Sunday, July 13, 2008

sticks and stones... i'm moving to la jolla

since the denver disaster i've been to denver [again,] calgary, san juan, fort lauderdale twice, tampa, and san diego... and only one of the flights had any major drama. i was flying from houston to fort lauderdale and during the service i skipped a lady who i thought was sleeping. before i could even ask the next row if they'd like a turkey sandwich, she starts yelling "excuse me! do you not serve black people?!?" i of course was shocked and apologetically explained that i thought she was sleeping. well that set her off on another tangent about how her eyes were not closed and she was not sleeping and i must just have something against black people. after trying to be nice a few times i finally said "listen there is no reason for you to act like that" and just gave her the meal. later in the flight she got my name and base information. i was so angry that my hands shook the entire rest of the flight and at the end of the service i stood in my galley and cried.

for the next few days i thought of all the things i wish i had said to her, some true and some not so true...

i am a liberal, college-educated 23-year old with a background in political science who did not grow up in a racist society - sorry if you did! i was the minority in my high school and seemed to get along quite well. i am voting for barack obama for christ's sake!

the father of my three kids is black!

my name is lanie. would you like me to spell that for you? here, let me give you my supervisor's name and number too so you can embarrass yourself to someone else on top of all these people sitting near you on the plane.

i'm there to give people food and drink i don't have time to look at the color of their skin or what they're wearing or if they have all their teeth... the only color i see is the green sticker for turkey and the brown sticker for ham, the color of the cans and the lids of the mini liquor bottles.

i've had enough of the people who cry wolf and continue to make this society that we live in racist. i know it does still exist, but the majority of people we come into contact with on a daily basis are civilized and treat people equally - whether it's equally like shit or with kindness. people for the most part are creatures of habit and we're not going to go out of our way to ignore 9D and serve 9E and F simply because of race, age, religion, etc. if you ask me, those who cry wolf keep racism alive and actually reverse it.

on a much lighter note... my trip to san diego was so much fun! a girl from my training class, lona, was on the crew with me. she grew up in la jolla and her sister lives in encinitas. we went to her sister's for dinner and too much wine. the weather was of course perfect and we sat outside on their porch with the view of their beautifully landscaped backyard garden. the next day we drove through seaport village, gaslamp, and along the coast before we ate and walked around la jolla. it was still as perfect as i remember it and i still vow to live there one day!

other than my trips, the only news is that the bar below us closed down for a week due to multiple noise violations. honestly i haven't noticed it being any quieter though! now i'm off for four days and i'm flying back to dallas in just a few hours. hope everyone is doing well... keep me updated on your lives too! i know i am usually hard to get ahold of, but shoot me an e-mail, text, phone call, or even snail mail!

2 comments:

  1. Oh Mel, I'm so steamed at the lady that called you racist! Poor thing-she must see racism everywhere, all day long and that must get so tiresome and probably gives her high blood pressure as well as a snarky outlook. Enough about that poor unfortuate...

    Your job sounds interesting and tiring and I will never look at a flight attendant again without wondering how their day is going. La Jolla would be a great place to live. Maybe you will end up there some day!

    Life in Sacramento is good-we finaaly are getting some clean skies and more normal temperatures. The heat and smoke from the wild fires were terrible for about a week. I escaped to SF where Ron was working. Stayed one night and saw a great show at the Legion of Honor-women Impressionists.

    Thanks for your wonderful blog! What a wonderful idea. Bev

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  2. I loved the bit about not being able to see any other color but the green for the turkey--nicely done. I'm so happy that we get to spend some time together. Love you!

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