Customer Reviews

Coffee, Tea or Me? The Uninhibited Memoirs of Two Airline Stewardesses

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Back in 1967 when this book was firs published it was considered to be prettty racy stuff. My parents owned a copy but I was never allowed to read it. Finally after all these years I saw the new edition and bought it. Things certainly have changed. Rachel and Trudy were lighthearted, funny girls who got into madcap adventures that no sane flight attendent today would dare try.

Back in the 60s stews had to be single, attractive and thin, today as anyone can tell you flight attendents don't have to be any of these things. Sex seemed to be a game both men and women were playing. Today romance on the job isn't much fun at all. Back then flying was still fun. Today it's more like Dante's Inferno. Rachel & Trudy occasionally dealt with pervert passengers, and often with drunks and rotten kids but the whole phenomenon of air rage was stil unknown.

Some of the observations Rachel and Trudy made about certain types of male passengers were considered beyond the pale back in '67, today we don't even give it a second thought. Check out their comments on page 237 and you'll see what I mean. One more thing I noticed about this funny book. It couldn't be written today. The whole mind numbing political correctness movement would've made an editor cut out whole chapters. The book will make you smile and it's like a historical artifact to boot.It's a peep into a swinging lost world.

I got this as a gift from my amazon wish list this Christmas thinking it was non-fiction. While I enjoyed the book I was disappointed when I learned that Coffee, Tea or Me isn't the actual memoirs of two real people as told to the author. There was never a Trudy or Rachel; these are fictionalized characters! This is acknowledged by the author in the forward of the reprint addition; he stated that he made up the two stewardesses based upon two he met one evening who had some funny stories. He worked in the industry so he created Trudy and Rachel based upon those two ladies, his experiences and stories he had heard.

Amazon has this book listed under "non-fiction" but the publisher, Penguin, lists it as fiction on their own site.

If you are looking for a tell-all from two real stewardesses from the sixties, you will not find that in this book. If you want an entertaining read that takes a lot of creative license about fictional characters in that period, then this is for you.

I picked this up based solely on the reissue cover. I got into it and started wondering who the heck would talk like this, as a woman? Then, about 1/2 the way through, I read the intro and realized this was actually penned by a male who had interviewed a lot of stewardesses. It made me feel better that these weren't real women, but a man trying to sound like a woman.

This isn't a literary work, but it is a great beach read. Don't expect too much, and you'll be thrilled to join these two "women" on their careers. I was born well after the 60's, and it is fun to imagine how classy and upscale air travel was back then. It's certainly a contrast to the budget consciousness of today.

It was definitely a page turner, because I wanted to keep having more adventures in the crazy life of 60's stewardesses. Check this one out and have fun for a few hours.

This book was my mothers as a young teen and passed down to me when i turned 13 a few years ago. The book is wonderful, Its one of those books you start reading and dont want to put down thats how good it is.

I've read the whole series and they all are great.
you could read this book over and over again and never get tired of it.

I reccommend this book to anyone.

I don't know why I got this book, maybe the title grabbed my attention. I thought it would be interesting to read about life as a stewardess back in the 60's, when it was so glamorous. The book is choc full of anecdotes (sp?) about passengers and captains. I've really enjoyed reading about Trudy and Rachel's escapades, especially the chapter about their "basic training" like stewardess school. I haven't finished the book, but I am about 80% through it. I pick it up every once in awhile and read a chapter here and there. It's not like a novel in that I want to read the entire thing to see what happens. Overall I recommend it with 4 stars, I've gotten quite a lot of enjoyment in reading it and find it to be well worth the money spent.

Book that's been out for years. Its a really funny book, that2 flight attendents talk about there jobs and some of the bizzare things that happen on flights.
Love the book. Has been out of print for a long time.

This is a must read of a not too distant time when flying actually was fun and considered by most, exciting. It was a classy affair in the 60's to take an international flight and airlines actually served real fine food- including cherries jubilee flambee! The antics of the stewardesses is a time warp of the free love era and it is hysterical. A must read that will make you long for this bygone era next time you are cattle called onto your flight and forced to purchase "food" on board. Side note: the somewhat mythical "mile high club" began its origins in these very pages.

My daughter was going through her training as a flight attendant and I remembered this book - I read it when I was a teenager. I sent it to her as a surprise. Not only did she love it, she loaned it to everyone else in her class and they all got a great kick out of it. It's just a fun read.

"Coffee, Tea, or Me?" is fun to read if you're into the current 1960s retro movement, or if you grew up in those days as I did. However, some of the content is offensive today, particularly the entire chapter devoted to gay-bashing (this was written just before men were "allowed" to become "flight attendants".) And the two or three sequel books are downright inane. Still, "Coffee, Tea, or Me?" is worth a read as long as you keep in mind the era that it represents.

Having been a real airline Stewardess for a real airline in the 1960's I knew this book is total fiction. I had never read it until the recent reprint. There is no way that it is true. No airline would put up with a lot of stuff in that book. The stewardesses could not have met all of those celebrities and men from different countries. I could go on and on but suffice it to say that it is quite obvious that the book is totally made up by Donald Bain who is a ghost writer. However for this book he is a fiction writer. It is funny and entertaining, and totally ridiculous. It doesn't reflect at all the real world of airline stewardesses in the 1960's. If you realize it is fiction you might enjoy it.