Taking Care Of What I'm Leaving

I don't mean to say I'm the best server in the world but can say with confidence am a strong one and valuable asset to other servers I work with.

My days are winding down at the best job ever, working for for the best restaurant group ever.

I've made strides as a server professionally, personally and financially and even more importantly have made friends...wonderful friends.

I've laughed more than I have in almost a decade and felt even better getting paid beyond handsomely for doing so.

I've witnessed things on a daily basis which have never seen before in my over half century on this earth.

In other words..it has been a Ball.

 How do you forget one shoe when you walked in wearing a pair?

 Never seen a woman zip a purse over seventy times in less than two minutes.

Have never enjoyed seeing my daughter blossom more as a young woman.

 She even met famous director, Ang Lee.

 I cried from laughing so hard on the shuttle that one day with my son, leaning over to tell him "Nobody puts Bobby in a corner" and yes he still says I said it way too loudly.

 Dang, Boyce Avenue?

 Greatest General Manager ever.

 The top of my inner thigh was killing me and did this with an ice pack in the back everytime I went into the kitchen. Classic Cotton moment.

 Waited on bad ass, Michonne from The Walking Dead.

 Best shuttle drivers in the world almost make it worth paying twelve bucks a day to park.

 If Momma's happy, everybody's happy.

 Yes I've been alone with him on the plane train with another co worker and yes he's pretty hot.

 I worked with and quickly came to love some of the best management team to ever leave. Just glad I was able to work with and learn from them all.

Saw the biggest plane I ever have..

Met and was humbled by...but gained respect and love for workers behind the scenes who make pretty much everything possible.

Learned a lot about pop culture from my youngest.

Had a lot more fun with a selfie stick than ever thought possible.

Old managers were replaced with excellent decisions from the higher ups.

They're my favorite Ebony and Ivory.


I decided a couple of months ago that would try and find a couple of people to get on board the Crazy Train and actually be assets, while also being handsomely rewarded.

Pay It Forward is the simple... easiest concept ever and one that could save this (currently needing salvation) world if applied in everyday life...by every one of us.

My sister first recommended a server she knew. He was mid forties, seemed to be a real go getter and thought would be a dependable employee. She had gone to church with him briefly but is a good judge of character so I contacted him.

That's the kind of person who deserves to get my job when I leave. It was a salvation for me getting this job and continue to appreciate it every single day, every single shift.

Someone who wanted and deserved the chance to succeed...just like me. It took a hot minute but finally convinced him after many phone conversations.



He was (almost literally) balls to the walls thrown into the job with a crammed in training period during the busiest peak of our travel season combined with the start of the Summer Olympics and upcoming annual Microsoft convention. Bless his heart.

He'll be just fine, I (eventually) was.

He's totally overwhelmed but coming in every day, always early and eager to help.

I can just tell he's a Lifer like me. He probably feels just like I did my first four months. Throwing up mentally on the inside while having to appear calm and reassuring in your facial expression and with your demeanor.

My first few months was the hardest acting class a person should ever have to take. I probably got a "B" if I had to guess.

Then to Pay It Forward once again...got a message from someone I grew up with in my ole stomping ground all my (60's 70's early 80's) youth in East Point. Her family lived literally one block away from our family. There was a whole slew of em. Seemed like they had fifteen kids back then but was probably about five or six.

One of the boys married a girl I went to school with K-12. I still stay in contact with her.

Another of the girls recently contacted me after following my blog for a while. She had a son who was serving at another location of the Western Sizzler I used to work for and was wanting a more professional position. I called my manager and he gave the guy an interview the very next day and hired him on the spot.

BINGO!

It was a 'Two-Fer'.

I've trained him the past few nights and couldn't be more pleased.

Not bragging (maybe I am) but going to leave a pretty significant hole in the wait staff department. In the almost three years have been there I have missed two days of work, when I had the flu. They have never asked me to pick up a shift that I didn't. I've had maybe five shifts since starting there that only made streetside money...in other words what I used to make on a busy weekend night (if I was lucky).

I want someone else like me, or who cares like me to have the chance I did...to grow and make a difference, for yourself and for others.

So fast forward...


It was my day off today and heard my cell phone ping downstairs around one PM.

Not checking it. If was an emergency would call back or call our landline. I checked it around one thirty when I went downstairs for something.

It was from my General Manager. They were short staffed, another server called out and asked if I could come in?

It was raining outside and always like a gravy shift so agreed to go in.


