The Last Post About This, I Promise

Allegiant annoyed me then pleasantly surprised me.

Today, Allegiant entranced me. 

I copied the second, complimentary post to their Director of Customer Relations.  Today, she told me this:

We were happy to hear that your telephone call with Adam was so delightful. Although we are a large airline, we do our best to make every passenger feel as if they are our only one. It will give me great pleasure to recognize Adam for achieving this in your conversation.

 It will give me great pleasure to recognize Adam...... 

She was smiling and I was smiling and I bet that Adam will be smiling, too.  

Isn't it marvelous that our misadventure in the air has led to all this happiness on the ground?  I love that my blog post lets her give and take pleasure as she recognizes excellence.  I love that there is excellence to be celebrated.

And now, before this devolves into total smarminess, I'll stop.  There's a lot to do before FlapJilly and her parents arrive on Wednesday.

Yes, they're flying Allegiant.
It's what we do.

Tiny Apples

Did you ever have them?

G'ma found them for the High Holidays.

She left them in a bowl on the table; one of the few times I remember her decorating.

They make me very happy, in a very few bites.

Thank you, Whole Foods.

I've spent the afternoon with my mom on my shoulder.

It's been lovely.

Where's Ivanka? - A Snippet

I won every hand at cards today.  There were only three of us and the games were fast and furious.  There was a lot of shuffling and counting and dealing and even more conversation.  We're all on the same page, politically, so you can imagine where we meandered as we perused our hands.

Men behaving badly, politicians behaving badly, voters behaving badly - we had no patience for any of it.  We were laughing and crying and shaking our heads.

Where's Ivanka in all of this?

Someone asked it.  There was silence.  Then we all started talking at once.  Complicit. Absent.  Selfish. 

Not one of us thought she was standing up for women.  Not one of us thought she was tweeting #MeToo.  Not one of us thought she ought to be where she is.

And then I was sad, because this is a moment she could seize and make her own, a space in time unlike any other, where those previously silenced are now shouting from the rooftops.  I hate to see anyone waste an opportunity.

I guess Complicit is where she will have to remain.

Sigh.

Why Don't You Run?

That was Big Cuter's query last night on the phone.  After a lengthy and painful discussion of men treating women badly, centered on his feelings of helplessness and desire to do more.... but what??, we moved on to politicians behaving badly, which led to Martha McSally, my non-representing Representative, and her decision to vacate her seat and run for the Senate.

Why don't you run, Mom? 

I was ready with my response, because I've been thinking about it over the last few months.  The answer has two parts.

Part One - I don't want to mount a campaign.  I remember talking to Lynne Woolsey, our Congresswoman when we lived in Marin.  She kept calling and asking for money.  I kept saying No. Finally, I broke down and told her that we wouldn't be sending her any money, that the big donation I'd given her months before was only done to secure the signed-by-Bill-Bradley-basketball that was on auction at the fundraiser my friend held for her. 

And then I wondered Don't you have anything else to do besides making these calls?  Y'know, like legislating?  There was a significant pause, a significant sigh, and then, in a tone unlike the rest of her call, she muttered Three to four hours a day.... every day. 

I don't remember how we ended the conversation.  I do know that she stopped calling.  I also remembered that pause and sigh.

So, Big Cuter, in answer to your question, the thought of spending 20 hours a week dialing for dollars holds no appeal for me.  I ran unopposed for the school board, and that's as much electioneering as I am interested in doing.  None.

Part Two - I don't think I'll make that much of a difference. 

Would I enjoy the work?  Perhaps.  I like policy and figuring out solutions to intractable problems.  I'm not much for listening to opponents who are clearly wrong, and that seems to be a big part of any legislator's job.  I'm not that good at keeping my opinions to myself, which may be why he thinks I ought to run for office but which would not make for a very effective term in office.

