A flight attendant unveils meticulous safety rituals during hotel layovers, highlighting the importance of such measures.
Despite many efforts to make the world secure for women, it continues to be an unsafe place for them. It is especially relevant for women working as flight attendants, where they travel extensively and stay alone in hotel rooms. There are some measures women can undertake to make their stay more safe. A woman who goes by @traveljunkie.diaries shared a viral video on TikTok about all the steps she took to ensure she was safe in her hotel room.
The first thing she did was leave her bags at the door while checking the room to ensure there were no intruders. After this, she checked her closets to make sure no one was "lurking." Hotel rooms are also notorious for having cameras hidden in the mirror and the woman utilizes a fingernail test to check them. According to Snopes, people can put their fingernails against the glass and see if there is a gap between their nails and the reflected image.
If there is no gap, then it is actually a two-way mirror. Furthermore, she looked behind the curtains and under the bed to make sure there was no one in the room. Now that she was done checking the room for cameras or intruders, she went about setting traps on the door to prevent forced entry. In addition to that, she also placed her luggage on the floor next to the door so that potential intruders could not pull the handle down with something.
Finally, she kept an iron next to her bed in case her safety mechanisms failed and somebody managed to get in. People supported the woman's decision to be cautious and shared their insights in the comment section. @proiseas said, "As a man, I've done some of these things, nothing to do with fear, everything to do with being cautious and aware." @thegomezsquad commented, "I bought all the door locks on Amazon and slept with pepper spray under my pillow. Also, I always ask for an extra key for my 'husband.'"
The flight attendant posted a follow-up video addressing a comment where she was accused of "living in fear." She explained how people could perceive her measures as excessive but that there was a fine line between living in fear and choosing to be safe. The woman also added that it had nothing to do with whether she was attractive or not. She shared two incidents that happened when she wasn't careful.
One time, a hotel worker walked in on her while she was changing out of her uniform. There was a communication barrier and she could not convey to the worker that she wanted him to leave. Another incident happened during a layover in San Diego when she got a call at 2:30 in the morning. She picked up to find out it was a wrong number and the call was immediately cut. The incident still proved scary for her, which is why she chose to be proactive when it came to staying alone at hotels.