The Rerouted Skytress

Long before I was a Skytress, I worked for the St. Louis Cardinals. When people ask me what I did for the Cardinals I usually joke and say, I played third base. What is even funnier, people pause for just a moment to see if I am actually joking. Tonight as I write this blog, I am in Memphis. Autozone Park is across the street from our hotel. The St. Louis Cardinals minor league team plays in Autozone Park. Tonight is the Wild Card game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals. Hopefully it is fortuitous for the Cardinals that our layover hotel is next to the Memphis Cardinals ballpark. I shall find out if this is indeed true when I wake up in the wee hours of the morning to get ready for my day of flying. I am not going to watch the ballgame though. Nope. I don’t want to jinx my Cardinals. Now I can be very superstitious about certain things. I am most definitely superstitious when it comes to my Cardinals. My Cardinals had a tough season this year. Remarkably, they went on a 17-game winning streak and made it into the Wild Card game. I’ll admit. I didn’t watch one game during the winning streak. When the Cardinals started to win, I stopped watching. Yessiree. I am a loyal Cardinal fan. I didn’t want to mess up their good thing. Sadly, my friend Michael did. Yep. He’s a diehard Cincinnati Reds fan. He texted me the night the streak ended. BEFORE the streak ended. Of course, he said he meant no harm. However, I believe he knew his text would jinx the winning streak. And it did. I can’t prove it. But, I think he may be working undercover for the Cincinnati Reds. You see, our baseball teams are big rivals. Tonight Michael texted me to see if I was rooting for the Cardinals or for the Dodgers in the Wild Card game. Heck. I’m not falling for his jinx tactic again. Nope. I refuse to respond to his text until tomorrow. Hopefully, by not responding to his text, the jinx won’t be effective. All I can say is, if Michael didn’t mean any harm with his first text, he better be on his knees praying for a Cardinals victory. It wouldn’t surprise me, though, if Micheal is in cahoots with my friend Phillip. Phillip is a huge Dodgers fan. Last time I was in Los Angeles on a layover, Phillip invited me to go to Dodger Stadium. My Cardinals were playing the Dodgers. Phillip said I could root for my Cardinals. Egads! Of course I was going to root for them! I’m proud to report, my Cardinals beat the Dodgers. Now, I’m convinced Phillip teamed up with Michael to get back at me and my Cardinals. Yessiree. The conspiracy theories are swirling around my head these days. Tis the season of conspiracy theories for devoted baseball fans. Yes, folks. It’s called the “Post Season”. My Dad used to say, “Don’t take the World Series-ously”. My Dad always said this even though he knew darn well we always take the Wold Series seriously. After all, we are not just Cardinal fans. We are baseball fans.

News flash! Michael’s text-jinx worked. My Cardinals lost to the Dodgers. So, this coming year I will root twice as hard against the Reds as a payback to Michael. Funny, I never used to root against the Reds. Nope. I used to root for the Cincinnati Reds when I was younger and lived in Cincinnati. I loved The Big Red Machine! I even rooted for the Reds when I was a Skytess living in Cincinnati. Heck. I proudly welcomed the passengers to Cincinnati… “the home of the World Champion Cincinnati Reds” when they won the World Series in 1990. And I wasn’t even living there. No, I was living in Atlanta…..rooting for “America’s Team”. Don’t be shocked by this admission. I grew up watching the Braves with my best friends, Tara and Shannon. They grew up in Atlanta. Their family watched every Braves game. We talked about the Braves players and the games all the time. This didn’t change when I became a Skytress. Actually, the stories just got better. Being the official airline of the Atlanta Braves has it’s perks. There are always Braves stories to tell with relationship to my airline. Yessiree. I remember telling my friends the story of a Skytress that I flew with once. She assumed the guy she always saw at her pool was a Skyter. Apparently, just like her, he was always at the pool during the day. Not everyday. Just every few days like a person with a Skyter schedule would be. He, also, looked very familiar to her. She wondered if he looked familiar to her because she has seen him in the crew lounge before. So, one day she decided she would asked him if he was indeed a Skyter. He smiled and chuckled at her question. He understood why she would think he was a Skyter. After all, most people are at work during the day. He replied he wasn’t a Skyter. No sir. He played baseball for the Atlanta Braves. He explained to the Skytress he would come to the pool during the day and play baseball at night when the team was in town. As it turned out, that year the Braves won the World Series. I’ll admit. It’s pretty cool to be able to wear our airline wings. But, to be able to wear a World Series Championship ring….well, there really is no comparison. Plus, you can almost guarantee,….no one will ever mistake you for being an airline Skyter at the local swimming pool when you are sporting a Championship ring.

