Back Home Again...

I made it through the 4-day trip unscathed (almost). Sometimes it's difficult to bond with a crew - there are so many personalities. Especially when the crew likes to stay up until 3 or 4am while hanging out at the bar! On this trip, I was SO EXHAUSTED the first night - I'm not sure why - so I didn't join the crew downstairs. On the second night, I wanted to get a good night's sleep so that I could be "fresh" to meet up with my good friend, Sheila. But I heard that the B flight attendant went out to a bar, and it was a very uncomfortable situation. What USED to be a crew hangout was now a gangsta' rap bar - he was the only white, and no one would talk to him, call a cab for him, or call the hotel van. I am very glad that I did not venture out with him! Our last night was too short of a layover to do anything - thank goodness.

But it's interesting to watch the dynamics of the team. Let's just say that I did not feel accepted by the Captain - was it because I didn't come down and party until 3am? If it was, then that's just too bad! I don't like hangovers and I could barely stay awake on the plane! I got along fine with the First Officer and the A flight attendant, too. But the B flight attendant was puzzling to me. He was a "glass is bone dry" kind of guy. Someone would make a comment about our company's recent 3Q webcast, and he would just turn the hope and promise upside down and make it into something negative. Those kind of people just drain me. But this time I actually confronted him! It turns out that he has "short-timer's syndrome" - he'll be quitting in June.

On another of my flights, I got high praises from three passengers! Two ladies sitting by a window saw what they thought to be their bags sitting on a belt loader on the ramp. They called me over, I relayed the information on to the gate agent, and supposedly the Captain went downstairs to check things out - but he didn't actually go over to the bags. That would have rested these ladies' fears. But no, he just spoke with a ramper - at no time did they see anyone take a second look at the bags. Really? How much time would that have taken? Instead, I had to calm their fears and tell them that we needed to "trust the system" and "I'm sure everything will be alright." During the flight, I gave them each a customer service card with my name and employee number. I told them that if the bags were not at the baggage carousel to be sure and give customer service my information - I'd explain what I tried to do in Denver. As they, and the woman sitting behind them, got off the plane I was thanked profusely for my attempt to calm their fears. I haven't heard anything, so I am hoping that the system worked and they were reunited with their bags!

I sometimes wonder why other flight attendants don't get these kinds of requests - or is it that they get them and they ignore them. I guess I'm pegged as someone who cares. That could be a good thing, but I realize that it could be a very disruptive thing, too. It makes me feel good to be able to figure things out, to let them know that the airline has the best intentions.

I did get to experience one of the great benefits of this job - I got to visit with a very dear friend of mine on my Atlanta layover. We have been friends since we were 9 years old in the 4th grade - that's about 46 years ago! And the last time I spent any time visiting with her was 16 years ago! Every once in awhile we'd chat via email or talk on the phone, but when we got together we just picked up where we left off! She is a true forever friend.

For December's bid, I actually voluntarily dropped back down to Reserve. Yes...I did it voluntarily. There is no way that I would be able to get Christmas off while holding a line, so I made the hard decision to be abused by Crew Scheduling for a month. Jen, James, Liza and James' Mom, Deniece, will all be coming out to Colorado for Christmas, and I wanted to be here. The line assignments came out yesterday, and sure enough, I got reserve. There were eight of us lineholders who dropped down, and I am #6 from the top. That means that I should have Christmas off, as well as the days surrounding it. I'll look at it this way - I'll have lots of time to read while sitting on that sexy black leather couch! Hopefully, I'll miss all the craziness of the month by being off on the days it'll occur. I feel strongly that this was the right move for me - I want to be with my family.