More than that, though, is that I think I can make more of a difference here in my little corner of the world, where 360 elementary school kids are amused and delighted and thrilled to see me when I show up on campus.  I hold hands and tie shoes and read stories. I'll plant a garden and we'll eat Prince-grown veggies together and they'll take home starters for their own gardens, if they want to shorten the distance between farm and table. 

I'm a comforting hand to hold when recess is just too much.  I'm a solver of problems and a wiper of tears.  I'm a shoulder for teachers to lean upon.  The world is marginally better because I am ensconced in that small school.  I can see the difference I make, each and every day.  I just don't think that being one of 435 would be as significant.

So, thanks for the vote of confidence, and for thinking that your mother should serve the greater good.  For now, I'm happy tidying up right here in Tucson.

A Happy Ending

Well, you were right.  I've never been so glad to have send a scathing email.  Allegiant Air has restored my faith in the business world.... at least, their little part of it.

After being poorly treated by flight attendants and encouraged to report the incident by you, my faithful denizens,  I put the matter behind me.  As usual, writing it down had taken the edge off the angst. I assumed my email would wind its way through a bureaucratic maze, resulting an nothing more than a we received your email and thanks for telling us response.

I was so wrong. 

I sent the email off on Thursday evening, less than 24 hours later I was on the phone with Adam G, a member of Allegiant's Management Review Team in Las Vegas.  Apparently, I ignited quite a firestorm with my little post.  "A lot of people have seen this," was one of the first things he told me.

I must credit Chris Elliot, the Travel Troubleshooter columnist whose run-to-the-rescue articles make me smile every Sunday in The Arizona Daily Star.  He lists the contacts for all sorts of companies on his website, and encourages people to document their issues in writing.  I found several big-shots at Allegiant, and cc'ed them all on a cover email (which included the names of those who'd offended us, which I didn't need to publicize to make my point in the posts) linking to the two blog posts I'd written.  Apparently, Mr. Elliot is correct when he says that those at the top will listen; at least it was true at Allegiant.

Adam G was incredible.  Kind, thoughtful, patient, funny, sympathetic, he used the word unacceptable in every third sentence.  This was not the kind of behavior Allegiant condoned, and he wanted to be sure that I knew that.  He wanted me to know that everyone, from Customer Care to In-Flight Services to the Management Review Team was upset about it.  

He told me that the issue had been discussed with the crew.  He told me that I was remarkably restrained in my response.  (That was the second time in two days people complimented me on being calm; there may be something to this for me in the long run.)  

We agreed that everyone is aggravated with the airlines these days, and I noted that I hadn't said anything about the seats that don't recline or the narrowness of those seats.  I knew what I was getting when I bought an Allegiant Air ticket - direct service to my desired location on an airplane that wouldn't fall out of the sky.  He was upset, on behalf of himself and his company, that polite was not part of my experience that day.  He said it often.  He said it with feeling.  There was no doubt that this was more than just a shut her up contact.  He cared.

We serve a wide variety of travelers, and we have to be aware that not everyone is having a good day.  There it is, in a nutshell.  

Plus, he gave me goodies!  I have a travel voucher and lots of points added to my credit card, both of which we'll use to visit FlapJilly.  But, as I said in my thank you emails to the Vice President of In-Flight Services and the Director of Customer Care, the stuff is less important than the message

That message was received loud and clear.  Allegiant was not proud of the behaviors we witnessed, and it did something about it.  That is corporate responsibility, customer service, and the right thing  to do.

I wish there were more I could do, but, as I told Adam G, our family already does most of its flying on Allegiant.  I can only share with you the facts as they unfolded, and leave you with the idea that there are some really good actors in the corporate world.  I was lucky enough to be cosseted by them last Friday.

I'm so happy that Allegiant is back to being my favorite way to fly.  

Roy Moore, Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein, and the NYTimes

I dismissed the kudos he awarded himself when the Executive Editor of the NYTimes said that the biggest story he published was outing Harvey Weinstein's sexual assaults.  I wasn't sure that it merited all that praise; it was, after all, not the Pentagon Papers.  It was not taking down a President, nor stopping a war.