Years ago when I was a young Skytress flying out of Cincinnati, it came up in conversation that I worked for the Cardinals while I was in high school and college. My Skytress In-Charge got very excited when she heard this information. She immediately asked me if I would like to fly the Cardinals charter with her. You see, her husband was a friend of one of the Cardinal players. Apparently, the Cardinal players were tired of the senior Atlanta Skytresses working their charter flights. They wanted some young Skytresses to work their flights for a change. As luck would have it, Cincinnati Skytresses we’re scheduled to work their charter from Cincinnati to St. Louis the following month. I told my Skytress In-Charge I would put in for the charter. I’ll admit. I was a wee bit reluctant to fly the charter. I knew the Cardinals had some very lively characters on the team. I wasn’t sure how it would be working a flight with them. Nonetheless, I put in for the charter. A few days later, I pulled my request out of the computer. I had something else come up and I needed to be off the day of the Cardinal charter. I saw my Skytress In-Charge in the lounge one day and told her I wasn’t going to be able to work the charter flight. A few weeks later I happened to fly with the same Skytress. I inquired how the Cardinal charter went. She said it was awful. Without hesitation she told me she had to go to see the Chief Pilot immediately after the trip. I was shocked. I never heard of a Skytress doing this. It just didn’t happen back in those days. My Skytress In-Charge explained the players were extremely rowdy. Apparently, having a much younger crew working their flight must have been too much for the players. She explained the players made multiple sexual comments to the Skytresses working the flight.….among other unacceptable behaviors. She said the most appalling incident happened when they arrived in St. louis and the team started to deplane. One of the players grab the Skytress In-Charge’s boobs and heartily squeezed them as he deplaned. She was shocked by his brazen behavior. Worse, she felt extremely violated. The Captain was standing at the front of the plane next to her as the player groped her. When the Captain didn’t address the player and his inappropriate behavior, she said something to the Captain. The Captain’s response to her was, “Haven’t you ever had anyone grab your boobs before?” This comment incensed her. She said she walked off the airplane and walked directly into the Chief Pilot’s office to complained about the Captain. The Chief Pilot told her he would talk to the pilot. He assured her he would address the Captain’s comments and lack of leadership in this particular situation. After I listened to the Skytress’ entire story, I told her I was sorry she was placed in this uncomfortable situation. Then I told her I had a bad feeling about this charter….and I was right. I love my Cardinals. But, I was definitely relieved I didn’t work this charter. Years later, our airline and professional sports teams decided to have dedicated Skytresses and Skyters working their charters. These days Skytresses and Skyters have to apply and go through an interview process to be selected to be in the sports charter program. Fortunately for everyone involved, there is more accountability when it comes to sports charters compared to years ago. Yes. It’s a whole new ballgame. Thank goodness.

