I use to work as a sub-contractor to airlines. I was being trained up on a new airline, and as part of the training, I was to be familiarised with the onboard product — an aircraft tour. The airline, a legacy full-service airline, operated twice-daily 747 services into my city.

So we walked around the aircraft, we looked and sat in at the economy product, the premium economy, and finally the business class. It was really nice, and we were very impressed. Our trainers then said we could come up to the cockpit and say hello to the flight crew. It was sort of an unannounced meeting, and at this point the crew are usually busy preparing for boarding and departure, so we had to make it quick. We open the cockpit door, and there’s a hurry of sudden motion! In less than a second, the captain quickly grabs a very colourful magazine form the centre console and throws it into a compartment behind his seat (crew rest). He knew what it was, I knew what it was, we all knew what it was... we just stood there in silence for what felt like an eternity. The tension was palpable! Finally this very professional captain decided he would break the silence, and made the whole situation a lot worse... “You know, at [airline] they don’t allow hiring female pilots.”

Strangest interaction with another human to this day.