Regan's Story

Regan, the flight attendant working in the back with me on this trip, told a story.

She had recently graduated from training and this is her 3rd trip.  She is 23 and this is her second airline.  She said she used to work for a much smaller carrier, where all of the flights were under 2.5 hours long.  All of the hotels that her old airline put her in were not very nice.  I prepared to hear a story about a shitty hotel (meanwhile, my mind went though examples of shitty things I'd experienced in hotels).  

Regan told me of one time where she was so tired, that as soon as she got into her crummy hotel room, she undressed, just tossed her clothes on the ground and went immediately to sleep (pretty common).  When she woke up, she had grab all of her clothes off of the floor and pack it all up very quickly to run off to her next flight.  Finally, she grabbed the last piece of clothing.  When she looked at it, she realized that what she was holding wasn't hers.

It was a pair of men's tighty whities, that had apparently been left partially hanging out from under the bed.  They had belonged to the last hotel guest. 

(note: I stole the above photo of kiddo47's artwork from here)

Beats all of my gross hotel stories by a long shot.  Bed time now.  Back to the east coast tomorrow.
Goodnight!

Coffee Suprise!

As I get ready for another 4-day, I reminisce about an experience I had on one of my first trips.

(I need to make videos for some of these.  My writing and storytelling skills just do not do justice.)

Anyway, we were about to land, and a gentleman came up to me in the back galley, told me he was thirsty and that he wanted a Coke.  I informed him that since we were about to land, the Cokes were all put away, but I'd happily get him a water.

The grown man put on a very sad face and said, "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease!  I really want a COKE.  I'm so thirsty for a COKE."

"Okay. Sure." I turn my back to the man, facing the galley.  He stands behind me and watches as I get his beverage.  (To get a plastic cup, I reach up and open one of the crates that had been stowed in preparation for landing.  As I do this, a carafe that had been inside, leaning against the door of the crate falls.)

Scalding. Hot. Coffee. All over me.

In pain and totally doused, I drop everything and look for something to clean up the mess.

As I spastically work to get the hot liquid off of myself, my clothes and the airplane, a head moves in very close beside mine. The mouth says into my ear, "My Coke?"

"Excuse me, Stewardess..."

...Is this a bullet hole?" Asked the elderly woman in a cheery tone as I made my trash run down the aisle prior to initial descent.


What first struck me was the sweetness of her voice and that "Excuse me, Stewardess..." business.  Then what struck me was "bullet hole" since we were still at least 30,000ft in the air.  I spun around and saw a cute little granny sitting in the window seat, with her (newborn?) great grandson.  She had propped him up on the tray table along with her empty Jack minis.


The woman was pointing at the bottom center of the window, where there was a tiny round hole on the outer pane of glass.  If you've flown a lot with the shade up, you may have noticed it, too.


After assuring the woman that it wasn't a bullet hole, she asked "Well, then what is it?"  I realized that I had no clue.  "That hole is to regulate the pressure between the two panes of glass."  I say with great confidence.


"Well, who put it in there?"


"The person who made the plane!" (In my most pleasant air hostess voice, with a smile that looked even dumber than I was feeling.)


In her defense, there was frozen condensation on the window radiating from the hole that did kind of give it a bullet-hole-esque appearance.  Well, actually, I'm pretty sure she was just wasted.  In our defense, we wouldn't fly a plane with a bullet hole in the window.

I'm a new stewardess and this is one of the things I love about my new job.  There's always something new to feel stupid about, and then hopefully learn from.  I found out from a pilot that hole in the window is actually to regulate the amount of moisture between the glass. (Not air pressure.  Oh well.)


There's a joke about "holes" in here somewhere...


P.S.  Happy birthday to me... Tomorrow's post will be about birthday freebies!!