Blog-TOWER OF BABEL

I have become quite sentimental over the last few months. I have pondered the last twenty years of corporate work. When you showed up for on interview, people told you that they were thankful that you could make it. They laughed and joked, told old stories of bizarre flights and they hired you right away. They gave you a uniform that you were not ashamed to wear, like Brooks Brothers, or Ann or Calvin Klein, you were given an expense account (not that of a supermodel) where you could actually eat and maybe wash the great food down with a few glasses of vintage red.

Crews had your best interest at heart. You got two weeks off if you got married and as long as you needed to have a baby. The carpets and interiors of the jets were new and the wood sparkled. The supplies to perform you job were unlimited, and if you got sick, they filed nothing and you still got paid. Catering was whatever the passengers and crew wanted. The crew ate what the pax ate. There was never a compartmentalized box lunch with mystery meat and polyester bread, with token shrunk plum and saran wrapped brownie from 2009. The hotels smelled good, the lobby with marble flooring and a great staff. They remembered you and what you drank, and your room number without reminding them, people acted looked better and stood taller back then. Room service was an event to witness and you could leave your shoes outside your room to be shined. The bathroom was larger than my present hotel room. There were sometime heated towel racks and hot pipes to warm up the bathroom floor. All these things required thoughts of the guest.

Now, it is suggested we live on 25-50 dollars a day. whether in Chicago or London, no dry cleaning, no movie, no snack and no love. If catering is over 50.00 per person, they do not want to pay for it. No magazines, no cell phone, not internet,  imported chocolates or bathroom amenities, no floral, no eyeshades, no linen, no fine china, no mileage, no tolls, no no no no.

Are we headed to a socialist flying position? Am I supposed to fill up on the vending machine honey bun or Oreos packet? The FBO provides popcorn, apples, cookies, creamers, coffee, tea bas. pens, and mints. If I fill up on these comp items, will I be dead by next year? Or will I live long enough to be told I do not get any Medicare or Social Security, because the government ran out of money? What a choice.

When you see that 25 year old flight attendant in the FBO, you can smile at them and know that they will never know what we had. It is sad in a way. Her life will be filled with only cut rate hotels with see thru towels with no fabric softener,  Applebee's, Ponderosa, a dirty uniform from Cintas catalog, a cell phone bill, no movie, no pillow chocolate, 40 watt bulbs, a banner across the toilet saying it has been sanitized, a broken alarm clock  and a broken attitude.

We knew what the days of Camelot were, and the memory is forever mine. I have lived at the Peninsula, The Mandarin. the Ritz, the Greenbrier Resort,The Park Lane London, The Hotel Gansevoort, they were all the bomb. I can see for miles in my memories.
 

I am afraid to ask how everyone is doing in aviation. A lot of checking in with people - is really asking how their job is. That all seems so tentative - like skating on thin ice. I like to avoid family secrets, bad news, unemployment and loss of any sort. It is getting to a point in my life, that flying can no longer define who I am and what I am about. I am really disengaging -flying, it is like taking off a wet bathing suit. When something wears me out to the point of non-recognition, I take a break from it and it is taking a break from me. I get the pink slip on Monday. Pink slip, why do they call it that? Anyone know? Should be grey slip to match the New England sky.

 

So this is what I am about without flights.

I like happy hour

I can make all family functions

I know what is in my fridge.

I keep medical appointments.

I answer the phone.

I go to Costco, not in a rush anymore.

I can remember birthdays.

I attend weddings.

I am a member of a book club.

I now know five more people in my town who are not in aviation.

I can attend sales.

I can show up for job interviews.

I can volunteer at the church and work in the food bank.

I have finished 4 books.

My front porch is swept.

My son is not a juvenile delinquent yet.

He actually wears fresh socks every day, cuz I had other suspicions.

I make my root coloring appt.

I have nail fill on time.

I do not miss it right now, but check in with me in 6 weeks.

Recently, I attended a new class offered by FlightSafety in Teterboro Airport - New Jersey as part of recurrent or initial. It was taught by Steve Bramberg and no joke, it was interesting this time. It is the cliff notes of traveling on the road. 

You do not need a weapon to protect yourself, you need a heightened awareness and the use of your hands and arms, and knowing how to disable your attacker. Something as simple as a pencil could be a weapon to deter an attacker. THE MAJOR POINTS ARE AVOID, DEFUSE, ESCAPE AND DEFEND. 

The company is called STAND TALL seminars, 516-801-0696, There are 6 vital areas to incapacitate anyone, now I have your interest! Take the class it is worth it. After the class I had a renewed sense of being able to defend myself.