Archive - ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WORLD

strike???? which strike?? did you say STRIKE???

by strinella @ 30/10/07 – 23:20:43

O MY GOD.
STRIKE: DEFINITION: lack of working forces
RESULT: the few working forces get VERY ANGRY at the non working forces....!!!

I mean... hellooooo??? what the hell is going on? If I didn't die in the past few days, I never will. I mean, the chaos. And I used to think that the invisible fog was an issue.. No way. far far worse.

Let me tell you about it. Most of the flights get cancelled. On a telex paper it sounds ok. On a Q30 it looks ok. Even on the VAD it seems manageble... but when you get a queue along the terminal for fkng 5 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!! non -stop, you just know that something is going very very wrong. Poor pax, and poor us.

It was unreal. Although we looked after all of them, it was just unreal. We gave hotels, meals, coffee vouchers, rebooking on OAL (at some points we were so desperate that I almost rebooked on blacklisted OAL!!), taxis, maybelline lipstick, some tissues etc etc. Everything, except sex (amazingly, not even 1 gorgeous pax in 5 days-getting pissed off already).

I dunno how i survived. I am sick tired and did even a 13 hours shift yesterday. need a gin. and a tonic. an one of those dominos'late shift in wem!!!
miss u!!
I

STEF ROSTER - U CAN SEE IF I AM WORKING OR NOT!!

by strinella @ 16/10/07 – 21:00:18

test - this is my roster
bearing in mind: E means 5 to 14 and L means 12h00 to 21..

AN AVERAGE DAY

by strinella @ 16/10/07 – 20:57:45

Today was an average early shift at the airport...

a few people had to pay for their huuuge amount of excess luggage (fake tits included in the allowance)
~~a few~~ a lot of people missed their flight (and I thought I was the only sausage on earth to do that...)
a few people came to change their reservation (can they just call the call centre???!!!??) - that means for me thousands of FQP-FQD-FQQ on the spot. It's like doing press ups, but worse

I didn't see Mr Blue Eyes, and gorgeous people were probably banned from the airport due to crash on the tarmak... Apparently both flight captains got out of their cockpits and started a fight. Unreal, but fresh!

Tomb Raider and the Enchanted terminal

by strinella @ 14/10/07 – 17:55:36

Finally the weekend and some rest: after a week of shadowing the energy level is going down and need some time off: gym, sleep, food shopping and all the other thousands boring chores to be done on a typical day off (feet nails cutting included)..

I must say that so far so good. I don't have my uniform (yet) but the black tailleur is still keeping it corporate, donc ça va. Or actually, not quite (see below).

i had my first shouting passenger yesterday, who was upset because she booked online on idonthaveaclueabouttravelling.com and claimed she pre-selected some fanstastic seats on one of our longhaul flights... Well, she was upset because at the check-in she got different seats, not quite as good apparently, so she was claiming a free UPGRADE: do I look like Santa Clause by any chance?? Ok, I understand I am not wearing the blue marine uniform yet, but i don't have a red and white hat on me head, have I???
I told her that I had changed her seat: to find them, she had to take the emergency door and turn right... ooops

As my mum used to say when I was growing up "It's much harder to say no than to say yes..." mum, you were so damn right!

Forgot to mention: the existance of Mr BLUE EYES. He's gorgeous and at the same time full of himself. Apparently quite young and brand new, this fellow chap walks up and down the airport smiling randomly and thinking 'I am so friggin HOT'. He doesn't do any work, he's there just to improve the image of the airline that he represents (he's quite good at it actually)and maybe save it from bankrupcy... who knows? He sayd 'goodmorning' once, and I am not sure if he has an accent yet. I will find out and post ASAP. More details to follow.

Secret doors: One thing that really fascinates me it's the existance of millions of back secret doors in airports... doors that take you to back offices and shortcuts for BAA staff only... they are soooo cool. It makes you feel as if you were Tomb Raider in the enchanted terminal (only less tits and more make up..)

DAY 6 - THE INVISIBLE FOG AT LHR

by strinella @ 11/10/07 – 16:40:01

FINALLY I HAVE SEEN IT: THE INVISIBLE FOG.

One minute, everything is fine. planes go to places and then come back..
Then, the invisible fog lands on LHR AND CDG and c'est le bordel!

passengers are scattered everywhere, there's a huge queue to use the loo, bags don't get to destination, shouting happens (in various languages and dialects), kids cry, can't find the Maybelline lipstick.

in one word: it's THE mess. havoc, caos, le bordel quoi.

HOWEVER I discovered an old trick of mine that can help to handle the situation better, and make you feel lucky and thankful: being on an early shift and just wispering 'bon courage' whilst you walk home in the sun...

And they lived happily ever after
the end

DAY 4 - the blondie aka singing in the rain...

by strinella @ 09/10/07 – 15:51:04

... my first early shift. dreaded so much that I didn't even need an alarm to wake up this morning... at bloody 3h20 AM!!!!!!!!!

I was well prepared: clothes lined out, bits and bobs ready to go. Car just waiting outside. Found my way, the airport, the staff car park, the shuttle bus to the terminal: just fine.
i even had time for a Cost..y coffee and everything. a treat.

Did the job and then it's time to go home. Like a good girl, I don't have my umbrella-ella and I walk to the shuttle bus. Everything seemed to be just ok, and almost proud of my first early shift, when I get off the shuttle bus and suddenly realize............. I am in the fucking wrong staff car park!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! aaaaaaaaaaaaah Got soaked wet, obviuosly, took me ages to find my car, obviously, so what was supposed to be a just wonderful and well organized day at work turned up to be a SHOWER SOAKING WET NIGHTMARE ...
well...

Oh yes! Forgot to say: I have my second piece of the uniform: a skirt!!!
The first piece was the airline badge, which is supposed to be glued to your right tit (or was it left??) and now I have a skirt.. J

DAY 3 - a normal late shift

by strinella @ 06/10/07 – 22:39:36

What i've learnt today:

1- the funniest thing at the counter is when you have a pax in front of you and his/her bag is on the floor. One minute is there, talking to you. Next he has disappeared completely (amazing). Gone, I swear, completely. (in fact he is just getting something from his/her bag). Next, you look up and, hello hello, there he is again. Fantastic! I will call it the PAX magic trick.

2- I need to be careful when re-printing the pax boarding pass!!! I almost gave Mr Yellow the boarding pass for Mr Red on a completely different flight, at a different time, on a different seat. Ouch. The people at the boarding gate wouldn't be very happy. Bad girl. bad bad girl.

3- People are ever so funny!!!!!!!! This guy right, arrives at the airport well in advance for his flight. He comes to us, chit chat, he goes off, prints his boarding pass, goes through security -so far so good- and then............. unbelievable! he misses his flight!! Hellooooo!!! ET phone home!!!! what are you thinking??? therefore, a couple of hours later, the same unfortunate fellow traveller, he's at the counter again, and has to pay a huuuuuuuuuge amount of money to take the next flight!!!!!! I mean, that's just mental. or, better even, welcome to lalaland.

4- Maybelline 16 hours long lipstick rocks!! Only downside: You need some sand paper to take it off in the evening.

5- I will need some more training (fact)... therefore, I should soon be off to another exotic destination: the chester of MAN... Manchester, for some serious dangerous goods training, where I will learn all about the transportation of dangerous item, such as: mother in laws (how to force the fiab on their booking), infants (how to prevent those types of dangers) and, of course, the above mentionned Maybelline lipstick (being a liquid - security guys be aware).

Bon, voilà