Quote:
mtomm said
 Man, I miss your folks already. |
Well, here's your chance to slingshot yourself back into Most Favored Mormon status. Let me know when you've bought your ticket, I'll give you their address so you can go visit them.
Give Alex a hug for me.
And I called my mom and let her know I'm home safe. Apparently Alex has learned to wander downstairs on his own when Ferris occupied, because he was downstairs sitting next to her when I called.
And as for the trip back...
We left Cedar City about noon, headed for Vegas. We hit the Vegas city limits and traffic just freezed. If we were going 10 miles an hour I'd be shocked. Big accident at a major intersection. So, round and round we crawled, getting closer and closer to take-off time, and the three of us getting tenser and tenser and tenser. And I'm sitting in the backseat, staying calm, staying calm, staying calm, while trying very hard NOT to growl at my dad because I'd TOLD him I thought we should have left earlier, and realizing that a) I really should have had a last cigarette before leaving and b) I really, really, REALLY had to go to the bathroom. But I kept my mouth SHUT. See, it's possible.
Absolute worst moment was when we almost totaled out when a car cut RIGHT in front of us. Good thing we were still going only 20 mph at that point. My dad braked, my mom screamed and I just tested the tensile strength of my jaw muscles. And then, at the next red light, my dad got OUT of the car, walked over to the car that had cut us off, told them off, and walked back to our car and got in.
So we made into the airport parking garage at EXACTLY the moment my plane was about to take off, and trundled out of the car. At that point, I took over the expedition. I found the elevator, found the floor we wanted, stormed across the bridge to the airport and located the arrivals & departures board and found my flight... which was experiencing a delay and wouldn't be leaving for another hour and half. And then the peasents rejoiced and my mom and I raced each other to the nearest bathroom. And I tell ya, she may look like a little old lady but she can pour some speed on with the proper motivation. So, having taken care of that, I hugged them, assured them I'd be fine no matter what happened, sent them home and went through security.
Now, I really should have gone back out and had a smoke before going through security, but I didn't have either a lighter or matches on me and it was 118 (f) outside. I really didn't relish the idea of standing outside begging passing travelers for a light. So I went to my gate, confirmed that my flight was leaving around 4:30, and got some food. (Amazing thing, there are no longer any smoking lounges open to the public in the Vegas airport. I found this out when I arrived coming in from Lansing, when I went straight to the smoking lounge and lit up with everyone else there. Some random airport worker came in and yelled at us. We were all pretty amazed.)
I did check about my connecting flight from Detroit to Lansing. The one person at the gate podium who was willing to look and check for me told me that it was POSSIBLE that I'd make the connection, but he couldn't promise anything. I thanked him for his time, kept my reservation for the connecting flight, and explored the airport.
You know, I think I'm almost completely immune to gambling. This is good. The slot machines didn't tempt me. The idea of tracking how many people actually got a jackpot while I was there did. (The answer was none.) But I bummed around, munched down a way overpriced sandwich, downed some water and read a book until boarding was announced.
Thus began the flight from hell. As we boarded, the staffers handed us coupons, good for, among other things, a free drink or snack box during our flight. Nice. Except, well, there was a mistake loading the refreshments carts and well, there weren't actually enough snack boxes or drinks for everybody. And there was some sort of commotion at the front of the plane early on in the flight, which lead to the stewardess requesting a doctor or health care professional to speak up and assist them. As far as I could tell, nobody responded. But nothing too bad seemed to happen.
My seat was in the WAY back of the plane. The nice thing about having a seat on the WAY back of the plane is that you're really far away from the wing, so you get a great view out the window (I love watching take off and landings). The bad thing is that everyone who wants to go to the bathroom is going to pass you. And if you're a slightly pudgy woman sitting next to two other slightly pudgy women, well, that means if you're in the aisle seat, everyone in the plan is going to bump you. I think the stewardesses in particular had a competition to see who could bump the slightly pudgy (yet beautiful and charming!) woman in the purple shirt.
