Some people have been wondering if I ever work, and the answer to that is, yes, sometimes. When it is absolutely necessary:)
I kid.
My sources tell me that no one thinks I actually work! I thought I needed to set the record straight. I do work. Full-time, in fact. Just my full-time doesn’t include an hour lunch break every day, or the other perks of an office job, other perks that I can’t recall at the moment. But think, if you didn’t take an hour lunch break, every day, in five days, that’s five hours of banked time, those five hours equaling one work day for me. So that means, I can bundle up more days off each month. You could save yourself a whole lot of time if you ate lunch across from an aircraft lav instead of co-worker Jerry. It’s what I do. You say, “That is unpleasant!”
Yes. Well, yes it is…
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But remember, I just went here:
What you read is that I’m somewhere; anywhere but work. Copenhagen, Alaska, Half Moon Bay, Sweden…So, when would I have time to punch the clock?
I punch the clock. I just don’t write about it very often, because it’s no fun to tell you:
July 8, 2012
I drove my car to employee parking at 4:00 am, sat and waited for the employee bus to depart for Terminal 5, removed my heels and walked through security, and then ate my breakfast next to a smelly aircraft lavatory.
July 9, 2012
I drove my car to employee parking at 6:00 am, sat and waited for the employee bus to depart for Terminal 5, removed my heels and walked through security. I ate breakfast next to a smelly aircraft lavatory. A man said he peed his pants. I didn’t check into the situation further.
July 10, 2012
I drove my car to employee parking at 5:00 am, sat and waited for the employee bus to depart for Terminal 5, removed my heels and walked through security. The plane was broken. I waited a long, long time. People were mad. We left three hours late. A woman threw up in an air sick bag. I gave her a napkin.
Wasn’t that glamorous? Simply appreciate that I more often rave about Greece and Spain instead of puke and poo.
Isn’t this Nice…Elounda, Crete
My job is full-time, and I work the hours required by my employer to stay at full-time status, but most often, I fly the minimum hours, so I can travel the maximum. My incessant traveling has been catching up to me as I notice my nest egg of savings dwindling, causing within me a bit of a claustrophobic panic…”AHHH! But I want to go to Montreal next week!”
The thought of staying in one place…novel!
If you are thinking that you will be a millionaire on a flight attendant’s salary, think again. But, if you would like to enjoy a comfortable, gypsy life, this could be your calling (I certainly landed in a nice space).
A flight attendant’s salary is based on a number of different factors; Which airline said flight attendant works for, seniority (years with the company), time spent away from base, hours worked over time, etc. Flight Attendants can live comfortably on their own income, but I’ve noticed that most flight attendants have other sources of income outside of flying, and choose to fund passions of music, acting, or entrepreneurship through flying the friendly skies.
When Business Was Better: Tortillas!
My yearly income may be significantly less than half of what my professional 9-to-5’er friends, but the freedom and flexibility my job lends is something I won’t trade. Not now. Not yet. This isn’t forever, but it’s good today. And maybe tomorrow. This job has not only paid my bills, but it has shed light on areas in my life that are strengths, uncovered aspects of weakness, and overall, made me a more patient, easy-going, and understanding individual.
There are some jobs that you can get by working even if you loathe them. Being a flight attendant doesn’t fall into the just-collect-another -dollar category. Being a flight attendant doesn’t pay enough to be filed there. You dislike people? Wrong industry. You hate not having a schedule? Find yourself a different career. This job does not pay enough to diminish the cons if you do not inherently like the randomness, can tolerate the weirdos, and laugh through the upsets. Take last week for example. I woke up at 5:00 am, went to the gym for a couple of hours, left for the airport by 8:00 am, and at the gate by 9:00 am, only to be greeted with a 3.5 hour delay, which turned into even longer. After my day was said and done, I walked through my front door twenty minutes shy of midnight, and after approximately sixteen hours “at the job,” I was paid for about seven of those hours. So that day, I don’t even think I clocked California minimum hourly wage. Wah-Wah…
Yes, that was unfortunate, but that is just how flying is sometimes, often times. I put up with it for the lessons in-between, because of the people who I get to meet, and the flight benefits that I take advantage of. Since I began my quest to see the world, in just one year alone, I have racked up an estimate of $25,000 in airline tickets, had I been required to pay full-fare rates. Then there are the aspects that you can’t put a dollar amount on, like experiences or being able to look at a departure board and say, “Where would I like to go today?”
Another place to see:)
Budapest, Hungary
