Missed connections: The Musings of a Flight Attend
To View Oldest Post First
Click Here to view oldest post http://musingsofaflightattendant.blogspot.com/2010/06/so-much-for-introduction-like-any-good.html
then click 'Newer post' at the end of the post to work your way forward in time
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Spokane:
Little Flyers
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Boston get its own post
I wish I had more time to explore Boston We arrived in the evening and my fellow Flight attendant and I made our way from the shuttle to the subway and found ourselves in the north end. It was amazing to see steam billowing out of a man hole just like in the movies. We ate at cheers of course and then proceeded to explore he outsides of many beautiful but unfortunately closed buildings. Before making our way back to the old historic court house building to catch the next train we both agreed a bathroom break was in order. Unfortunately, we were a ways away from the Cheers (the only open building we saw for a few blocks). The golden arches were actually quite a relieving sight. We asked for the restroom location and were directed upstairs where we arrived at two locked doors. Apparently you had to insert a quarter to open it. WHAT!! I have to say that’s a new one. After waiting five minutes or so hopping someone would come out or come by, we had to move on because neither of us had any cash on us of course.
Finally, after a 5 minute walk and a 10 minuet train ride we made our way back to the station (now 20 minutes into the potty dance). It was approximately 10:00 pm when we called the hotel to request a shuttle. The front desk attendant promptly stated that it would arrive in 15 minutes. Well as you can imagine there are no restrooms in the station or anywhere around there and as I’m sure you can also imagine, based on the overall tone of this story, the shuttle did not arrive in 15 minutes. After 25 minutes came and went we decided to call again. This is the conversation that followed. Front Desk Lady: “They were just there 5 minutes ago” Me: “ahhhh….excuse me there’s no way, we have been standing outside waiting for 25 minutes now” Front Desk Lady: “trust me they we just at the airport 5 minutes ago” Me: “WHAT I told you we were at the train station!” Front Desk Lady: “oh ummm…that’s what I meant…yeah ummmm…they will be there in 15 minutes” Me: “(the dead silence of shock and disappointment) Um you had better hope so”. So after another 15 minutes of pacing and calling everyone I knew to distract me, you guessed it, still no shuttle (now a full hour into the potty dance). I called the front desk one more time and this time with a vengeance. After explaining the whole situation to the lady, the time we’ve been waiting and our desperate need to use the bathroom, she assured me they would be there were on their way and would be there in the next 10 minutes. My last response before I abruptly hung up on the woman was that if there were not there in the 10 we were going to find a cab to take us back and they could pay for the bill. When you get into extreme situations like this you discover a whole other side of yourself. Well you better believe that shuttle was there in 10 minutes, and 10 minutes exactly (now and hour and 10min into the potty dance). Our beacon of hope had arrived! Two people got in with us and we were shocked. We told them all about our experience and slipped in a few sharp questions to the driver like, “um yeah WTF dude” It didn’t even matter at this point that the people in there with us had just arrived, called, and they said they sent a shuttle right out for them, we were on our way back. Well if you think the story end there you are sorely mistaken. What should have taken 15 minutes to get to the hotel took over 35 minutes. The guys in the front that had hitched a ride with us were harassing our driver. Apparently a road was down and had been for a month our two (or so these other patrons said) and our driver got on and off the same highway 4 times instead of taking the detour! At this point Mike, as we will call him, and I were rocking backwards and forwards and making audible groans. When we got to the hotel (1 hour and 45minuets into the potty dance) it must have been a sight to see. Mike and I bolted for the door, ran to the elevator, and rode it in complete silence just waiting for the door to open to the 6th floor. It was the longest elevator ride of my life. I now have to add “being at the whim of public transportation” to the long list of flight attendant complications. Phew, that was an exhausting story to retell. My bladder hurts just thinking about it.
