Galley Gossip: Why flight attendants might not open an emergency exit during an evacuation {Gadling}

Feb 10th 2012 1:21PM I am a retired flight attendant and in my 35 years of flying, I never asked a passenger for help unless it was necessary....if we had military people on board, I would put them next to an exit and give them directions on how to open it....I was taught your first priority was to get every one out in 90 seconds or less....sometimes you had to scream "STAND BACK! DOOR OPENING! STAND BACK!!" then after the door opens and the slide in inflating "WAIT! WAIT!!SLIDE INFLATING!! WAIT WAIT!!!!" by holding up our arms to guard off passengers...in a split decision, sometimes you have to say "YOU....slide first HELP THE PASSENGERS OFF THE SLIDE.....YOU GUIDE THE PASSENGERS AWAY FROM THE AIRPLANE!" It's really for safety reasons. F/A"s are trained to do anything....now if they can just train them to smile a little that would be great....