But now, less than a month later, Republicans are calling for their Senatorial candidate in Alabama to drop out of the race after allegations that he fondled and molested a 14 year old when he was 30.  Ridley Scott is reshooting his latest film, taking out Kevin Spacey and replacing him with Christopher Plummer, after a young man accused Spacey of sexual assault.  Those accusers were merely the first to speak out; others have followed in their footsteps.

Kasie Hunt told us that she and other women in the news business never spoke up about sexual harassment because they assumed that no one would care.  An Arizona state representative is on the receiving end of similar complaints lodged by female legislators and lobbyists.

So, perhaps I was wrong.  Perhaps the NYTimes did change our national conversation in a meaningful way. 

I'm not certain that it will prevent men from behaving badly, especially when our President is a party to the issue.  It does seem to have empowered the abused, and that is a significant change.  It's caused me to wonder, for the first time in 50 years, why I didn't tell anyone about the hospital employee who backed me into a corner of an elevator and tried to kiss me.  And, perhaps, it will allow another young woman to yell, to tell, to kick, to feel that she has the right to speak up and speak out and to place the blame where it belongs.

Maybe Mr. Baquet was right after all.  Maybe he saw the ripple effect before I did.

Taking Action

I'm having a new experience.  It's making me smile and giggle and look at myself in a whole new way.

Yesterday's post about flight attendants gone bad evoked the same response from three very different people.  None of them thought that I was over-reacting.  Each one of them thought that I should report the incident upstream.  I was gently chided for taking it as calmly as I had.  They all agreed that I was under-reacting.

Never.  Ever.  Not Once.

That's how often I've been told to amp it up.

Often.  Frequently.  More than anyone wants to remember.

That's how often my behavior has been met with eyes and gestures inviting me to take a breath, to take it down a notch or twelve.

But yesterday my readers rallied around my plight, commiserating with me, placing the blame squarely on the rude worker bees in the sky, imploring me to send the email off to Allegiant Air.

And so, I will.  I'll refer them to the blog post for the gory details, and I'll supply the names in that less public venue.  I do it in the name of passengers to come, and with deep respect for those who encouraged me to make my voice heard.

I'm still smiling.  I can't picture myself as the mature human who held off clicking "send,"  only to be encouraged to go for it with gusto.  Giggling.  A lot.

This story has a happy ending.  Read the follow-up post published Nov. 13, 2017

PTSD and Me

This story has a happy ending.  Read the follow-up post published Nov. 13, 2017

We boarded early, thanks to our Allegiant credit card perk, and placed our suitcase in the bin right overhead. My very anxious flyer husband had a moment of panic he didn’t need when he reached up to retrieve his book and couldn’t find our bag.  

The flight attendants had moved our suitcase to an overhead bin several rows back, according to the woman seated behind us.  They never told us. He found the case and moved it back over our seats only to have it moved again, without warning, and replaced with someone else’s bags by the same two flight attendants.  We watched them the second time.  

At neither time did they explain the move, or notify us that they were relocating the bag.  They just did it. There was no indication that the original location, the one right over our seat, was inappropriate - no sign, no verbal warning, nothing. 

Normally, that would have occasioned a grimace and a question.  But it was Monday, and the news was filled with yet another murderer with an oversized weapon and an undersized ego, this time killing people at prayer.  All those families living through TBG's nightmare, joining the club of survivors and their loved ones, crying on the screens in the airport, on the front pages of the newspapers, bringing my husband right back to the Emergency Room in January, 2011.

PTSD is a recurring visitor, set off by loud noises or young men in hoodies passing on the street.  Sometimes, the trigger is more obvious, like a mentally ill man with a gun he shouldn't have had shooting up people who were gathered together for a quintessentially American experience.  It inflames every nerve ending, heightens the fight-or-flight response, sends shivers and sweats up and down and all around the body.  It's no fun at all.  It's also very difficult to control.

