The Brief: The flight attendant meme/Twitter trend is uniting adults who haven't lived up to their fathers' expectations by depicting a hypothetical scenario in which a medical emergency happens on a plane and their dads start clowning them over their career choice and inability to help.
DEEP DIVE
Flying during holidays is always stressful, especially when your dad spends the entire flight roasting you like a Thanksgiving turkey over your career choices. This half-joking but very real Twitter trend pokes fun at the disappointment fathers feel when you give up on their lifelong dreams of you becoming a doctor.
As a full time meme-ologist, this one hits a little too close to home, but always remember you can get the last laugh by muttering “ok boomer” under your breath, grabbing a delicious plate of turkey, and gobbling up some dank Thanksgiving memes.
The tweet that started it all:
Flight attendant: Is there a doctor onboard?
Dad: *nudging me* that should’ve been you
Me: Not now Dad
Dad: Not asking for a Product Manager to help, are they?
Me: Dad, there’s a medical emergency happening right now
Dad: Go and see if “let’s have a follow-up meeting” helps
— Laura Gao ✌️ (@heylauragao) November 26, 2019
Flight attendant: Is there a doctor on this flight?
Dad: *nudging me* that should’ve been you
Me: Not now Dad
Dad: Not asking for a sports marketer to help, are they?
Me: Dad, there’s a medical emergency happening right now
Dad: Go and see if throwing them a t-shirt helps
— Chris Grosse (@Chris_Grosse) November 26, 2019
To be fair, BOFA is known to be extremely useful in any medical emergency:
Flight attendant: Is there a doctor on this flight?
Dad: *nudging me* that should’ve been you
Me: Not now Dad
Dad: Not asking for a twitter lame joke account to help, are they?
Me: Dad, there’s a medical emergency happening right now
Dad: Go and see if “what’s BOFA” helps
— Dr. Bucky Turkeytope (@BuckyIsotope) November 26, 2019
Flight attendant: Is a doctor onboard?
Mum: *nudge* that should’ve been you
Me: Not now,Mum
Mum: Not asking for a political scientist to help,are they?
Me: Mum,there’s a medical emergency happening
Mum: Go see if somebody wants to listen to an analysis of right wing rhetoric
— Natascha Strobl (@Natascha_Strobl) November 27, 2019
Flight attendant: Is there a doctor on this flight?
Dad: *nudging me* that should’ve been you
Me: Not now Dad
Dad: Not asking for a cinematographer to help, are they?
Me: Dad, there’s a medical emergency happening right now
Dad: Go and see if “moody lighting” helps
— Jackson Hayes (@jacksonhvisuals) November 26, 2019
Flight attendant: Is there a doctor on this flight?
Dad: *nudging me* that should’ve been you
Me: Not now Dad
Dad: Not asking for a UPS driver to help, are they?
Me: Dad, there’s a medical emergency happening right now
Dad: Go see if throwing a box into a garage door helps
— Sweatpants Cher 🔶 (@House_Feminist) November 26, 2019
Flight attendant: Is there a doctor on this flight?
Dad: *nudging me* that should’ve been you
Me: Not now Dad
Dad: Not asking for a YouTuber to help, are they?
Me: Dad, there’s a medical emergency happening right now
Dad: Go and see if “what up guys” helps
— The Dad (@thedad) November 22, 2019
Flight attendant: Is there a doctor on this flight?
Dad: *nudging me* that should’ve been you
Me: Not now Dad
Dad: Not asking for a crossword columnist to help, are they?
Me: Dad, there’s a medical emergency happening right now
Dad: Go and see if “witty commentary” helps
— NYTimes Wordplay (@NYTimesWordplay) November 26, 2019
Flight attendant: Is there a doctor on this flight?
Dad: *nudging me* that should’ve been you
Me: Not now Dad
Dad: Not asking for a journalist to help, are they?
Me: Dad, there’s a medical emergency happening right now
Dad: Go and see if “finding a second source” helps
— A$AP JOURNO (@lostblackboy) November 26, 2019
Flight attendant: Is there a doctor onboard?
Dad: *nudging me* that should’ve been you
Me: Not now Dad
Dad: Not asking for someone who has a “juris” doctorate, are they?
Me: Dad, there’s a medical emergency, someone‘s hurt
Dad: Go see if citing medical malpractice law helps
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) November 27, 2019
Some people switched up the format:
#flightattendant: Is there a doctor on this flight?
Dad: *nudges me* That should have been you.
Me: Or it could have been you.
Dad: …
Me: …
Dad: *looks out the window in silence for rest of the flight.*
— AdamFiction (@AdamFrederick10) November 27, 2019
Flight attendant: Is there a doctor on this flight?
Dad:
Me:
Dad:
Me:
Dad:
Mom: you two should talk
Me & Dad: No
— jaboukie (@jaboukie) November 27, 2019
flight attendant: is there a doctor on board?
[doctor rushes to help]
mom: ohhhhh he’s cute!
me: mom, no…
mom: just give him your number! you’re never going to meet anyone with that attitude.
— Sophie Vershbow (@svershbow) November 27, 2019
Flight attendant: Is there a doctor on this flight?
Dad: * Gets up from his seat and goes to offer help *
Me: *Feels really proud of her dad*
(Also because he didn’t force me to become a doctor) #flightattendant
— Natasha Kundi نتاشا کُندی (@NatashaKLondon) November 27, 2019