Mile high mama

>> Stewardess brings down saucier stereotypes about her trade

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Sue Farquhar

Age: 35

Occupation: Flight attendant

Salary: $46,000 per annum

Bio: This lusty "waitress in the sky" and Mile End resident has been serving drinks and delicious meals on Air Canada jets for close to 10 years now. A former Liberal Arts student, this way-cool chick's ability to speak four languages helped her land this challenging position and travel the world for next to nothing. With a three-day work week, Sue has plenty of time to indulge in her passion for film, and is currently working as production manager on a documentary about the endlessly fascinating subject of synchronized swimming. A full-time career in the topsy-turvy world of film and television production is a very real possibility for her future.

A few alternate names for flight attendants that she thinks are funny: Sky bag, trolley dolly, sky slut.

On whether there are a lot of men who hit on flight attendants for sport because of the "coffee, tea or me" mythology surrounding stewardesses: "I come across this attitude less frequently these days. Maybe 'cuz I'm getting older, I don't know. My colleagues tell me there was a lot of debauchery going down in the late 1970s. It was a constant party then. Sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll."

Do she and the other young stewardesses ever get together in their hotel rooms to have pillow fights in their lingerie? Not too often.

On whether air rage is a real thing or just something they like to talk about in the media these days: "It's a reality but not a big problem. In 10 years I've only seen one example of what you would classify as air rage. The guy was lashing out at all the flight attendants, getting violent, and eventually had to be restrained with some plastic handcuffs that we keep on board in the event of this kind of emergency. After that he just started whimpering and I began to feel sorry for him. It wasn't very nice. It was awful, actually."

Is being homosexual a prerequisite to becoming a steward? Not so much anymore--although the majority of male flight attendants do, in fact, still tend to be gay.

Has anybody ever offered her cash to move drugs across international borders? No, but she has worked alongside former Air Canada flight attendants who used to occasionally double as drug mules in the big, bad late '70s.

Something that she likes to do: Scuba dive. Sue has gone scuba diving all over the world.

One place she hangs out: The Copacabana on the Main.

Another place she hangs out: Club Cubano on Ste-Catherine. "It's kind of a cool place and you can see some incredible dancing there."

Last book read: Blindness by Jose Saramago.

Musical preferences: Sue says she likes everything from classical to world beat to reggae to John Lee Hooker. She also likes Miles Davis a lot.

Two recent films she's enjoyed: Dark Days and Amores Perros.

Some words of wisdom: "A smile will take you a long way." :

Comments? dimwit@openface.ca