Monday, April 28, 2008

People never cease to amuse/amaze me

My mood is definitely on the up and up since yesterday. I think if I could spend at least one overnight every week in a place like Wilmington, I would like my job a lot more. I run when I'm here because I feel like I'm wasting this beautiful place if I don't. It was nice today cause it's overcast, cool and windy so even when I was getting hot and tired the breeze would cool me down. The river is dark and choppy and high, but I still like it.

Work was okay today. I got up too early and was really tired. Our day started off with a unhealthy plane that had to go back to the plane hospital. This immediately put our entire day over an hour behind. Add ridiculous air traffic and long taxi lines to that and you've got a lot of happy people. Thankfully no one was really terrible though.

There are several things I've noticed lately that either amuse or annoy me about people (depending on the day). Some people like to watch you when you're pouring their drink. Some watch like they've never seen a drink poured before. That amuses me. Others watch like they're waiting for you to screw up. That annoys me. Sometimes I'm pouring and it makes me laugh to realize that at least four pairs of eyes are glued to my hands. Watching soda fizz is just a little more exciting than watching paint dry. Then they say something like "you got that just right" when it fizzes just to the top but never over. Then I remind them I'm a professional. You pour several thousand of these and you'll get it right every time too :-P. I also get amused by the drinks people ask me for. It seems they think we're a flying convenience store. Grape juice, pineapple juice, sweet tea, root bear, diet Dr. Pepper... Sure, sure... Let me get it out of my own private stash. Or when the wife asks for Diet COKE and the husband says "do you have Pepsi in there?" Maybe I'm overthinking this, but Coke and Pepsi are huge competitors. You can't carry both on one tiny plane. Maybe this is the jerk in me coming out.

When people are late they do silly things as well. Today on the way back into Atlanta from Gulfport a couple stopped me as I was going through the aisle and showed me their itinerary. They were concerned that they were going to have to rush to their next flight, which left at 1225. I looked at my watch and it was 1225 and we were still cruising. I pointed out the current time, of 1225, and they still said "well do you think we'll make it?" Yeah... no problem. Then when we're taxiing in they always insist on reaching up and opening the overhead bins and getting their stuff out while still seated. I'm like, you're halfway back in the plane. By the time everyone gets out of your way you could've gotten your bag out 15 times... People, people, people.

I had another first time flyer today. She was about my age and was traveling with three other adults. She asked the man next to her several times how to buckle her seatbelt. (Enough time passed for me to walk through the cabin twice before she got it.) She buckled it backwards. And people laugh when I do the demos.

On a non-work note. Last night I had a really good time eating with some of the girls. It's funny how when most of us are down we tend to avoid our family and friends, when in reality, they're the ones who are going to make us feel better. They have a tomato and mozzarella salad at Longhorn that was really good. (Though when they first brought it out it was drowing in dressing, even though it was supposed to be "drizzled with balsamic vinegar". I tried to eat it but it was too soppy and told the girl. She was like, our manager actually fixed it wrong, but I was seeing if you minded it that way. I'll get you another... So the girl brought me the wrong salad, knowing it was wrong, and hoped I didn't care... Nice.) When we stopped in Gulfport my captain bought me some red beans and rice. It was really, really good and made me feel a lot better. I've been really fortunate to fly with generous pilots lately. I never ever expect anyone to buy my food, but sometimes they (especially captains) do. I've been fortunate to fly with captains like that a lot lately. I'm very grateful.

Now I'm going to check out these $1 black bean tacos that are supposed to be amazing here. I love Wilmington.

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