Oh the places you’ll go
Providence:
One of the first places I did an overnight in was Providence Rhode Island. It’s a beautiful place to fly into; everything is sooo green, and I don’t mean they that muted olive green you see in most places I mean really green; it’s the kind of green that contains far more blue than yellow and makes all other foliage look fake. To top it all of the whole area right along the coast. The weather has been perfect every time I’ve been there and the beach was amazing. I don’t like I’ve seen so many sail boats in one place in my life. It was truly magical. The East Coast accent was alive and well and the way they said “straw” was super entertaining to me. For anyone from Rhode Island or anywhere close by I have just one question for you; what’s up with clam cakes? Everyone was raving about them and don’t get me wrong they were fine but to me they just tasted like fried bread with a very faint fishy after taste. Hey if anyone can enlighten me as to why they are so amazing by all means feel free to do so.
Austin:
I can’t even imagine living in Texas it’s just too hot and humid, seriously! Every time I’ve been there isn’t been 95 degrees plus. However, I did quite enjoy historic 6th street. Every building was so amazingly restored that they all bored some resemblance to the Alamo. We took the bus downtown and got to see all the cute little neighborhoods getting into the cities as well. Apparently Austin is not a very popular place to live in the winter (not that I blame them); but, if you thought you could bear the heat or at least got really good air conditioning you could get killer rent in the summer. All along the bus route we saw advertisements for apartment complexes and rentable houses that offered free rent for the summer with a 12 month lease or 299 for a 3bedroom apartment for the first 6 months. WOW now that would be nice! I was a little disappointed when I found out that no one in Austin really has that true southern accent.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The Waiting Game
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Boot Camp
It was detailed to us that we were to be in class from roughly 8am-6pm Monday through Friday and most weekends. We were to take a something like 6 Exams, 4 competency checks, 2 emergency evacuation role plays, and of course a final. Make no mistake this underpaying job was not to be given away to just anyone; you must first pass the class with acquiring a score of 80% or higher on all your exams and although some things did come with second chances if you were to get to that point, hope of ever making it through would dwindle rapidly. Fact: 12% of the people who are hired for this position do not make it through the class. We studied everything from FAR’s (federal aviation regulations), to general aviation physics, to first aid and self defense, and of course security infractions (everything but how to push carts). There was even a whole day of training I can’t divulged for if I did we would all be in a lot of trouble. It seems every other day was an exam sometimes two a day. For the next few weeks my life consisted of getting up at 6:30am get on the shuttle bus by 7:30am class from 8am-6pm, a quick dinner, studying from 7pm-9pm, showering and a half hour of television or cell phone conversation, the it was off to bed around 10:30 just to do it all over again. We were issued a manual that was proportion to the Christian bible and Just like the religious text of any major religion we were to read it, know it, and thusly live by it.
When I first embarked on this journey I had visions of a whimsical experience with magical bonding properties that would lead to everlasting friendship and end with a feeling of belonging, almost like a child does awaiting a yearly summer camp program where they first acquire a sense of identity. What did end up transpiring was almost the reverse. The whole thing was quite stressful and I grew to question myself more than when I started. I guess I still have a while to go before I find what truly feels right for me, and what’s become even more evident is that it really is up to me to find it and create my own happiness. Now that’s not to say I didn’t find the training worth while because at least for experience sake it was in fact worth every minute of it. The people were nice but for the most part we didn’t belong to the same generation. You would be supprised by the wide age range of recruitment. I suppose if there's one things that's almost always true and any situation it's that nothing ever turns out exactly as expected. But then again isn't that what makes life interesting?
