headsets and layovers

the thing about headsets:
i had my first complaint made against me this past trip. i am very sad. the guest had asked me for headphones like half of them do so i replied with the answer that is true and honest. "i'm sorry, headphones are for sale at the gate and we do not have any available onboard the aircraft." to which he replied something like " well the Other flight attendants said they would look to see if they had any and i saw some up in first class."
well.. what do i say to that? oh ok i'll run up to first class and steal a pair from someone who paid twice as much as you to sit up there and get everything for free? i dont think so. so i politely replied with something like this " in first class they get the headphones complimentary. and we dont carry extra onboard because we have no way to sell them, i know we have none because i have already checked for other passengers. i paused to see if he had anything else to say, then when he didnt, i apologized again and turned to make sure the rest of the cabin was secure and answer the same questions about headphones and blankets and pillows. i didnt give it any more thought because, and if youre a fa you know, we have to tell so many people about headphones and other items on the plane that it becomes a routine. but this gentleman was MAD at me. and throughout the entire flight i had no clue. part way through the flight he came up to the other main cabin fa and told her that i was mean to him and that i didnt give him headphones that i said i cant help you and walked away. the sad part about this is that he didnt tell me that he was upset, and she didnt either. so i couldnt placate him or turn his frown upside down because no one let me know that there was an angry man onboard! as we landed and he left, the guest said out loud while passing my lead and my captain "tell stephanie thanks for nothing." which really hurt my feelings. my lead had no idea what was going on and neither did i, my capt said the guy was just being a jerk and told me not to worry about it. and it took an entire crew to come together and figure out who he was and why he was so mad at me. turns out during the flight someone in first class gave up his headphones for one reason or another so my lead gave them to the guest who had asked all of us for headphones. this probably made me look like i just didnt want to give him what he wanted. which is why he would be mad at me. it isnt the case though, i dont have the ability to conjure up whatever will make you happy, if i did i wouldnt be a flight attendant i would be a UN humanitarian worker. im still upset about it because even on my tired days i have never snapped at a guest or have been what may be construed at intentionally mean to a guest. and i have to agree with my capt that the man was being a jerk, couldnt even come up to me in the 5 hours we had in the air to discuss his feelings of neglect or anger.

let it be, just let it be

layovers:
SFO: the best authentic mexican food is Taco Luis on broadway in burlingame. its located in a little asian grocery store and is fantastic to run to and pick up a burrito to take with you on the plane.
LAX: manhattan beach is the greatest escape from the airport and frustrated passengers. i love to lay out in the sand,watch surfers, play in the waves and occasionally watch dolphins hunt along the shore. you can take the trolley from the strip of hotels roundtrip $3.
IAD: our hotel is situated just right. there is a mall that you can kill time and money in, a movie theater and pubs and restaurants, borders is located in the same parking lot, then behind the hotel is a shopping center with target, books a million, michaels and Don Pablos.

glamour revolution

i found these great images of flight attendants from the 60's and 70's. sometimes i wish i could where a mini dress and "these boots were made for walking" power boots. *sigh* alot has changed. most flight attendants i see now a days look frumpy, a bit like postal workers rather than these flirtatious young women with the world at their fingertips. Theyre jet-lagged and impatient.

sometimes i like to visualize that i AM back in the era when airplanes had bars and pianos to entertain guests. it makes me feel a bit more glamorous and puts me in a good head space before i set out in my high heels and pencil skirt. the industry needs a revolution! a fun inducing glamour revolution. all planes should have great names like our two named "jefferson airplane" and "air colbert". i want to name one "bringin' sexy back". i would love to see a plane with more space and a layout more condusive to socializing and enjoying the ride rather than the sardine cans that most airlines use. it should look like a swanky lounge.. with seatbelts! it should be like an austin powers, soul plane, luxury bus. and guests should dress for it just as if they were going to some nice lounge after work to meet up with friends and cute coworkers. Haha! these pictures are great, the one above is my plane and the one to the left is soul plane. the one below is a better layout that the entire plane should have, not just first class, im not sure which airline this is, but i'm glad someone is going in that direction!

So you've moved on?