OMG....

Be still my beating heart...it was Michonne's Boo from The Walking Dead, sitting with his wife and kids at my very first table.

I was still training my second PIF (Pay It Forward) so he also got to meet him and his family.

I think this may have been the most convincing training shift ever for the new kid that he's landed the serving job of a lifetime. I can already tell he's gonna be great and look forward to working with our two newbies for another minute or so.

Absolutely and hands down dread saying goodbye to this job and what it means to me, in every facet of the word.

"Means" in my use of the word is described by Webster as "A method, a course of action, or an instrument by which an act can be accomplished or an end achieved".

I've achieved the  means to my goal. I snot up every time I think about leaving these people but must.

My torch is passing and feel pretty good about who I'm passing it two (small pun).

I hope they enjoy Ecco as much as I have and almost sure they will.

I had a rebirth around the age of fifty. Ecco had more than a lot to do with that and thank them wholeheartedly for simply taking a chance on this old skinny broad. Trust me, they've made me feel Phat!

Nobody's going to get you up those stairs but yourself and the people who love you.

Lucky for me am loved by many and also have The Big Guy on my side.

I went from desperate to panicked then suddenly scared out of my wits. I stepped out of the box and took a chance...and  paid off in more ways than I can count.


I'll be the first one to admit that am basically nuts, always have been and always enjoyed being a crazy person.

 Jimmy Buffet said it best...

With these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes
Nothing remains quite the same
With all of my running and all of my cunning
If I couldn't laugh I just would go insane.

Massey's last day at Ecco is this Saturday. I'm not sure how I feel about that. She's also become a valuable asset to our team and will miss working with her five days a week.

Guess it's a good thing she's my daughter, still loves and lives with me.

I still can't talk about actually finally leaving for good with any of my managers at work because immediately well up with tears and way too much emotion.

It's hard to walk away from what helped save you which also includes my sister.

 We weren't really that that close as little kids but have admired her for as long as I can remember. Once we had kids of our own have been  tighter than tight and fought the fight...always together.

True fact...

Since being grown have never been with her for over thirty seconds and not laughed.

Guess it's also a good thing she has free flight privilege.


The times (my times) are changing...but for the better and have to keep that in mind.

Til next time...COTTON

It's Me Burfday!

                          At my age birthdays are like "Let's celebrate not being dead yet".

I didn't ask for my birthday off at work this year, haven't in quite a few. There's nothing at my age which makes me happier than being alive and having a job to go to.

Airport Security had other plans. All employee badges expire on your birthday. A bartender who works with me had a birthday last month and when getting his badge renewed the fingerprints and background check came back in less than twenty hours. Then he went back the next day and got his new badge. I waited later than I ever have but still went thirteen days before my birthday...plenty of time, I thought.

One of the managers went two days after I did and already had his fingerprints back. Everybody told me not to worry, they would let me work on my birthday, just had to be clocked out of the airport by midnight when it expired. My birthday was on Sunday so was pretty nervous when they hadn't come back on Friday. Now I'd have to wait for Monday and hope they came in early enough to go by the badging office before work at 1:30.

So on my birthday, Massey offered to drop me off at work so I wouldn't have to park and come back and pick me up after work. What an awesome kiddo. She wouldn't even take gas money.

I strolled in, scanned my badge, punched in my number and waited for the green light and BEEP.

Didn't happen.

Didn't happen when I tried it a second and third time.

Ruh-oh. 

I knew immediately there was a slim to none chance I was getting through security and going to work.

I called my manager, who came outside of security to try and get me through.

Didn't happen.

He had a gift bag in his hand which he handed me, said my co worker sent it to me (also thinking I had a slim to none chance) and wanted me to have it on my birthday. He hugged me, told me to enjoy having my birthday off and go home.

I had called Massey the minute my badge didn't work telling her to turn back around. She came back and parked in the deck connected to the terminal.

It felt really strange to be prohibited from going through security, especially since so many of them know me by name. Massey and I will go through together and the TSA guy running the metal detector will say say "Cotton one..." then when I walk through "Cotton two".

I can make a lot of things happen when  determined but this time didn't have a snowball's chance in hell so simply gave up and went back home. At least I had Massey picking me up curbside, that's always a big deal to airport employees...trust me.

I opened my gift bag from the co worker (lovingly known as Sister Bitch). Just opening her card made me feel better.

Then looked in the bag.

OMG...it was a two-fer!