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
The LOOOONG Beginning
You see I was naive enough to think starting a career went in some sort of sequential order. Step one: interview for a job, step two: get the job, and finally step three: start working said job. Apparently, I was tragically mistaken. After I was hired they were going through a secret bankruptcy and then a merger so they continually kept pushing off my training date and I like a hopeful and semi desperate newb kept waiting. I moved home, the one thing I told myself I wouldn’t do, (love you mom and dad) and started working at the daycare next to my house for next to nothing. After the third time training was pushed back I get a call telling me that, for reasons they can not disclose, they have decided to cancel training new people. They lovingly stated that, “your offer has not been rescinded but you are not being hired at this time.” WHAT!!!! Soo after crying about it like a lost child I decided the next step was to move out and get a clue. I packed my worldly belonging in the back of my late great beloved blazer and moved to the cities. With a little help and some called in favors I got a job with a rental car company which I’m sure would like to remain nameless. Needless to say I HATED it! For seven months or so I forcibly worked over 50 hours a week selling useless coverage on rental cars in whatever the Minnesota weather wanted to throw at me. After catching H1N1 and being too depressed and stressed to enjoy the little time I had left in my day I decided I needed a big change. My next move started with a random rant about wanting to go live in Copenhagen where the happiest people on earth live (well Denmark in general but look it up its super cool).
I wanted to change every aspect of my life. I had finally, after years of planning, perfectionism, and stressing over every little thing, decided that life was way too short to be unhappy. No I did not move to Copenhagen but I did get somewhat close. I posted my profile on a great website called au pair world and with no expectations at all calmed my restless sprit with the possibilities of life overseas. Surprisingly, I did get responses. I found a wonderful family in England, a place I have always had a special affinity for, wanted me! They were wonderful and quite affluent which couldn’t hurt. We talked back and forth and after many hash out sessions I was ready to hop a plane and go. I sold my now dying car, subleased my apartment, packed all my things, and said goodbye to the world I knew. I got all the way there when I was stopped at the border with what I would later find out was a judgment call that there are no written rules for. After a traumatic experience in holding I was reluctantly sent home. It’s a long story in itself so and I don’t really want to get into the details but needless to say it sucked. So I found myself once again without direction and completely hopeless. Not a week later do I get a call from the airlines saying they would like to know if I was still interested in a job. Now this was either one of life’s cruel jokes or the long lost window to my many shut doors. After one more push back of training I was able to take the job at last and here I am…oh wait not yet I had to survive training which we will get to next. Am I boring you yet?
*I swear after the next section it’s will get far more entertaining, at least that’s the intention
So Much for an Introduction
Like any good story the first question is where to start. This is about the time some smart aleck chimes in with “why don’t you start at the beginning.” Even though this particular beginning is quite hard to find, I will try to do just that. Let’s start with a little bio shall we? I have always found bio’s the most frustrating things to write. If you write too much then you appear super self involved, too little and you’re bland and purposeless. In the end it’s almost pointless because you can never truly capture all the nuances that make up who you are and really in your everyday world that’s all that really makes you well, you is it not? Ok I admit that was a tangent, the first of many. So let just get this thing over with. Well let’s see here, I’m 23, living in the Twin Cities, and im recent college graduate. I have a bachelors in marketing and Psychology and like many graduates these days I have no clue what I want to do with it let alone what my options are in a slow economy. I enjoy reading, watching Indi films, listening to music that was created before my time and, just like every reincarnated hippie activist, searching for something meaningful that will give me a true sense of purpose. I seem to be continuously reinventing myself, often times not intentionally. Keeping an open mind and truly thinking about things without bias is something I have been working on and is something I value highly. Taking the time to appreciate and analyze life is the most important thing there is; not surprisingly this is one of the things I as well as most individually struggle with the most. All in all I am striving for something simple, Happiness plain and simple. How I stumbled into this career is something I’ll get to shortly but before I do let me give you a little summary of what to expect in future blogs:
- I plan to write about all the little musings I encounter in my daily life as a Flight attendant as well as the journey it takes me on in and outside of work
- I will do my best to update as much as I can (hopefully a few times a week at least)
- I make no attempt promises of grammatical correctness and do not plan to put much effort into it so if your one that is bothered by such things I apologize but maybe this blog is not for you. I write the way I speak and am enjoying every minute of it so please no comments about it.
- There are certain things I simply cannot divulge. Please, if you do not know me personally do not try to find out what airline I work.
- My opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinions of any company or larger body of people. Cliché I know but I just got this job and I really need to pay my bills so loosing it over something that was supposed to be fun would suck.
Well that was kind of lame let’s move on to something more entertaining shall we…..