an egg-stra special easter

i spent easter sunday in cleveland, which many people might not find very exciting, but thanks to my friend allison, it turned out great! scheduling called me saturday afternoon to let me know i would be deadheading to cleveland to sit borrowed reserve – which means i basically fly as a passenger to cleveland, go to my hotel, and wait for them to call me with an assignment, much like i do in jersey, except i get paid per diem! i was excited despite the fact that my last trip out of cleveland resulted in the pob predicament – see previous post. my best friend from training, allison, lives in cleveland and she is on a leave for the months of april and may. her family is huge and very welcoming so i knew i wouldn’t be sitting alone in my hotel room. when i got in saturday night, allison picked me up and we went to a bar near her house to meet up with one of her many cousins. dad called me mid-morning to ask if i had been to church… i was pretty much still in bed, only sitting up to talk to allison’s mom. i told him “no, but i went to the bar!” referring to the night before. he laughed asked if we had a sermon on the bar top over beer!

sunday afternoon was spent with allison’s family eating, hunting easter eggs, beating the piñata and having birthday cake for two of her cousins. we then went to our friend charisse’s house to celebrate with her family. (charisse is also a flight attendant for continental.) scheduling called me mid-afternoon to let me know they didn’t need me to work any trips out of cleveland and that i was deadheading back to newark. i explained my situation – eating with a friend’s family – and asked if i could take the latest flight back to newark so i could have more time with them. much to my surprise, they let me do it!! so basically i got paid to hang out with my friend and her family and scheduling worked with what i wanted for once!

after the christmas fiasco, i felt like this made up for it a little bit. christmas day i was ready to quit. i checked flights to tulsa to get to my grandparents and also to dallas to just get home, but since everything was full i bit the bullet and continued with my assignments. i have had a lot of insight from fellow flight attendants as to what this company used to be and what it has become, which is not something i’m not proud to learn. a great disservice has occurred on many levels and i guess i am learning for myself how corporate america can treat its employees. on my last trip, another flight attendant said to me “if you can get out, then do it! this job sucks you in even if the pay is bad and the schedule isn’t what it used to be.” i reassured her that…

lately i have been thinking about grad school a lot. i realize that it would not be easy to get a different job at this time, but i also know that continental is very overstaffed with flight attendants. they have been offering leaves every month and one type of leave is educational. they will grant you a leave for an entire semester with proof of enrollment. i figure that with the economy the way it is i can get my masters in education policy while still holding onto my job. if by the time i graduate, nothing has improved, and jobs are still scarce, i can continue flying until something better comes along. either way i would keep my benefits through grad school and keep my job with continental as a back up!

my first choice program would be at nyu but there are others in seattle, dc, madison, etc. there is a lot to do to prepare for application and also there is the decision as to whether or not this is really a field i want to get into. applications for most of the programs aren’t even out yet so i have some thinking to do and any insight is definitely welcome!