Disconnections
Oy. So, I lost my phone last Monday. I haven't been able to find it; I think it probably got lost in with the dogs' stuff when Dean's mother came to pick them up. Either that, or I left it in the Taco Bell.
Either way, I have a new phone! An uber-spiffy phone, with a camera and stuff on it. It will have Tetris and Sudoku when it actually gets turned on. Apparently, Mom had to email their service guys and have them turn it on; she says that since she sent the email on a Friday, they probably won't get to it until Monday. )-: But it's still a spiffy phone, and Daniel and I are going to get a picture of this really kickass water tower in... um... some town near here. :-D
As to Daniel, I'm back in Illinois! Finally. :-D The weather gods were against us once again. Last time, we actually had ice in Dallas, and I wound up having to catch an earlier flight. This time... well, I wasn't quite so lucky. The snow was in Chicago, and they had flights cancelled as early Wednesday as 3:00 pm. My flight was supposed to leave at 7, and I got there at 5:15, but mine was already cancelled. They put me on standby for the next flight out, at 6:40 pm, but it actually didn't leave until 7:20ish. I was number 22 out of 51 on the standby list. Obviously, didn't make that one. /-: So they rolled me over to the next flight, at 9:25, which didn't leave until about 10:30. I was up to 16 on the standby list, but that flight didn't take on any stanbys at all. So they rolled me over to the 6:00 am one on Thursday for the standby list, and actually booked me a seat on a flight at 9:30 am through Des Moines. By that point it was nearly 11, and I was planning on checking in for the day at 4, so rather than drive two hours to sleep three, I just slept on a cot with some others who were staying at the airport. It was actually kind of interesting. :-D
Six am rolled around, and that flight I was number 11 on the standby list, but they only took 2. The seven o'clock flight didn't take off until 8, but I was at number 9. At that point, I just decided to catch the 9:30 one to Des Moines, called Daniel to let him know what the actual plan was, and off we went. The flight to Des Moines was uneventful, though the guy next to me looked almost exactly like Cabana Boy did once upon a time - not unpleasant a view by any means - and we landed on time. The flight from Des Moines to Chicago went likewise, and at last, at last, seventeen hours later, I landed in Chicago.
Daniel had been up until 1 or 2 that morning waiting at the airport 'cause neither of us had a cell phone at that point and he obviously wasn't home to get the messages I'd been leaving him re: status, and I'd only pulled about 7 hours of sleep the two nights previous total, so the two of us crashed. He woke up at some point in the evening, but I slept through until around 1 in the morning. Woke up to actually spend some conscious time with him, then crashed again until around 9.
People are oh, so very stupid, and I'm oh, so very glad I don't work direct customer service any more. In Dallas, while they were rolling flights over, there was one gentleman who wanted to know what flight he was going to get. They told him they had no way of knowing, because it all depended on who made their flights and who stayed home. He insisted that her guess would be better than his, and demanded her best guess. Her expression sort of conveyed something along the lines of, "What the hell are you talking about? I'm not psychic, and with word out about the weather, people could either stay home assuming their flight will be cancelled or show up three hours early to make sure you *don't* get their spot. There is no "Best Guess" here." I was so close to stepping forward and telling her that he just wanted a time, any time, so that he could bask in the warmth of false reassurance until it came and get pissier when it passed. I didn't, but he cut in and said that he had a second flight he was taking in the morning and wanted to know if he should tell the people waiting on him that he wasn't going to be there. She said probably, yeah, and he let it drop. THEN, while waiting to pick up my luggage (which went without me on the 6:40 flight the evening before), a guy and lady were upset that in the midst of cancelled flights, their luggage had been left at a mid-stop point. Very sucky, I wholeheartedly agreed, until the lady started lecturing the woman working the counter about the fact that her security pass was backwards and they couldn't see her name. "Don't you wear a name tag so that customers can know who you are and hold you accountable for what you tell them?" Oh, my god, I closed my eyes and did my dead best to not tell the lady, "Hi! You don't know me, and I don't know her, but I guarantee you right now these people have been swamped and overloaded, either working crazy shifts to try to get caught up from last night or bringing in people who don't usually work here. The last thing you need is to have your luggage lost; the last thing she needs is to have your just anger at the situation and perhaps the airline be turned against her personally. So shut the hell up, and get the hell out of here so the rest of us can at least try to find out where our luggage is. They demanded her badge number - which seems like it might be security violation, but whatever - so she wrot eit down for them. The man said that he had no way of knowing if that was *really* her badge number, so he had her actually read it off of her badge. Note, had *her* read it off of her badge. He didn't read it or copy it, he had her read it off. 'cause if she *was* making up the number she wrote down, she certainly wouldn't dare make one up out loud. *gaspshock* Either way, he felt more reassured that way, and finally he and his lady-friend stalked off in a huff.