And so, instead of passing it off with I can't believe they did that, he stewed.  He grumbled.  He clenched and unclenched his fists.  Calming down was not an option.  He was raw, and they were the target.  He said nothing, but he was pissed.  The flight attendants said nothing, either.

When it was time to serve drinks, these same two ignored our row, though they served the people in front, behind, and across the aisle.  They never asked if we would like anything. They just pushed away.   Our seat mate asked me to press the call button. One returned, snarled as she clicked off the dinging, heard the elderly lady’s request for a snack, snapped “We’ll be back,” and left without further service or comment.  

My seat mate was hungry and confused.  My husband was incensed.  I was a puddle of angst.  Were our reactions over the top?  Probably.  But we were in full PTSD mode, and were in no mood to be calm.

Eventually, the flight attendant returned and when my seatmate asked about being ignored, she retorted with “We had to move the cart."  

We love flying Allegiant. We do it all the time. We tell our friends that it’s worth the drive from Tucson to Mesa. We’ve never had anything but delightful, friendly, thoughtful service until now. Allegiant has a warm place in my heart, since it brings me to my grandchild in South Bend.  This experience, on that day, was anything but lovely.

Being ignored is unpleasant. Being dismissed is just rude.  If this had happened on the ground, in a restaurant, we’d have gotten up and left, after talking to the manager.  That was obviously not an option for us in the air.

A bit of courtesy retraining, reminding them that information is the most important currency when traveling, that consideration and thoughtfulness make for happy customers  seemed to be in order.  While safety is obviously their first and most important concern, polite treatment of paying customers is important, too.

And so I began to type.  Most of the verbiage in this post is from the email I wrote, letting my fingers carry off some of the steam pouring out of my ears.  I didn't send it.  Writing it was enough. I didn't want to explain that those of us in The Club that No One Wants to Join are viscerally affected when yet another mass shooting is on the news.  There was no way to convey that, while their service was atrocious, our reaction was over the top and yet completely understandable.

The world is a dangerous place.  Most of the time I can ignore that fact.  Most of the time I can go about the business of daily life, passing off the occasional bump in the road with my ongoing mantra - At least I am here to experience it.   But when the situation is exacerbated by real life events that echo our own trauma, all bets are off.

I still think that they should have told us that they were moving our suitcase.  I don't know that I needed to be peeved about it for a 4 hour flight.

PTSD..... the gift that keeps on giving.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

We took the South Shore Line from South Bend to Chicago. The round trip cost $27.  Eastbound, our conductor called for our attention before imparting detailed instructions on the do’s and don’t’s of train travel. He asked if anyone had any questions, and paused to give us a chance to respond.

We took an Uber from FlapJilly’s house to the South Bend Airport for $25 plus a generous tip because Antonio was super cool.  We spent a lovely 25 minutes talking football and relationships and admiring the entrepreneurial spirit.

Less than $300 got us to and from FlapJilly and her parents, via Allegiant Airways and a trek up and down I-10 at either end.  And now, at the end of all that coming and going, I can barely keep my eyes open.

All those miles, filled with all that love.  I’m going to have very sweet dreams tonight.

SOFA CHICAGO

Seret took me to the Structural Objects Functional Art and Design Fair on Navy Pier .

Visiting art with an artist .... I was in heaven.

In no particular order, here are some of my favorites.

Tableware was on display in all shapes and colors.

I stared at these curves, marveling at the handles and the spout .

This set was made out of paper.

There were a series of faux grade school reports.

This was my favorite.

Portraiture had a big presence, with faces created in three dimensions.

These little guys were part of a larger set which came from Korea.

There were MFA students presenting a project representing light and space.

It's pool noodles over bent metal.

I'd have bought it were they selling it.