And I’m not quite sure why, but it seemed like nobody on the plane with me understood that when the seatbelts lights are on, you need to remain seated, with your seatbelt on. Now, granted, there was quite a lot of turbulence, so the seatbelt lights stayed on for quite a bit of the flight. Of course, it wouldn’t occur to ME that it would be a good idea to walk around the cabin while the plane was skidding through enough pockets of air to qualify us for weightlessness training in most astronaut programs. But apparently the people I was flying with felt that going to the bathroom just wasn’t challenging enough by itself. I don’t really know whether to blame the crew for this or not. On the flight into Vegas, the pilot did take a moment to explain why there was so much turbulence and that he was going to have to put the seatbelt lights on. This pilot really didn’t. So maybe people thought they had left the seatbelt lights on by accident, I don’t know. I’m sure with the flight being delayed and all the pilot had plenty to worry about. But the rest of the crew didn’t really do all that much to communicate to people what was going on.
So we finally landed in Detroit, and yes, I did miss my connection. The rather surly woman manning the desk tried to hand me a hotel voucher and told me my flight to Lansing would take off in the morning. I declined, and enquired about the MI Flyer (bus that handles commutes from Detroit airport to Lansing). MI Flyer had done its last run. So I enquired about a taxi. Well, they weren’t going to pay for a taxi. I explained that I understood that she couldn’t do anything for me, but that I wanted to talk to her supervisor. Well, her supervisor wasn’t going to do anything for me, and besides, he was too busy to talk to me. Well, that was fine, but I wanted to talk to him anyway. So she called the supervisor on the phone, and talked to him for a minute. She hung up with him and told me that there wasn’t anyway they’d pay for a taxi, but they’d be more than happy to give me a voucher for $50.00 toward my next flight. I pointed out that I wasn’t interested in any other flights, particularly with this airline, and that I just wanted to talk to the supervisor. I was informed that Northwest airlines will get me from point A to point B via airplane, but not via ground transport. I blinked at her a couple times. I asked her how I was supposed to get to the hotel that the airline was paying for. She said we would be taking a cab. I asked if I was paying for the cab. She said no, they would. I smiled at her and told her that I understood that committing her company to extraordinary measures to get me home wasn’t her job, and that that’s why I wanted to talk to her supervisor. And that I worked in the hospitality business myself, and that, as far as I was concerned, for the money I’d shelled out to her company, getting me from point A to point B was ALL her company should be concerned with at this point. She told me that her supervisor was at gate A29. I told her that I would go to gate A29 to meet this supervisor, and thanked her for her time. Her response was, and I kid you not, “You’re NOT welcome.”
Really, I don’t think it’s healthy for my eyes to bulge out that much.
So I trekked over to gate A29, and, surprise, there was no supervisor there. So I abandoned my quest to get enough of a refund out of Northwest to cover a taxi home, and desperately searched for a payphone. I found one, but me phone card was out of funds. So I asked the nice TSA folks if I could borrow a phone. They let me borrow a phone, told me the best place to go get a smoke, gave me a lighter to borrow, directed me to a vending machine to get some water, and let me camp out while waiting for my ride. Which proved to be the boyfriend, who upon hearing I was stuck in Detroit told me he’s come up and get me. Fortunately, during the wait for him to get to the airport, I found a power outlet, and managed to plug in the nearly useless cell phone I’d taken with me in a desperate attempt to not get lost during my pilgrimage. The phone, which previous to this had resisted all attempts to be used as anything other than a cat toy, finally decided to work, so I called the boyfriend back and told him to call me when he got to the airport.
I have the best boyfriend in all of explored space. I really do.
I have called Northwest’s customer service line about a refund for the flight I couldn’t take due to their bungling. I told them about the conversation with Miss Congeniality. I’m told I’ll be getting an email from the refunds department. I assume they’re going to give me yet another credit voucher. Seeing as I already have one for $97.00 I’m really not interested in another one. But I’ll see how that conversation goes. Depending on where I get with these folks on my own, I may be asking Joan for assistance.
But however it goes, I know I’m not welcome in Northwest’s eyes.
I found the study. 
When Poe ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
Linear Mode