Two of my favorite work sayings ... "Bitch please" and "You're killing me Smalls".

The immediate  next thing I thought was,  in forty days I'm not going to see these people or work with them forty plus hours five times a week.

A lot of, most of, the majority of... will may (probably) never see again.

Wow.

I've learned and grown more these past (almost) three years working at at the airport more than any other time in my life I can think of.

That's a good thing.

I got to work with two of my three kids and the job was good to all three of us. I'd say we all three made the name 'Cotton' well known and liked on concourse F and the parking decks.


My finger prints didn't come back until late Monday afternoon. Now that my badge had expired couldn't get to HR or the restaurant to pick up my letter of confirmation to take to badging so one of my managers said he'd print off a copy and meet me in the badging office on Tuesday morning. His birthday's next month so he was going anyway.

Got there and spied him in line for his finger printing, stopped by and snagged my paperwork from him and joined the other long line for the test you have to take before getting in yet another line to finally get your badge.

That was so nice of him, he had plenty of time to get his own badge but went ahead and did it that morning so could bring me my paperwork.

That's the kind of managers I work for.

He handed me my papers and said "I left you a birthday present at work, it's on the manger's desk".

That's the kind of people I work with.

I retrieved his present when I went into work later that afternoon, yes my new badge beeped and the light turned green.

I opened his card and my heart swelled with bittersweet emotion. I was really really lucky to have landed (airport pun) this job.

How cool was that?

He's a cool cat anyway.

He gave me a bag of  every one of my favorite snacks and even a Skittles candle with so much meaning behind it made me laugh outloud. (old blog post)

Another manager and two other co workers gave me a box of Godiva chocolates; the box is so pretty I dread opening it. I think it's the first time I've ever gotten Godiva chocolates.

My sister and bro&law had sent me the greatest (to me) card ever in the mail.

Another co worker had left me a gift bag too. A pack of pens, small note pad, magazine and even baked me a cake!

I don't think I've ever gotten so many things for my birthday from co workers. It was totally and completely overwhelming.


I had the greatest birthday ever. I was turned away at security but was loved anyway. I got to go home and cut grass, my favorite thing to do. My son made me a cake from scratch at his restaurant, my daughter bought me a huge (what I call 14k) cookie cake from Great American Cookie Co. and all my family called me, even ole Jed.

Hard to believe we're the same two people almost three decades down the road and Thank the Lord we both changed hair styles.

As excited as I am about us all being together again as a family, am more than anxious about leaving what I know now as my life. Working in an insane, eclectic and fascinating place which wears me out but pays me handsomely for it. I've met people from literally all over the entire planet. It's actually been a really cool serving job and chance of a lifetime for a lifer like me. I've bonded with my co workers and even a few strangers. I feel like after almost three years there can finally say with conviction that am an asset and vital part of the team. I know this sounds stupid to people who have never worked in the service industry but as a lifer is a wonderful feeling of satisfaction and even appreciation.

I think one of my greatest qualities (of about two) is seem to find laughter in almost any situation. Crying seldom helps... my eyes get all puffy, and my snot locker gets full up and the problem's still there. Laughing always seems to make the problem smaller and easier to deal with.
\
I keep waiting for something else horrible to happen to us, have been for well over two years now.

It hasn't.

 So I'm obviously on a roll....after our fumble, tumble and sometimes rumble.

It was a long hard uphill six year climb but sure looks pretty up there from where I stand now.

I think this was about the best birthday ever except maybe for my fiftieth surprise party my daughter helped arrange... one year into our six year debacle and a much needed laughter break.

I'm totally ignoring the fact that in forty days will be living in another state, away from my sister and away from my best job ever, forever. That makes it much easier to not process at this given point in time.

Here I go again, starting over again..Maybe I should have kept that joke six pack of  Ensure at my fiftieth birthday party.

I've decided to enjoy the last few weeks I have left and not think about my exit until I hand in my badge. I've decided to quit thinking about not being able to be at my sister's house in thirteen minutes if I want or need to see her.

I'm just going to continue to laugh, find something funny about every single thing that happens at any time of the day or night and just enjoy my chaotic life here, then go start another one in Florida.

Case in point.

Tonight a co worker had a six top of women. After they paid and left, she came up to me and said "I'm not even sure what to say about the randomness of what's under table 120." I walked over and looked...and immediately took out my cell to take a pic.

Bitch please.