I was excited to go camping this weekend. I would get to leave my new rapid transit life in New York and return to the mountains and river of my college years for a little spiritual retreat amongst the sage growing wild. But instead i traveled 3000 miles to be super ill and return to my life as a college student with alcohol and local drama instead of mountains and sagebrush.

even though it was nice to see everyone it really made me question how much i have changed since leaving and if i am better for it.
i felt frustrated all weekend. at myself. at my friends. at the town because there is something about it that transforms great people into people with potential. doers into talkers and planners who never actually follow through on their ideas.

it was during this weekend that it struck me; i must have grown up a little more without realizing it. i was so completely finished with this scene. with the talking and not doing. and chatting about what had happened with who. with the drinking and the smoking. i love my old college buddies dearly but i've already left them behind and grown a foot and a half of green branches and leaves.

i'm now more of who i wanted to be then. i wanted to travel so now i travel. i wanted to see and do things that for the past 4 years ive been only thinking about and now i am. i'm more decisive and proactive about what is happening in my life. i'm done with the indecisive, broke, flakey, dreamer that i was and that some of my friends still think i am.

i'm done, i'm gone, i'm already present in tomorrow.

birth the amazing balancing flight attendant

well, you've missed the begining; and i'm sorry because it was quite full of details that will probably be skipped over in this first blog, but i will try to remember the important stuff.

For the past five months or so i have moved to a new location nearly every month. i left my small college cow town in the middle of washington state to pursue a different life on the west side of the state. also this move was motivated by my mothers accident and following leg surgery. as she had limited mobility i came to help around the house while looking for a new job in Seattle.
the month i became a flight attendant in training i moved to a hotel in san francisco where i shared a two room suite with fellow classmates M.B. from L.A. and Katy from Las Vegas. During our month of training we came to rely on eachother for support against our catty, rumor spreading, and slightly insane companeros. they were amazing roommates and friends to me. we had alot of fun practicing our emergency commands, and exploring the peninsula together.
The month following graduation i moved into an apartment in Daly City, just south of San Francisco. My two roommates, whom i did not have enough time to really get to know were Luis, and Stephan. We didn't really give eachother a chance and all of us had a completely different lifestyle. what i can say about them is that you cannot easily sum up a person based on your first impression. Stephan who was friendly to me in the begining eventually filled out the stereotypical boy student with aspirations of becoming a rockstar with his emo songs about ex-girlfriends. Luis, despite his strong night club bouncer looks was really quite a delicate personality who i would like to have known better.
That month ended with the opportunity to begin flying out of JFK so i moved to two different locations that month, one place was an apartment in Chicago that i had shared the previous summer with my friend and former college-mate Kevin. The other was a room for rent in Dixhills on longisland with an interesting family hailing from Haiti. Mo, from whom i rented the furnished room was the owner of a wonderfully kept, spacious 5 bedroom mini mansion with a pool and rolling green lawn, complete with picket fence, sleek dog, and colorful flower beds. the neighborhood was quiet, populated by large houses with lush front gardens. i shared the space with her two college age nephews, one with whom i liked to watch movies and explore Dixhills and the other who made awesome beats and was moving back to maryland to pursue school. there was also Mo's sister who worked in the city, the dog who liked to steal my cheese stix when i wasnt looking, and of course Mo herself who collected beautiful paintings depicting rural life in the islands, angel faced children, and women who wrapped their hair in elaborate scarves. Her home was by far the nicest place i've ever stayed and every time i dreaded the commute where i had to take a very long train ride and $10 taxi to her house the stress of it lifted as soon as i stepped into my room for a post-flight nap or jumped into the pool to enjoy the east coast summer heat.
But remember i also lived in Chicago at the same time and this was far less relaxing. When i wasnt petting Mama kitty watching the clouds of fur waft around the room in the breeze the ceiling fan provided, i was trying to escape the apartment and its new inhabitants, who made a mess of the pristine and refurnished apartment i remembered from last summer. when i was out and about i was either riding the local buses trying to learn the routes, riding a bike, borrowed from my friend Simone, to learn the neighborhood and the way to downtown via bike lane, riding along the waterfront and swimming and soaking up the glorious chicago sunshine, or partying and hanging out with Simone, Grant and some new bikeshop friends, Dino, Nate, and Joel. We ate out, danced, rocked out to the bands playing for wickerpark fest, watched movies. Nate and Joel even tried teaching me the ropes of grandtheft auto and i admit that i royally suck because i had never actually played any video game with the exception of Wii sports.
Very shortly the commute from Chicago to Newyork caused me to miss a trip and i decided that living in chicago and working in newyork wasnt worth the money i was paying for both places. so i moved yet again to a house on longisland that i now share with my fellow flight attendants Emet, Manuela, Katie, and Megan. That is where i am staying for the next few months as our company experiments with our new satellite base. it is my new home base for my new life as Stef-a-roo, the amazing balancing flight attendant.