Monday, May 30, 2016

Wings and a Big Cookie



This bitch (and many others) belong on a Greyhound.

Back when I used to wait on tables at Friday's I HATED the holidays or special occasions.
It was on these days that people would go 'one better'. 
People who were used to family dinners at Mc Donald's would go to ummm... let's say Golden Corral. People who were used to going to Golden Corral would come to Friday's. And our normal guests would be at a real restaurant somewhere else....

But back to our store; it would be a Mother's Day or Easter and we'd be filled with The Clampett's (as we'd call them).
Since everyone goes 'one better' we'd end up with unruly, over-demanding and poor tipping guests.
The biggest problem in businesses that deal with the public is that one must deal with the public.



I used to fly a lot as a kid - most of the time I would fly alone.
I used to love the trips. The flight attendants usually wore just a bit too much makeup and bit too much perfume.
Most smelled like cigarette smoke but I always thought they were very attractive and nice.

Plane service in no where near what it used to be. Long lines, poor service, unattractive workers, overly crowded cabins, ..... . 
Gone are the days of full meals and smiling workers. No one dresses to travel anymore. Manners seem to be a foreign concept to most travelers. 

I can understand the frustration felt by many passengers.
As a child at eight years old, on a flight back to California from Texas over the Christmas holidays our plane was forced to land in Denver due to bad weather. We were let off the plane and told that the rest of our flight would take place sometime the following day. 
I went to the desk and asked to use the phone to call my parents. 'Kid, the pay phones are over there', an old man in line behind me said. 'I'm only eight - I don't have any money.', I replied. The woman behind the desk dialed my parent's number and let them know that I was alright and that our flight was being delayed. I had spent most of my traveling money in the airport in Houston at the arcade. (Never leave an eight year old alone at the airport with $100, a few hours to waste because of weather delays and an arcade and expect them to have much money left over by the time the flight leaves.) 

By this time the flight attendants were leaving the airport to go... I don't know where. But a couple of them stopped to ask if I was alright and whether I needed anything. They introduced me to the woman working the desk, sat me nearby, fetched a pillow and blanket and magazines for me and gave me a huge cookie and those tin pilot's wings and told me to be good. (The big cookie and pilot's wings were what I always looked forward to when traveling alone.)



I WAS EIGHT.
I didn't throw a fit because it took 36 hours for a relatively short flight. I didn't talk back because the man in line behind me was rude. I didn't feel entitled because we had paid for a service that wasn't being delivered. I just sneaked off (I told the lady at the desk that I was going to the gift shop and to the restroom whenever I needed to stretch my legs.) and made the best of a bad situation. I had flown enough to know that these things sometimes happen.

But as businesses try to increase their customer base many are appealing to segments that probably shouldn't be there in the first place. 




Maybe Wal-Mart people need to stay in places where Wal-Mart people belong.

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