You didn't notice one leg seemed to feel three inches shorter than the other when you upped downed your way out of the restaurant?

That's classic! ...and no she never came back for her shoe.

I'm just going to enjoy these last few weeks, then throw our crap into a truck and take my show on the road to Orlando.

I hope they aren't a tough crowd.

Til next time...COTTON

It's Just Wrong

My first year working at the airport I rode MARTA to work but got old quick. It added four hours to every work day...four hours I didn't get paid for. Once I got my finances in order, bills caught up and was netting a pretty hefty salary began parking at the international terminal and knocked three hours off each work day. It was almost worth the twelve bucks a day for the convenience alone and made my day easier. I could leave my house just fifty minutes before work and get there usually ten minutes early and be home well over a hour earlier. When you're my age and work as hard as I do, that's a small price to pay.

 Plus there were several of the shuttle drivers I really liked a lot and always looked forward to seeing them. When I'd make ridiculously good money on a shift would sometimes tip them five or ten bucks. At Christmas I'd give them a twenty. They always asked about Massey if she wasn't with me. They were genuinely good people. Once Massey started working there we split the parking so really only cost me six bucks anyway.

Then a new parking deck opened on the other side of the interstate and offered an opening rate of $8.25 per day. A couple of my coworkers began parking there and raved about it. Unlike the deck where I parked (find a spot to park walk to the elevator and catch the shuttle) the new one picked you up at your car and took you to the terminal. On returning after work dropped you off right at your car. The very first week they changed their minds and decided to not allow employees to use their lot...passengers only.

After a month of being open and never filling up once, flip flopped and decided to let us park there. I just kept parking where I always had, paying four dollars more per day. Then one of the girls at work told me they once again decided to let employees use the lot. I was one of the last ones to switch but had to admit saving almost twenty bucks a week was worth it. About the third time I parked they told me when entering that if employees wanted to park there, they had to sign up for the rewards program online and get a card to use in the mail. I was okay with that. You park seven days and get one free. You park forty days and get one week free.

Even better!!

So for the past two months we've been parking there. It was awesome. Covered parking and picked you up at your vehicle. After work they took you right back to your car and even gave you a free bottle of water on your way out.

About a month ago we began to hear from the drivers that a few  employees were causing some problems. Most were employees of an airline who has their  own designated free  parking. Some would get on the bus to go to work and complain when the driver kept stopping to pick up others at their car, saying they were running late for work. One woman in particular who I rode with several times just couldn't seem to get it that you had to hand the driver the little card you had been given after being picked up at your car when getting back on the shuttle after work so they would know exactly which parking space you were in and where to let you out. She's sit on the shuttle shouting that they kept skipping her car when in fact they didn't even know where she had parked because she never gave them the card. She sat with it in her hand. We tried several times to explain it to her but she just didn't get it. In other words...she's a nut case.

Two weeks ago when leaving one night they told me beginning July 25 airport employees were not going to be allowed to park there.

Bummer.

On July 26 I tried anyway. I didn't have on my airport badge and drove up, putting my rewards card into the machine. The girl opened the window and immediately said "Hey Miss Kelly."

So much for always chatting with the attendants...they all knew me.

I smiled and said "I'm flying to Paris today, where do you want me to park?" She said she was so sorry but unless I could show her a boarding pass she couldn't let me in the lot.

Number one, you know how many people check in online and go to a kiosk inside the terminal to get their boarding pass printed off?

Number two, she was very nice and said would love to let me in but could lose her job
so I relented.

Number three, okay maybe some employees were causing some problems but I wasn't one of them. Actually since starting to park there, Massey and I both each tipped the driver a buck on the way in and a buck on the way out so were still paying twelve dollars a day to park but with more convenience.

Number four, if employees are causing problems, have them sign a waiver saying will adhere to all the rules and act in a professional manner when using their service. I'd be more than willing to do so.

So now I'm back at ParkRide. That's okay too. Now I have to hunt for a spot to park, hike it to the elevator and go down to the shuttle and do it all in reverse after work but have kind of missed my friends who drove me.

Then I hear at work that  FastPark is allowing airport employees with badges that say "Crew" to still park there for $8.25.

Here's my thing.

So pilots and fight attendants ...who have access to free (albeit a couple of miles away) parking and shuttle buses which take them directly to the gate where they work can park there but people like me who have no designated parking can't?

That's flat out discrimination and it's not right.

I'll give them this...

