This is what I need right now. A Trip to the beach, a getaway, just a day or a week of relaxation.
It's been one hell of a week and "hell" is an understatement at work. The hailstorm in Denver on Wednesday damaged 18 of our planes in our hub which resulted to a lot of cancellations - of course that includes our station. I went to work unaware until I saw my co-workers work on a list. I was like, was there a cancellation during the morning flight? Then bam! I was told that our flight for the afternoon is the one that's cancelled and they were told 15 minutes before I clocked in. I knew it will be really messy that afternoon and all I wanted was go home and just curl up into a ball. It was my first time to deal with a cancellation and I am very aware how messy it can be. Our line was so long, it was like the day is not going to end for us. We normally deal with lines from 2-4pm, but yesterday's line? Until 7pm oh yeah! I was a bit lucky 'coz I only had one passenger who was upset that he wanted to eat me alive. Good thing his wife was around so he walked out and had his wife deal with me. He was too upset to even talk to me. Uh, I had no power over weather. The rest of the passengers were pretty cool and they understood that we have no control over what's going on. We had 18 freakin planes that are out of service and it's not like we can just get another plane and have it fly to another city. 30 cancellations (that I know of) and wow, it wasn't a fun day. Rebooking passengers was the hardest, especially when most of the flights with other airlines are booked and even some are overbooked. I was able to clock out at midnight and I didn't have the strength even pick up a 10am shift the next day. All I knew was that I need to go home and get some rest. I wasn't looking forward to another day at work. It was just too much. I admire my other co workers who just left like nothing happened and they have been with the industry for years. Wow, how can they take so much stress? I was about to give up. I was really down.
So today I prayed before I went to work. I wasn't really looking forward to drive to work and face passengers again, but I had to. I was hoping that our flight isn't canceled and not delayed for so long. God is indeed good 'coz even if the plane was delayed for an hour, it still operated and no cancellation in the afternoon. It wasn't as bad as yesterday and I only had a 4-hour overtime to fix bag issues. Tomorrow's another story though and I don't even want to think about it.
I have realized that no job is easy and this, by far, is the hardest job I've had and the most stressful too. If red is the highest stress level, mine is on super red now. It's just dealing with people and things beyond your control at the same time that makes everything a hot mess. It's physically, mentally, and emotionally draining and I just don't know how some can put up with such for years. And when nature strikes, chaos is in place.
A passenger asked me yesterday, "with all these things going on right now, are you thinking of switching careers anytime soon?" I gave him a politically correct answer, but the truth at the back of my mind is nothing close to being politically correct.
I seriously need a vacation and ....
Comments