Friday, April 3, 2009

Flight Attendant Friday

Can I say, I think I've gone a little crazy lately! I mean hey, I usually work nine days a month ok!!! I've have worked five days in the past seven........WHOA!!! THAT'S BIG, REALLY BIG!!! I worked a three day Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Came home Monday night and at 3:00 p.m. Tuesday I was back on the dirty bird headed to Dallas to start a two day on Wednesday. Hey, I had to do it. It's hard to pass up VJA pay(time and a half) which my company offers every month on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I NEVER luck into VJA......well, I did this month and boy did I pay for it. Here's a quick run down!

First downfall......3:45 wakeup call! Ugh! But that's ok......VJA!!! However, the people in the next room to me in the hotel obviously didn't have a 3:45 wakeup call because I'm tellin ya, they partied it up all night. I called three different times on them and the manager kept sending security up to have them hold it down. Yeah right. That lasted about 2 seconds after security left. They continued to party and I continued to stay awake. Y'all I did not sleep one minute all night. But that's ok.......VJA! I finally got up, got dressed, went down stairs to catch the van over to the airport. When I get downstairs to check out of the hotel, the manager on duty says, "good morning, how are you". Can I say, WRONG QUESTION! To which I reply, "not too good". Then he realizes.....OOPS, WRONG QUESTION! He apoligizes and refunds my money. Ok, I'm gonna survive this, after all it just a two day! VJA!!


I get to the airport, go to the lounge check in for my trip and one of our Supervisors walks over to me and says, "hey Becky, I'm going with you girls this morning and I'll be doing a check ride on you". To which I am thinking, oh great! But it's a quick one hour flight to Houston, I can do this after all it's VJA!!! (We get check rides once a year by a supervisor, they ride along with us and make sure we basically know our job and can perform our duties correctly) By the way I did great!




We push back from Dallas at 6:15, it's still dark outside, I'm all buckled in my jumpseat and my supervisor is sitting on the back row. It's a normal take off, the cabin is nice and dark and I have my eyes closed. No big deal. After we reach 10,000 feet, I get up and start setting up for juice and coffee when my (A) flight attendant comes back and asks me if I noticed the seat belt signs blinking on take off and I reply "no, I had my eyes closed". She goes back up front and I continue to set up for service. After setting up, I step into the aft lavatory and as I'm doing my business the lav lights start blinking on and off......now that was freaky, I actually felt like I was under a strobe light and I needed to break out into a disco dance. As I step out of the lav, both of my fellow workers are standing there and I tell them the lav lights were blinking and my (A) says, yup, we're having problems and we are turning around and heading back to Dallas with a broken plane. Oh, ok, whatever. Long story short we land back into Dallas 47 minutes after leaving Dallas. We change planes and continue our day and after all that we end up in Lubbock 20 minutes early!!!


Yesterday morning we leave Lubbock and head back to Dallas and then on to Houston. My (C) flight attendant and I were standing in the back galley getting our second trays ready to take out into the cabin when we both experienced a strange sensation. It was like pressure really pushing our bodies downward. I could tell by the expression on her face she had expericenced it too! We are both like that was weird and she says, "ya know there are suppose to be some strong wind shears"........and the next thing I know clear air turbulence hits and I'm thrown on the floor and she is tossed across the cabin. As soon as I hit the floor I start scooting backwards into the cabin part of the plane where I hang on for dear life to the armrest on the last row of seats. Thank goodness one of our employees was sitting in that seat and she has both hands on my shoulders keeping me on the floor. It last about 8 - 10 minutes and after it was over I crawl to the jump seat and sit down with my (C), where she is sitting and wondering how she knicked her finger. We are both fine, I'm a little sore today, but hey its was for VJA!!!



I will have to say the best part of my trip was yesterday. Lori front row, right and her friends were celebrating her 50th birthday and they were headed to New York to have some birthday fun. We gave her a bottle of champagne and I sang "Happy Birthday" to her. They were going to the "Today's Show" and looky who I saw this morning on TV.........



Lori and the girls!