I never witnessed it until the other week when riding back with them before they cut us off. I was by myself after work. There were about four or five airline (with available free parking of their own in another lot) employees who obviously all worked together riding the shuttle. There were three passengers riding as well. The woman who was driving the shuttle was trying to tell the passengers how it worked when we got back to the lot and to listen for their parking space to be called so they would know when to get off. The airline employees were all showing each other videos on their phones or cackling loud about something at work and one employee even rolled her eyes when the driver asked them to quiet down, for the second time. The passengers couldn't hear what parking space was being called out and those employees seemed to have couldn't cared less.

It was embarrassing to me, especially considering not one of the rude employees tipped a single dollar to the woman who was so graciously dropping them off exactly where their car was parked.

So here's my thinking:

If employees want to park there, have them agree in writing to adhere to the rules of conduct or be bounced from the bus but don't blame the whole basket of apples for a few rotten ones, they all have them.

My money is as green as the traveler's and Crew member's.

But to build a parking lot not located on airport property and refuse to let some airport employees park there but allow some to is wrong no matter how you look at it.

Since I'm transferring to the  Orlando airport to work , called the FastPark in Orlando to ask if employees could park in their lot.

The answer I got (verbatim) was "Anyone can park in our lot".

So the same company has different rules for Atlanta? That doesn't seem right either.

Neither does the fact they flip flopped three times on whether or not we could park there to begin with.

I may be leaving in just over a month's time but this really gets to me, for all the people who will still be working there. We pay the same amount as anyone else and should have the same rights.

I've decided to put my writing skills to work and draft a letter of opposition to their business practice. I'm sending a copy to FastPark, the County Business Authority, the Mayor of Atlanta and local Atlanta TV stations.

As for FastPark, the slow season is about to start and trust me, they will see a huge drop in business. They won't need over half the shuttles they use now which means some of their own  employees will most probably lose their jobs as well.

Corporate greed at it's finest.

I'm a little bulldog when I get hold of something I want, and I want what's right.

I almost feel like calling an attorney who went to highschool with my husband and letting him file a class action suit.

On a brighter note, all my old ParkRide shuttle bus drivers have told me how much they have missed us and welcomed me back with smiles and hugs.

Reminded me of the old adage...

"You Get What You Pay For"

I wouldn't go back to FastPark now, even if they begged me. The $8.25 per day was just an opening rate and will soon go up to $11.00 anyway.

Come to think of it, I'd pay a buck extra any day of the week to ride with a friend.

Til next time...Cotton the Bulldog

Well That Was Painful

So got up for work yesterday morning and the minute I went to sit up knew it was "back" or maybe should  say "out".

Every since I hit the fifty year old mile marker my back goes out for no apparent reason, about once every two or three years.

Well, I know why just never know when.

Number one, serving is a very physical job if you're not a slacker and one thing I can say with conviction is I'm no slacker.

Number two, am willing to tackle pretty much any job which needs to be done. I've cut down and hauled away four trees in our yard since Tim moved away and work in the yards like a broke Latino landscaper. No disrespect to Latinos, they're the hardest working peeps I know. "Lazy Latino" is a total oxymoron in my book.

So about every three years my back goes out. It takes my mind off my right shoulder which always hurts and my left knee which goes in and out as well and the undiagnosed but surely carpal tunnel in my right wrist.

When you're my age and work like I  have (and do) simply feel grateful to wake up at all in the morning. I've started making sure I have clean underwear on every night before going to sleep just in case.

Kind of like when your mom told you to always wear clean underwear in case you were in an accident and had to be taken to the hospital.

I think it's mainly a 'southern thing' but have always agreed with the concern.

So I got in a steaming hot shower and let it scald my back bright pink. Then I turned the water to cold and took it as long as I could stand it.

Then I got Zach to massage my back for a couple of minutes before popping two Advils and getting ready for work.

By five o'clock the pain almost took my breath away. I had cold chills running up my neck and took every minute I could in the back of the kitchen leaning over and stretching, hands dragging the floor like a monkey.

Another co worker did a little Karate chopping on my lower back and felt wonderful. By seven the manager said he was cutting me from the floor and to go home. I nixed that idea, although grateful for his offer. My general manager even went downstairs to the CNN store (kinda like a gift shop and convenience store) to see if they sold Icy/Hot patches. That was a negative but bought me some Excedrin Extra Strength. Too bad I didn't have hemorrhoids, they did sell Preparation H.

