steven slater

So, everyone has been asking me what I think of Steven Slater.   I honestly think it is hilarious.   You know sometimes you just get fed up and take 2 brewskis, pop the slide and say F You everyone (over the PA)!!!

This being said, it was dangerous, and he really should be used to people ignoring him, and treating him like he is an unimportant nuisance, rather than a mandatory safety professional.   People ignore me a lot.  I don't care.  If I ask you to sit down because we are moving, it is because I don't want you to get hurt, and also because I am required by law to tell you to sit.   Do you think I really care if you sit?  No.   If I ask you to fasten your seat belt, it is because we are in turbulence.  I am required to check and ask you to buckle up.  If you ignore me, I do not care .(sometimes I secretly hope you fall on your ass, though)  You will be the one who hits the ceiling, as I will be sitting down with my seat belt fastened.

I think this guy is so newsworthy because who hasn't fantasized about saying F you and quitting your job??  I mean, I haven't, but besides me....  ;)

I am now working in the office. As of now I can say; I prefer operating easy bake ovens to copy machines.

Well, I am pregnant again. And what to do about work has been my number 2 stressor since I found out!

So, the opening is at EPTs. That is Emergency Procedures Training. It is at the training center. No airport security, and no bus. I mean NO BUS!!! I am still waiting on the call from the manager over there, but am soooooo excited that I may get to work over there during pregnancy!!! I have heard they are really "good" to the pregnant people over there.

April Fool's Day DFW to LAX.

20 minutes before landing into LA and we have quite a line for the back lav. Why such a line? Well some chick filled one of the lav sinks with vomit, so it was blocked off. (she never said anything, so lucky me found the big fat mess) Down to one lav with a full plane makes for a long line. Anyhow, I was sitting there reading and I sometimes try to make conversation with the people since they are there and I am there sitting between the two lavs....

I notice this woman that I am talking to has a pack of smokes in her pocket and she SMELLS SO BAD LIKE CIGS. I just think that she must smoke so much it is coming out of her pores. She goes in the bathroom and I get up and do some stuff around the galley. She comes out and walks down the aisle.

ding. ding. DING...

Gee that person is hitting their light a lot, let me go over and see what the deal is.

She tells me that she smells smoke. She is worried that we are going down (she doesn't say that I just see it in her eyes)

I tell her that it could be that woman, she smells like smoke. She informs me that there is smoke, and she smells it and it IS NOT on a person.

I go back to the lav and sure the hell enough, she smoked a marlboro in there. I know because

A. it was still smokey in there

B. I found the butte in the trash... IN THE TRASH. The moron put it in the trash with paper towels and could have set the entire plane on fire.

In case you do not know, it is illegal to smoke on an airplane. Doing so comes along with a 10,000 dollar fine. The police met her when we landed. She denied it the entire time, saying it could not be her. The reason?? She uses nicorette. The cops interviewed me and I gave them the butte and told them to check out the pack of smokes in her pocket.

I am still in shock she did that.

Just thinking about the British Airways FAs this weekend as they have their 2nd 3 day strike!

Flygirls

This is the name of the new "reality" TV show on the CW. It is about a group of VA flight attendants. Now, from what I can tell, it is not very good, nor is it very realistic. I had to watch though.

In the first 5 seconds the "sexy" fas were finding and hitting on IFBs.... What is this term you might ask??? I wondered too, as I have never heard it. Maybe I should ask Mark, if he has heard it.

In Flight Boyfriend. What?? funny.

This comment did bring a funny memory back. A memory that makes me seem kind of shallow and rude. When I used to fly with my friends (in Boston, I got to much more)... we had a little game... When men would get off of the plane we would say bye bye. Unless he was a BABE. If we thought he was good looking, we would say So Long. How fun is this game? I always say, "it's the little things" We did it for uglies, too... but I won't go into that much... I know so rude....

They are also living in a nice apartment on the beach and calling it a crashpad.
My crashpad was also on the beach. It was the only house in a marina, had no AC and you had to sleep with the windows open to stay cool. It was LOUD due to the airplanes and the clanking boats in the marina. And furniture? For the first 6 months we had 3 lawn chairs and a TV. We had some beds but no fancy vases, or sofas.

As for getting invited to celebrity events. Right. So often. I am sure those celebs want an ageing group of flight attendants at their parties. If I were to be invited, I would not even be able to stay awake, and I would have to wear my uniform...

I grew up in Texas. I was the daughter of a business executive. I was very unclear of anything related to unions.... until I joined one. As a flight attendant, in my opinion, it is extremely beneficial to be unionized. Almost all flight attendants at almost all airlines are union. This brings me around to the strike question. What do I think about it? I think that it might be an unfortunate necessity to achieve the pay and benefits due back to flight attendants.

Since it is in the news a lot lately, I have been fielding some questions about the possible strike, and what it would mean, would I strike? Would it hurt my company? and so on....

Here is the very basic information and why there could be a strike by flight attendants at my company. (as I see it)... A union and a company usually come up with a contract every few years. (the time is decided by the previous contract.) The contract defines, work rules, pay, benefits, just about everything related to my job. In 2000 our members were rewarded a fantastic contract with agreeable rules, pay, benefits, and opportunities. In 2001, we all know how 9-11 changed the world. It changed just about everything about air travel. There were substantial lay-offs and the company proposed all unions to vote on a TEMPORARY contract that would help save jobs and money. So, the members voted against the proposed contract, because it was a huge pay decrease. The company gave an ultimatum and proposed that the union send out another vote. This time, it was passed. It was a 17% decrease in pay. It also limited layover time, cut perdiem, raised number of hours worked on reserve, took away f/a meals, and much more.