Anyhoo, I'm here in Illinois now, and relaxing and enjoying myself. I have a new phone, though it won't actually work until the Cingular people get it turned on. I finished Fool's Fate in the airport, and finally read through Danse Macabre. I picked up Thud! and Going Postal at the airport - perhaps a bad idea, but oh, so very soothing. *grins* I'm here through Tuesday, sooooooooooo... yeah. (-:
Either way, I have a new phone! An uber-spiffy phone, with a camera and stuff on it. It will have Tetris and Sudoku when it actually gets turned on. Apparently, Mom had to email their service guys and have them turn it on; she says that since she sent the email on a Friday, they probably won't get to it until Monday. )-: But it's still a spiffy phone, and Daniel and I are going to get a picture of this really kickass water tower in... um... some town near here. :-D
As to Daniel, I'm back in Illinois! Finally. :-D The weather gods were against us once again. Last time, we actually had ice in Dallas, and I wound up having to catch an earlier flight. This time... well, I wasn't quite so lucky. The snow was in Chicago, and they had flights cancelled as early Wednesday as 3:00 pm. My flight was supposed to leave at 7, and I got there at 5:15, but mine was already cancelled. They put me on standby for the next flight out, at 6:40 pm, but it actually didn't leave until 7:20ish. I was number 22 out of 51 on the standby list. Obviously, didn't make that one. /-: So they rolled me over to the next flight, at 9:25, which didn't leave until about 10:30. I was up to 16 on the standby list, but that flight didn't take on any stanbys at all. So they rolled me over to the 6:00 am one on Thursday for the standby list, and actually booked me a seat on a flight at 9:30 am through Des Moines. By that point it was nearly 11, and I was planning on checking in for the day at 4, so rather than drive two hours to sleep three, I just slept on a cot with some others who were staying at the airport. It was actually kind of interesting. :-D
Six am rolled around, and that flight I was number 11 on the standby list, but they only took 2. The seven o'clock flight didn't take off until 8, but I was at number 9. At that point, I just decided to catch the 9:30 one to Des Moines, called Daniel to let him know what the actual plan was, and off we went. The flight to Des Moines was uneventful, though the guy next to me looked almost exactly like Cabana Boy did once upon a time - not unpleasant a view by any means - and we landed on time. The flight from Des Moines to Chicago went likewise, and at last, at last, seventeen hours later, I landed in Chicago.
Daniel had been up until 1 or 2 that morning waiting at the airport 'cause neither of us had a cell phone at that point and he obviously wasn't home to get the messages I'd been leaving him re: status, and I'd only pulled about 7 hours of sleep the two nights previous total, so the two of us crashed. He woke up at some point in the evening, but I slept through until around 1 in the morning. Woke up to actually spend some conscious time with him, then crashed again until around 9.
People are oh, so very stupid, and I'm oh, so very glad I don't work direct customer service any more. In Dallas, while they were rolling flights over, there was one gentleman who wanted to know what flight he was going to get. They told him they had no way of knowing, because it all depended on who made their flights and who stayed home. He insisted that her guess would be better than his, and demanded her best guess. Her expression sort of conveyed something along the lines of, "What the hell are you talking about? I'm not psychic, and with word out about the weather, people could either stay home assuming their flight will be cancelled or show up three hours early to make sure you *don't* get their spot. There is no "Best Guess" here." I was so close to stepping forward and telling her that he just wanted a time, any time, so that he could bask in the warmth of false reassurance until it came and get pissier when it passed. I didn't, but he cut in and said that he had a second flight he was taking in the morning and wanted to know if he should tell the people waiting on him that he wasn't going to be there. She said probably, yeah, and he let it drop. THEN, while waiting to pick up my luggage (which went without me on the 6:40 flight the evening before), a guy and lady were upset that in the midst of cancelled flights, their luggage had been left at a mid-stop point. Very sucky, I wholeheartedly agreed, until the lady started lecturing the woman working the counter about the fact that her security pass was backwards and they couldn't see her name. "Don't you wear a name tag so that customers can know who you are and hold you accountable for what you tell them?" Oh, my god, I closed my eyes and did my dead best to not tell the lady, "Hi! You don't know me, and I don't know her, but I guarantee you right now these people have been swamped and overloaded, either working crazy shifts to try to get caught up from last night or bringing in people who don't usually work here. The last thing you need is to have your luggage lost; the last thing she needs is to have your just anger at the situation and perhaps the airline be turned against her personally. So shut the hell up, and get the hell out of here so the rest of us can at least try to find out where our luggage is. They demanded her badge number - which seems like it might be security violation, but whatever - so she wrot eit down for them. The man said that he had no way of knowing if that was *really* her badge number, so he had her actually read it off of her badge. Note, had *her* read it off of her badge. He didn't read it or copy it, he had her read it off. 'cause if she *was* making up the number she wrote down, she certainly wouldn't dare make one up out loud. *gaspshock* Either way, he felt more reassured that way, and finally he and his lady-friend stalked off in a huff.
Anyhoo, I'm here in Illinois now, and relaxing and enjoying myself. I have a new phone, though it won't actually work until the Cingular people get it turned on. I finished Fool's Fate in the airport, and finally read through Danse Macabre. I picked up Thud! and Going Postal at the airport - perhaps a bad idea, but oh, so very soothing. *grins* I'm here through Tuesday, sooooooooooo... yeah. (-: