman want? The cheap jokes about comparing Lufthansa to a crude,dated WW2 stereotype of Germans and laughing at the Oriental hostesses' mannerisms is borderline racist. Any other comedian would be pulled over hot coals for these wisecracks. Virgin cabin crew aren't safe either, making out they are prostitutes in the air. Branson, why aren't you suing this woman? Pam Ann can come across as misogynistic- if a woman tries hard with her appearance, she is a slut (e.g. the Virgin crew giving passengers blow jobs in her sketch), if she is demure yet plain, she looks like a horse (BA sketch), if she has a regional accent, she is a chav (Easyjet) or, if she is 'normal' and getting on with things, she is 'fugly' and 'boring' ( comments on a photo of BMI regional cabin crew she posted on her Facebook page). Which brings me onto my next rant. She (or her team) post photos on Facebook taken on the sly of cabin crew on various planes. She proceeds to slag off their appearance, inviting readers to comment too. How would you feel if you were those girls, having your pic posted on Facebook without your knowledge, random strangers calling you fat and scruffy? While I do joke about airlines letting their standards slip and employing fat chavs, I would never upset someone by posting their pic in full uniform and criticising them! That oversteps the mark. They are someone's daughter, after all.
So, Pam Ann, after making a career of bitching and thinking how fabulous you are, take a long hard look at yourself. When we saw your sweartastic video on training, we all thought you were a man in drag. If you were truly a comedian, you would be able to crack jokes without expletives and without belittling anyone else.
