Time Served

Dear Shawn,

There are times when, even after a twelve-plus hour duty day at work, when we still want to hang out and have a few drinks when we get to our layover hotel. This is especially true when working with people who all really get along, as does the crew I’m currently a part of. Yes, we were beat and tired, but who wants to end a day like that? Let's have a drink and some fun!

To say that our day was long by only talking about its length is an injustice. The day began in Houston, where we pushed back from the gate, taxied out, paused, heard from our pilots of an engine issue, and then returned to the gate for what fortunately turned out to be a fairly quick fix. Amazingly, however, we wound up landing in LAX only a few minutes behind schedule. The pilots really wanted to get home!

Once in Los Angeles, we had a wheel chair passenger in the last row of economy, so it took a while for the assistants to arrive and then be able to board the aircraft with the aisle chair to assist the passenger. In the mean time, they decided to cater the plane from the rear, so immediately following the wheel chair passenger were two caterers, each with two carts. Of course, my bag storage location was in the overhead bins in the center of the cabin, and I couldn’t get to them until the passengers were all off of the plane. By the time I could get to them, I was now behind the caterers.

This was problematic for me to get off of the plane, because now, to put the four carts they brought with them into the spaces, they had to remove the carts currently in the way. So now I had five carts and two workers blocking me. I kept telling them that I had another flight to get to, that we were delayed and I was late for boarding my next flight. I had to use what my best friend calls my stadium voice to really get their attention, “Hi, I’m sorry, but listen, I HAVE to get off of this plane or my next flight is going to be delayed because you are blocking the aisle.” They heard me, and finally moved things out of my way. My two flying partners were ahead of me in the terminal by at least the length of a football field.

Leaving for San Francisco, doing my pre-departure service in first class, two passengers asked me what drinks I had to offer. This always has me thinking, ‘really? You have no idea what we have to drink? How did you get to be in first class if you don’t know what we have to drink?’ It’s always a good thing that inside voice stays inside! Oh, how I love to run the beers that we carry. How fun it must be to watch me look at the ceiling, as if the menu was up there, as I try to recall them all. I didn't know I was going to be tested today!

Finally, after our three hour sit in San Francisco, we were on our bumpy flight to Medford, where the bar closed five minutes prior to our arrival. No worries, we were still able to obtain some drinks and have a little debriefing in the hotel room. It was fun to unwind, tell stories, give toasts, and vent our frustrations. I love working with Richard, he’s like a mini me. He’s small framed, for one, but he and I share many of the same work practices and know of some of the same tips for making work easier. We worked very well together.

Today, I awoke not with what I would exactly call a hangover, but my body certainly knew, without a doubt, that I had subjected it to a long night imbibed with strong drinks. I didn’t hear from the other two, so I ventured out to get Chinese food, which is surprisingly good for such a small town in Oregon. It was nice to have some quiet time alone, after a day being surrounded by so many people. It was also fun listening to the man at the table across from me ramble on to his work buddies about his time running from having to spend ten days in jail due to drugs, and how ten years later he turned himself in, but since there were no issues in that time, the judge sent him home with time served. Did you know that if the police don't actually see you get out of the car they have been chasing, that they can't pin it on you? The things you learn over coconut shrimp!