These little glass teapots live encased in glass.

There were several iterations the theme, but these were my favorites.

He's carved from wood.

I know.  He looks real.  I almost spoke to him.

The work with glass stopped us in our tracks.

I imagined this as a pair of sconces.... very expensive sconces.

The insides of these gondolas were all different.

These are look open don't they?  

In fact they are shaded glass and flat.

The photo doesn't do justice to the depth of the paint on the canvas.

It looked like it was lots of fun to create.

I wanted to try it, myself.

This is called Industry.

I think it's a phallic submarine.

The woodcarvers' guild was well represented.

This is so delicate, it looked like it was about to float away.

At the end of a long aisle, there was this:

and this:

I couldn't stop giggling.

These sculptures were shimmery, lifelike, intricate, and filled with history and culture.

I spent quite some time communing with Hanuman, my favorite monkey.

There was a gallery filled with instruments in every color imaginable..

The gallery lighting made photography a challenge, so here are some close-ups.

And then there was this, the first thing we saw when we walked in.

It was a wonderful afternoon.

We wished we had unlimited funds.

We'd have brought all of this home, and more.

Old Friends

We've known the groom since playgroup, in the early 1980’s.   The bride is a new and worthy addition to our crew.  Their nuptials this weekend are a lovely coda to our annual Halloween With FlapJilly Adventure; it was kind of them to schedule it so conveniently.

TBG and I will take the train from South Bend to Millennium Park in Chicago, avoiding driving through the toll road and Stony Island and city traffic. We qualify for the Senior Fare; round trip travel will cost less than a tank of gas.  Public transit makes me smile. 

The affair is in the Loews Downtown Chicago; we’ll travel by elevator from our room to the party. That’s a perfect commute. No need for a hat or gloves or a coat to defend my black tie outfit from the elements.  With a few alterations, TBG’s tuxedo Now looks quite study; we haven’t gotten this dressed up in a long time.

One of the advantages of old age combined with bullet wounds is the right to wear flats. Black patent comfort will complement my fancy strapless dress and glittery jacket. I broke out the onyx jewelry which I reserve for special occasions, although I debated bringing G’ma’s rhinestones. The drippy dangle earrings were heavy on my earlobes when I wore them while packing.  If I couldn’t bear them for an hour I decided not to torture myself for an evening.

Glamour, glitz and comfort.  It’s going to be a perfect weekend.

Distracted

Foreign tourists mowed down by a fanatic.

Presidential tweets excoriating our judicial system.

My Rubber Stamp Representative, who votes with Trump 96% of the time, is deemed too liberal by her fellow Conservatives.

It was 38 degrees when I drove Little Cuter to work this morning and it rained on us with cold, hard drops when we walked to the car after dinner.

I could be annoyed, depressed, aggravated, peeved. I could be righteously outraged.




But there's this little person with the biggest personality who serves as a perfect distraction.

The world is going to hell in a hand basket, but it’s pure background noise.

Grandchildren..... better than Ativan.

Halloween At FlapJilly's House

Our Tucson neighborhood does not measure up to the minimal standards of Halloween-ing.

There are no decorations.

There are no trick or treaters.

There is no candy waiting patiently on doorsteps for random requests.

And so, TBG and I travel to the midwest for our fix.

Little Cuter and SIR have the best house.

I stayed behind to man the candy station, while the kids and the husband and the pooch took off to acquire sweets and share the joy.

There was a slow and steady stream of littles

and bigs.

The need for a coat was overwhelmed by their need to show off the costumes.

I was more than happy to share my fire pit.

Some came in wagons, holding tight to Moms and Dads.

Some were happy to be terrifying all by themselves.

The strangers were wonderful, it's true, but those I knew were even better.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg rolled the streets of Northern Virginia

and Wonder Woman protected the home front with style and panache.

All the love, all the joy, all the smiles warmed me more than the fire pit or the five layers of clothes I was wearing.