Waitress In The Sky
"...it'll take you a couple of vodka-n-tonics to get you on your feet again..."
redhochipe called me yesterday afternoon and said, "Hey are you stuck in Chicago? You gonna make it home?" He and themonkeybear had dropped by JJ's for Happy Hour and kiwi59 was to show up shortly after showing recent returnee leatherwolf1970 a house. They just saw on the news that Chicago was getting a bunch of snow ("another spring blizzard!!!") and worried that i would be stranded at O'Hare. Fortunately, i guess i hit it just right. After Wednesday's 3 inches of slush had sloshed away with some rain, there were more flurries Thursday morning. However, by the time i got to the airport, it was pretty clear and dry. Surprisingly, the plane pulled up a mere 10 minutes late. American just changed their schedule, so i'm not sure where this one was coming from...the old one used to come from Newark. i had gotten upgraded to First somehow, but who was i to question it? They busted their butts to get everybody on-board and they weren't able to do any pre-flight cocktails. Once we were up in the air, our overly friendly stewardess made up for it. i had eaten some Mickey-D's on the concourse and decided to have a vodka & tonic instead of a beer. Now, i'm used to only getting the one drink since the window for cabin service is pretty tight on a 45-minute flight. So when i saw her getting someone else a refill, i downed mine and had a nice, empty glass when she came by.
Dang, she was cheerful. Which leads me to wonder, are the first class flight attendants always that much more cheerful then the ones back in steerage? Of course, they only have about 12 or so folks to take care of as opposed to the unwashed masses out back. i wonder if they take turns or if it's a matter of seniority? Who are the bigger assholes? The economy hicks or the first class snobs?
As the pilot announced that it was time to get ready for the decent into St. Louis, she came by and asked if i'd like another. Hmm...three cocktails in less than 45 minutes? SURE!! And i was still clutching my cocktail glass (and it was glass, by the way) as we taxied in.
"You gonna make it home?" As it turned out, i was pulling into the parking lot as he asked. i'm not sure how bad things got in my wake, but i guess my travel karma kicked in or i just got lucky. So i had a couple of cocktails and Matt and Shaun and Jim's two hubbies all showed up. Matt's knee was killing him, so he only played two rounds of darts before bailing. His operation is one week from today and i'm actually taking my first vacation in two years to take care of him. We'll see if i can stay offline for that long... ha ha.