Flash forward.... 2009 came (I believe that contract was up in June) and went. It is now March 2010 and for the past 23 months the company and union have been meeting and trying to come to an agreement. The company is not willing to give ANY of the pay back, and is actually trying to raise the cost of benefits, and make f/as work more. This would mean more layoffs. Including me. It is all very strange, because the membership sacrificed for the better of the company, and now would like some of the good faith promises returned. We shall see what happens.

In the news, they have been talking about a strike vote. The strike process is very long, and very much government regulated. It is planned and organized, and probably would cause a lot of damage. (IMO)

Of course, I would strike. I would never not strike. I think it is pitiful for someone to not make the sacrifice, but retain all of the benefits from the ones that did. They are called scabs.

Strange encounters of the HS kind....

On my way home from RDU on Wed night, I was sitting in a row at the back of the plane eating a first class dinner. This night, it happened to consist of Tortellini, cheesecake, and salad. I was sitting there eating it and talking to the other 2 flight attendants about Oprah, and how good/weird that day's episode had been. When out of nowhere comes a guy. He comes over and "joins" in our conversation about Oprah. He then looks at my meal and says, "yum, where can I get that." I just stared at him, and the other f/a told him we were out. So, he proceeds to pick the knife up off of my tray, dip into my tortellini, and EATS IT. WTH??? All three of us f/as just stared at him. Then he tells us that his mom is a flight attendant and she lives in Arlington. This is where it gets even weirder..

Of course, I ask him if he grew up in Arlington because, you know, I did... Yes, he did, and yes, he went to AHS. And wouldn't you know it... he graduated in 1995. (same as me)... So he tells me his name, and Introduce myself. ( I have never seen this person in my life.) He then tells me that he played football, and says, "Seriously you do not know me, I was the... (position)." In my head, "no dude, and you are getting slightly annoying"....
He then lists off all his friends, and knows NONE of mine. whatever.
Again, he is aghast that I do not know him, again tells me his position. I tell him (his position) did not get much glory in HS football. Then it CLICKS. I do know his name.

So, I remember how I know his name, and it is NOT from HS. He went out on a couple of dates with a friend of mine in Austin, and she called and made me look him up in the yearbook, and said he was a real weird dude! I lay it out for him, and tell him that I do in fact recognize his name, and it is b/c he dated my friend.... He had a million questions and BS things to talk about at this point. And he asked me if she was overweight.... NO, she is a marathoner and has a PERFECT body.... My stomach is starting to hurt at this point, and it is NOT from the meal...

Finally, I get up, go to first class, put myself in the lav until this DB would just go sit down.. It was all really weird.

I found a bottle of Oxycodone... on the plane. I will not lie. I almost kept it. Of course I sent it back to the man in major pain (or addict)...
Then I found a dollar in the van. I did keep that. Sort of, I gave it to the driver for his tip!!
I did lose my diamond tennis bracelet. By diamond, I mean CZ...
What goes around comes around.

PAs

Making PAs is just part of my job. Sometimes, of course, I get tongue twisted. Examples...

1. Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and once again welcome aboard flight 123 from DFW to XNA. Your flight crew for this flight is Capitan Dick Vagin.... uh, Dick Vaganan, he is assisted by..... blah blah...

Another highlight of the job; when people hook up on the plane. No, I do not mean physically hook up. I mean two strangers that hit it off. I LOVE when that happens. Really, it is a great way to meet people. Once I tried (unsuccessfully) to hook a guy that I sat next to up with a friend.

I might hate hotels, but I LOVE celebrities. I do not know why, but when there is one on the plane I get sooo excited! Some are nice, some are not nice, almost all are tiny. The only big ones are the athletes. The nicest celeb I have ever had onboard, was Shelly Long, she was soo nice and real. My favorite was probably Jeff Probst, and that is because I am a die hard Survivor fan. The most beautiful, was Jessica Biel. She looked exactly like she does on TV. As a matter of fact, I did not know how I knew her at first and asked her if she went to AHS.... lame, I know... Although Kieth Urban was also very good looking. I never thought so before I saw him. He was also very nice.
The least attractive, and I mean this in the nicest way, was Juliette Lewis. She was nice, though, and probably only unattractive b/c she did not try to look attractive. She was slightly unusual and in coach.
The most risque I have seen was Quincy Jones, who was making out with a young girl. Probably early 20s....
The worst is a tie. Michael Johnson (gold shoe, gold medal Olympic runner) or Tony Dorsette. These two were both so rude and so not heroic. A little boy tried to get the olympians autograph and he said no. Rudely....
Sometimes I do not know who they are. I had some sports guy, Bob Costas, on one time and we were talking and he was telling me how he has two houses.... I start telling him how I had two houses and blah blah... (I was based in STL, so I had a crashpad.... hardly the same thing)... I was kinda embarrassed when I found out who he was... He was really short... also VERY nice...
Like I said, they are almost always tiny people....

I hate staying in hotels. Why? because someone random, that was not me slept in the bed the night before. They showered in the shower, just one day before. They left their stray hair somewhere in that room. gross. Here are a list of my faves and least favorites.

Crown Plaza. I hate these. The only thing I hate more are Holiday Inns. I hold a special dislike for the CP for a personal reason, but as a whole I am not a fan.

Westin. LOVE it. The Heavenly Bed, is just that HEAVENLY. And, they have bath and body works lotion. score!!

Hilton and Marriott and Sheraton are usually good, clean, and comfortable.

I love the Hilton Garden Inn. Do you know why? because they have microwaves. And fridges. It certainly is the little things.