My Cardinals may not be the best airline passengers. But gosh darn it, they are usually spectacular post season baseball players. I’ll admit. I am a wee bit spoiled because my Cardinals have played in numerous post season games. We like to call the post season, “Cardinal Season”. Catchy, isn’t it? One night I was laying over in Greensboro at the airport. My crew decided we would meet in the restaurant for dinner. The television production crews for the NASCAR race were staying at our hotel. Just like us, the production crews decided to meet up in the restaurant. The hotel restaurant opened up into the hotel lobby. There wasn’t a wall separating the two areas. It was a very casual atmosphere, to say the least. My crew and I were having a grand time chit-chatting with the NASCAR folks. As a result, I completely forgot my Cardinals were playing in the playoffs that evening. I had just returned to my hotel room when Ron texted me. He wanted to see how my day of flying had been. I told him about the NASCAR people. He kidded me about hanging out with the NASCAR people when there was a perfectly good playoff game happening with my Cardinals. Yessiree. While I was hanging out with my crew and the NASCAR people, Ron was at home in Atlanta rooting for my Cardinals. I was extremely impressed. As I turned the ballgame on in my hotel room, I teased Ron that he was now an official member of “Cardinals Nation”. Ron must have been the Cardinals secret post season weapon. The Cardinals won the game that night.

Remember my friend Michael, “The Jinxster”? Michael and I decided one year we would call a truce to our Reds-Cardinals rivalry. We decided that year we would root for the Chicago Cubs. As it would happen, this is the year the Cubs won the World Series. You’re welcome Cubs fans! I hope you enjoyed the victory because Michael and I decided our rivalry was much better than the Cubs winning another World Series. Yessiree. It wasn’t easy for us to see the Cubs win. I’ll admit. I did root for the Cubs. I wanted my Cubby friends to finally win a World Series. If only so I didn’t have to hear about “The Curse” anymore. Egads!!! I’ll admit. As a true baseball fan, I was happy to actually see the Cubs win. I was laying over in Las Vegas the night the Cubs won. Fortunately for me, we stay at a swanky hotel in Las Vegas. I was prepared to thoroughly enjoy my layover watching the World Series. The first thing I did when I entered my hotel room was head over to the television to turn it on. I didn’t want to fool around at the last minute trying to find the channel broadcasting the ballgame. I was gobsmacked when my television didn’t work. I made sure everything was plugged in properly. It was. Sadly folks, this is the extent of my television troubleshooting expertise. I contemplated just watching the game in the bathroom. Ah, yes. There are televisions in our Las Vegas hotel bathrooms. And there is a lovely jacuzzis tub to boot. It’s the only tub I would ever fathom soaking in on a layover. But heck, I didn’t want to sit for 9 innings in a tub watching the World Series….no matter how swanky the hotel bath was. So instead, I called the front desk and asked them to send a maintenance man to my room. Thankfully the gentleman came rather quickly. He was having some issues trying to get the television to work. I told him I wouldn’t normally care about watching TV. Only I wanted to watch the final game of the World Series. I told him I was prepared to pack up all my belongings and get a new room if I had too. Fortunately after some finagling, the kind gentleman was able to get the television to work. Minutes later, I settled in my comfy bed to watch the game. I kid you not. When the Cubs won, fireworks went off outside our hotel. I was flabbergasted and tickled by the whole celebration. A few minutes later my cell phone rang. It was Ron. He called to see if I had watched the Cubs win the World Series. I told him I was watching the celebration on television as we spoke. He was amazed when I told him fireworks were going off outside the hotel. We laughed at the absurdity of it all. We ended up talking forever on the phone. Yes. The Cubs won the World Series that night. However, it was the marathon phone conversation afterwards that was the highlight of the evening for us. Yessiree. It’s a beautiful memory I will cherish forever.

Since Michael jinxed the Cardinals this year, I was forced to watch the Dodgers play instead. Luckily Mary Hart sits behind home plate at the Dodgers games. I’ll admit. I watched Mary Hart instead of the game most of the time. What can I say? I’m a bigger fan of Mary Hart than I am of the Dodgers. For those of you wondering….I’ve finally decided which team I am going to root for this post season. Being a baseball fan, I’m obligated to pick a team. Needless to say, for this Cardinal fan, it will be a consolation victory for me if this team wins. I’m sure you all are sitting on the edge of your seats wondering which team I am going to root for to win the World Series. Well, my lips are sealed. I’m not going to let Michael jinx this team, too. Egads! I know….I know. I shouldn’t take the World Series-ously . But, I do. After all, I am my father’s daughter.