THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE!!!!!!

After being "NUMBER LAST" on the list of flight attendants for the majority of flights I have worked over the past nearly 20 years, I have now moved to the number one spot on most of the flights in the past year.  And not moved slowly but surely.  My number has JUMPED in a giant leap!

Senior people in front of me are not retiring.  Naw!  They are still sticking around, for sure, while they can triple dip and still get their choices of where and when they want to work.

I think it is because United has been hiring so many new people in the last several months.  In fact, the other day I was number one in seniority again.  Our extra had been flying since last April, but the other two were in the same class which graduated just before Christmas.  They started flying January 1, 2020, and were notching only their THIRD trip on their flight attendant belt.

It gave me pause. Not only did I have NOTHING in common with these young women who are the ages of my older grand girls, but they have NO EXPERIENCE on the line.  If there were any kind of emergency or irregular operation, they would be looking to ME for direction.  Scary!  Help!  I'm certainly not there...yet.  I'm still looking at the more senior flight attendants for direction every time I fly.

On a flight last year sometime, as we met for our briefing with cockpit and crew, the captain asked us to go around the circle and tell what our seniority was.  Collectively, it was pretty high.  He said he could breathe a sigh of relief then, knowing that there were people who would be able to handle anything that came up.  Apparently his trip, previous to that one, was staffed by workers who had all been hired less than a year before--First Officer included.

Now I'm often experiencing the same unsure apprehension that captain was feeling.  And I have concluded...

THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE! 

INSTRUCTION MANUALS...

Been thinking for a long time that there are detailed instruction manuals for everything EXCEPT some of the most important roles in our lives.

You already know there is no manual about how to get the maximum return on your efforts as a spouse.  Because it takes all kinds of people to make up this world, there is a wide divergence in the results of sincere  "couplehood".  That's a relationship that can still throw curve balls years after the "I do!"  So, it's pretty much understood that even though you are working at that perfect union, some days are going to be good.  And some days are going to be bad.  Heck!  It might be more than some days.  It might even be whole years that are in the "for worse" category.

But two that trump even a marriage relationship without instruction manuals, are the roles of in-law and grand parent.  And boy have I ever failed miserably in both those arenas.  I have read articles and  "self-help" books plus asked questions and done a LOT of observation in my own family and with the people I work regarding both of these kinds of relationships.  Hasn't made a bit of difference.  I am still making huge blunders and feel like I am relegated to the position of "other" grandmother, mother-in-law, whatever.

Now I knew going into that stage of my life that I was never going to be the kind of grandmother/mother-in-law my mother was for her grandchildren and sons-in-law.  No calming influence.  No pillow-y bosom.  No patience of Job.  No pleasant and tender remarks.  I am a career woman.  I am short and to the point.  I  see outstretched arms and sticky hands coming toward me, and my first impulse is to protect my uniform from possible messy situations.  I know I am about as lovable as a porcupine.

So, I can understand the "why" of being on the outer fringes.  Still.....I have high hopes that someday my peeps will look at me and find out I'm kinda okay after all.

One can always dream, can't they?