Q: Being a flight attendant still has advantages; one of them is the ability to fly for next to nothing. It is said the world is six degrees of separation. My experience tells me it is infinitely smaller.

Some years ago, as a flight attendant, I could fly nearly anywhere for next to nothing, so I had decided to visit a friend in San Francisco. I had settled into my seat with a book that I could not read fast enough. It was titled, "The Stranger Beside Me," by Ann Rule, and it was about Ted Bundy.

Knowing I was a flight attendant, one of the flight attendants working that flight invited me to sit in first class. I gladly accepted, since we have to sit in coach when we are using our employee benefits to fly. Once I sat down again, I reopened my book — reading like it was infused with a drug that I was addicted to.

The flight attendant approached me to take my drink order and asked what I was reading that had me so captivated. When I told her the title and story line, she turned ashen. As she regained her composure, she said that as a college girl in Seattle, she had met Ted Bundy at a park. He was dressed nicely and had his leg in a cast, as if it were broken. He had asked her if she would help him carry some things to his car. She agreed, but along the way, she ran into friends and stopped to talk to them. As their talking continued, he showed his impatience. She noticed this and became uneasy about helping him to his car, so when her talking ended and her friends left, she pretended she had to visit a friend and no longer had time to help him.

Another flight attendant overheard us and asked what we were discussing. She was about 21 years old, so we said to her, "Nothing you would probably know about." This made her even more curious, so we whispered to her, "Ted Bundy." To our utter amazement, she announced, "I met Ted Bundy when I was a little girl. He helped my father with some political campaigning in Utah."

Here, inside the confines of a Boeing 737 on the way to San Francisco, three of us flight attendants were discussing a known serial killer, and two of us, 20 years apart in age, had both met him in the flesh. Had that one girl not run into her college friends on the way to Ted Bundy's car, she likely would not have lived to be able to talk about it. That is enough proof that we are never guaranteed of being safe because we are dating someone we met through work.

A: That college girl, now flight attendant, was smart to pay attention to behavior she thought to be awkward or unacceptable. Everyone has met a person who "creeps out" others, but talking oneself out of that feeling and ignoring behavioral warning signs can be deadly. Remember that no one knew about Ted Bundy at that time.

Many would say your co-worker's experience, plus the three of you meeting and discussing it was no coincidence; let's hope it served as a poignant reminder that safe-looking people may not be safe at all. Flight attendants meet many people daily, which means your safety is perhaps jeopardized more often than most. That conversation warned all three of you not to go off privately with anyone you recently meet, that a normal looking person may not be normal at all. Of course, everyone is a stranger in the beginning, but sticking to group activities and public places allows a person to see a personality unfold in various environments and situations.

Don't ignore or justify unacceptable behavior. Act on it. What happens between two co-workers privately often stays private, which could lead one of the two to suffer in silence.

Email [email protected] with all your workplace questions. She answers all emails. To find out more about Lindsey Novak and to read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.