Tuesday, October 27, 2009

People Say the Darndest Things . . .

I got the Noon to 6PM shift on the couch at DIA on Sunday, and got to experience some lovely winter driving conditions on the way home. My usual 1 hour 40 minute commute turned into 2 1/2 hours as I enjoyed slippin' and slidin' my way back to Colorado Springs.

At 5:30AM on Monday, my phone rang and rang - I had no clue what was singing to me (it was playing "They're coming to take me away, ha ha, they're coming to take me away, ho ho, he he, ha ha, to the funny farm, where life is beautiful all the time..."). It was my cell phone! But before I could get my act together, our home phone rang waking Greg up. Oops. Anyway, it was crew scheduling assigning me to yet another trip.

This new trip (a Dallas turn and a LaGuardia overnight) brought me up to 91 hours for the month...and anything over 82 hours is overtime! Woo hoo! I'm not sure why I'm being loaded with hours while there are some co-workers who have worked only 52 hours. Go figure.

My trips went well, the crews were very nice, but the LGA overnight was entirely TOO SHORT! I would have loved to have seen Jen, but it was pretty much impossible when I was on the ground only 9 hours, and I needed to sleep for at least 7 of those hours!

But I did shake my head in amazement at some of the comments I received from passengers this morning.

One in particular still sticks in my mind...I had finished serving beverages and taking the food cart through the entire cabin. As I was walking through doing the second beverage service, passenger 3E asked me if I was ever going to offer her a sandwich. I told her that I had already brought the food cart through the cabin, and that she did not say she wanted anything. Then she said to me "You didn't ask me! You served the people next to me, but you didn't ask me!" Again, as it happens every once in awhile, I was dumbfounded and didn't really know what to say. So I apologized and told her that I was sorry, but there were not any sandwiches left. Then I moved on to bigger and better things. I suppose she expected me to ask every single person whether they wanted food, just the way that I offer beverages. But I have found that all I need to do is make the announcement that I'm coming through the cabin, what I have on the cart, and to have their credit cards ready. Then as I walk through the cabin, those interested will flag me down, usually waving their credit card.

There was one other passenger who I wanted to slap upside the head... We left LGA a bit late (which is very usual for LGA, but especially so today because it was rainy). The closer we got to Denver, we realized that the passengers connecting to the Salt Lake City flight needed to be let off the aircraft first. I made an announcement and the captain made an announcement. There were only 3 people going to SLC, so it should have been very straightforward. But this large group of people from the back came rushing to the front of the aircraft, led by a little old lady. I asked her if she was going on to SLC and she said no. She did tell me that she had a bus to catch, though, and must be on her way. Shame on her! I told her that 49 other people on the aircraft had planes to catch, and that we were trying to help the SLC passengers get to their flight. Tsk tsk.

But what I guess I forgot was that for those two little old ladies, it was "all about THEM." Fortunately, for every little old lady with a bad attitude, there are 20 other passengers who are as sweet and kind as can be.

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