Please bear with me while I get on my soapbox for a minute. If you are flying.......please, please stay seated with your seatbelt fastened at all times, especially if the fasten seatbelt sign is on. No matter how turbulent it is, if you are seated you will be fine. If you are not seated you can be seriously injured or even killed. It's no laughing matter. Y'all I see people EVERYDAY get up and bring their children to the lavatory , when the seatbelt sign is on and the captain has asked US to be seated. We asked them to please return to their seats and we tell them over and over you could get hurt. It kills me when they say, "but little Bobby has to go to the bathroom, I don't want him to wet his pants". Well parents, I'd rather have little Bobby wet his pants, than to have to see a parent carry an injuried or even worse, a dead child off an airplane.
TURBULENCE CAN KILL!!!!
Until next week.......stay safe in your travels!

14 comments:

Jacquie said...

You've had quite a week!!! And that turbulence would have sent me right into retirement!! So glad your supervisor check went well. I hope you have a much calmer week this week!

(I miss you!!)

Unknown said...

I am so glad you were not hurt, that kind of stuff is scary for everyone even people who love to fly. Hope you able to get some rest this weekend!

Faith said...

Shew! I am worn out just reading about your hectic schedule! That is crazy! So glad you're doing well and hope you enjoy some down time this weekend!

Kelley said...

You have been through it this week! Whoa. I hope you get to rest for a while. Have an awesome weekend!

Anonymous said...

My week seems kinda dull now!
So happy you were not seriously hurt Becky. Wow - what a whirlwind week. What will you do with that extra pay????

Susie said...

Whooo, what a drama filled post! Glad you made it thru all of it safely!

MiMi said...

I'm exhausted just reading about your week! Hope you have a great weekend of rest and relaxation, and a much calmer week next week.

Nancy Rosalina said...

Wow Becky...I am wore out after reading about your week! Bless your heart! Get some rest this weekend! nancy

Anonymous said...

Oh poor poor Becky! What a time you had! That's sounded awfully scary about your flopping all around on the cabin's floor! Oh, my goodness, hope I never experience what you went through and pray I never do!
Oh, we just flew Southwest to see our daughter who lives in the Seatlle, Wa. area. We flew from Houston Hobby and even though it was a long flight, it was a very good one. We do love Southwest!
Take care, Dear One, and I hope you're getting over your soreness.
Be a sweetie,

Shelia ;)

His Doorkeeper said...

Becky, you deserve a rest....what a week! I would be so happy to have my feet on the ground!

Have a wonderful THIS week!

Teresa @ Grammy Girlfriend said...

What a week....I would love your job.
I love your blog.

Don't forget to stop by my blog again. I am going to have a "card box" giveaway every month. This drawing will be the last day of April.

Every comment you leave throughout the month will enter your name in the drawing, so if you visit several times and leave several comments, you will have a better chance to win. This NEW blogger was so touched by all the comments I got on the Blog Party, that I decided to make this a monthly GIFT...
Also, if you link to my blog telling about the monthly giveaway, you will have your name entered 10 extra times...How is that for an incentive?
I was so blown away by all the responses that I wanted to email each person personally, but TIME... just has not permitted..but I did love reading all of them..I am continuing to introduce my family members and then there will be some fun blogs coming up from Disney World in May. I am so thankful for all my new friends.

Have a great week!

Bo said...

Yikes Becky! This is one ride I'm glad I wasn't on...you handled it very, very well...I'd say!
;-) Bo

petrii said...

Wow Becky ~~ Take a breather girl!! Sit have a latte and a cookie, seriously you need it =)

Hope you have a blessed week,
Dawn

Vicki said...

Wow, what a week you had. I could never fly so much. After about 2 hrs on the plane, I start to get real antsy! I don't really like to fly anyway so being on there too long is not a good thing for me! I love baseball, but I hate that I miss other things during the season. I wish competitive was like rec ball, playing during the week with weekends off. But it is so much fun to watch him play.
Hope you have a better week flying this week....go someplace warm, it's gotten cold here again.
Take care,
Vicki