ABOVE AND BELOW THE CLOUDS. Harry W Frahm

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      “We don’t hire any guys!” was the opening statement of this quintet!

      “I know, but I like to be in contact with people, and I can see myself doing it on airplanes,” was his response.

      So the interview took place and ended, like all the others, with the usual statement:

      “You will be notified!”

      Meaning: “Don’t call us, we’ll call you!”

      Herbert considered it as case closed and was more than surprised when a cable arrived; few days later, with the question:

      “When is he available to come to the US of A?”

      His superior congratulated him and agreed to help him in any way possible.

      Now a big problem was to tell his wife.

      He had mentioned it to her with the true explanation that only girls were able to get this job and both had taken that fact as a final consequence.

      But now Herbert had to come clean to explain the circumstances of his next to no time departure to the new world. His better half and his new born daughter had to follow, naturally. That was a huge concern to him of how to tell his wife.

      Many times, in the past, she had stated: “Not even ten horses will be able to haul me out of Hamburg!” And that troubled Herbert a lot.

      On his way home, in a rattling streetcar, he tried to imagine the scene confronting his spouse, balancing, one approach after another, of how to bring the news across in a smooth way. He finally decided to give her a choice, to go to America for ONLY two years or to stay.

      And so it was.

      Thirty three years later he retired from Pan Am and is still living in Miami.

      Pan Am sponsored the chosen ones, a very important arrangement and absolutely necessary to immigrate to America.

      When the selected ones showed up at the office with the letter of acceptance, they received their instructions to report for a physical examination to a designated doctor and to a throat, nose and ear specialist. Afterwards X-rays and a visit to the American embassy were necessary to obtain a training visa. Mandatory vaccine shots for smallpox, tetanus, cholera and yellow-fever had to be taken, and voluntary inoculations were suggested for polio and influenza. A large amount of cash was required to be able to pay for food and drink, hotel and transportation. After all this, they finally got their FREE one-way ticket to New York with the guarantee for a return ticket in case of failure to successfully complete the training.

      Herbert had the pleasure to make out his own ticket, how many immigrants could do that?

      The first uniform was paid for, but later deducted from the paychecks. All in all, it was a very expensive and risky venture, without guarantees. A six month probation period was also stipulated in the contract. It could mean a dismissal without explanation, leaving that individual in the cold. A return ticket was not provided, after the completed training, neither a refund for the uniform. The starting monthly salary was $ 231.50, even in 1957 not enough to jump for joy, or to write home about it.

Chapter 2 Training

      When Herbert arrived at Idlewild (now JFK) airport, a supervisor of Pan Am met him, and drove him to a small hotel, in Kew Gardens. There he found some girls of the same class he was assigned to, and who had arrived earlier, either from England or Germany, no other country.

      There were a total of 25 hopefuls to become flight attendants and Herbert was the only male. He was called, later, the boy with his harem. Everybody of this group was unsupported by anyone or anything. They were alone in a foreign country and for the Germans, also a foreign language. They had the suspicion it was a planned test to see how they cope and adjust to the environment. The coming Monday the training was to commence. The only information this group had was the address of the Pan Am building in Long Island City, the time to be there and a subway plan with the station “Long Island Plaza” indicated where to get off the train. Glad to have a concierge at the hotel, who was a world of information! He explained the New York subway system to these eager listening foreigners; it must have made him feel like a professor at the university. One could see how he gleamed knowing his status as a guru.

      At the entrance of this small office building, being the headquarter of this giant airline, was a poster instructing arriving flight attendants students to proceed to classroom X.

      Nine AM sharp. An instructor showed up and gave a short, very short welcome speech followed by handing out a massive amount of papers to be signed. First and most important, among others, was to join the Transport Workers Union. Health insurance and pension plan to mention a few. Never mind the advice not to sign any papers without reading them first. That’s theory! After a long time, nobody cared anymore and kept signing document after document. Nobody dared to question the new employer of their credibility. Most of it was newfangled material for those Europeans. Much later, it became apparent how important these papers were and all of them turned out to be beneficiary to those applicants. After all, the biggest step, to a new future, had been done already. It seemed to treat foreigners as people who have always been here and are comprehensible familiar with the American way of life. On the other hand, Americans appear to believe, when in another country, the whole world speaks and understands English.

      –Surprise!–

      “It ain’t necessarily so!”

      One has to understand the apprehensive emotion of these young people in this classroom. Most of them have been for the very first time, in their lives, outside of their homeland. On top of it, they are alone. The group from England had at least no difficulties with the language, besides the different pronunciation, speak accent. The German part of this party had some obstacles, because their school English was very different from the way the folks speak in New York. In the very first days, two girls from Germany had to call it quits. They were not able to follow the fast pace of instructions and when asked questions they were unable to answer. Back home they went!

      Now this class consisted of 22 girls and one guy, Herbert. He had no problems, with his experience, for two years, to get used to American-English.

      The first three days were conducted by an elderly lady, a registered nurse, all dolled up in her white outfit with a high pitched vocal sound, looking somewhat anorectic. Where Pan Am had found her? Who knows! She turned out to be a warmhearted likeable spinster with a different view of the world as most people will experience it. A nanny type who would fit perfectly in the household of the British Crown at Buckingham Palace, having the unfortunately task to teach children of a lower class. Her attitude was like being on a high situated judge’s bench talking down to a crowd of nitwits, which was nothing but a front of a person with an inferiority complex. This group of students in her class was amused by her way of explaining things, like the way to maintain healthy body maintenance. She knew that everybody in her class was from Europe and it seems to be her perception people over there are still living in medieval times. Many times one looked at another with a big smirk, when she produced a completely erroneous proclamation, like: “Don’t drink milk outside of the United States!” Good advice, she forgot, all classmates had grown up on milk in other countries. (And lived!)

      Nobody had forgotten, this instructor had the power to terminate any student, therefore everybody was careful not to comment on anything adversely. After all, they knew, it was only for three days with this LADY.

      Among СКАЧАТЬ