If I left and went home, my back would still  hurt but wouldn't be making money so chose to let it hurt while I made money.

Have I mentioned I'm stubborn?

Massey and I had driven separately, I had to be there earlier. I got lucky and got to leave around eight thirty after making almost $300 and was hurting at home by nine thirty.

My heating pad was in my bedroom on the third floor of the house so grabbed a towel out of the laundry room by the kitchen and heated it in the oven. Sat in a chair with it against my back til it cooled then filled my ice pack (which was in the kitchen) and let that sit against my back for another thirty minutes. Repeated the process three or four times and tumbled off to bed.

My airport badge expires every year on my birthday and unfortunately can't through security without it. I usually do it around the first of July but kept putting it off until ten days before expiration. Number one, no one likes going to the badging office. It's a nightmare any time of day you go. Number two is a minimum two trip process to begin with.

I got my manager to get my paperwork from HR when he went to his weekly manager's meeting a couple of weeks ago so at least didn't have to make that dreaded trek as well. I work out at the new international terminal on concourse F. Human Resources is located in the upstairs of T concourse.

This will show you how far the trip is and why I hate making it.

The badging office is located even further back than T , at ground transportation in the entrance to the domestic terminal.

I woke up the next morning and felt quite a bit better so decided to go into work early with Massey at ten and make the trek. I didn't have to work until three so figured that gave me plenty of time.

You'd think.

We parked and took the shuttle to the international terminal. We both went through security and she headed for work. I went downstairs and headed for the plane train back to ground transportation with all my paperwork. I had to be finger printed for an FBI background check. Then after they sent the prints off would be notified by HR they were back and could return to the badging office to get my new badge. The office closes for lunch from 11:45 until 1:00 so figured I was okay.

I wasn't.

I stood in the line like cattle being herded to  slaughter and inched my way forward for thirty minutes. I made it to the lady at the desk  with ten minutes to spare! I handed her my paperwork and two forms of ID. She didn't even look up at me but said "Oh, you need to be fingerprinted. We stop doing that at eleven, you'll need to come back at one." I took my paperwork back and turned to leave, then decided to ask her why they don't let us know they stop at eleven? She still didn't look up... just said "It's posted on all the signs" and vaguely waved towards the crowded hallway where the rest of the cattle were.

I was pretty ticked.

I left, took the elevator back downstairs and walked all the way back to the atrium and went back through security for the second time. Then I headed downstairs for the plane train and traveled from ground transportation to T concourse, then to A concourse, then to B concourse, then C and then D. Glitch on the plane train but then on to E and finally back to F concourse where I work. Went up to the third floor and across the atrium to the restaurant and got my lunch box. I sat in the food court and ate crackers with peanut butter and drank a coke. I sat and checked my email and bank account. I went to the restroom and then headed back for the badging office (which opened again at one) by twelve thirty.

Did it all again in reverse for the second time.

Got there at 12:55.

There were already fifty people in line. I rejoined the herd.  This time I paid attention to every poster or sign posted. I watched the TV in the corner of the hallway ceiling playing the instructional video of what documents and paperwork were necessary or accepted.

Not one sign, poster or video ever mentioned they stopped fingerprinting forty five minutes before they closed for lunch each day.

My back started to ache again. I quit facing forward with the rest of the cattle and stood with my back to the wall and pushed my shoulders back to touch it. That made me feel a little better... but not much.

At 1:45 one of the women seated behind the elusive desk we all wanted to reach said "Next six people" and lucky for me was number six.

I made it in.

Even  more lucky, I got the other woman this time and she was surprisingly pleasant. My paperwork was looked at along with my two forms of ID and was directed to yet another line for payment. I started to bring up the fact there was absolutely no sign or any indication fingerprinting stopped at eleven but decided against it.

You catch more flies with honey than vinegar and my fly was just about caught.

FBI background checks are fifty bucks and a security badge is sixty. Luckily I work for the only concessionaire who pays for both but still have to stand in line to have it processed.

Another ten minute wait in line to (not) pay and was good to go! All I have to do now is wait for my fingerprints to come back and can then do this all again but even get to take a little test first on airport regulations and hospitality.

...bitch please!

So I headed back for the elevator a second time, went down and all the way back to employee security for the third time. Stood in yet another line, went through and hiked it down to the plane train and back to concourse F with twenty minutes to spare and clocked in to begin my work shift.

There has got to be a better way.

The entire debacle reminded me of a shirt I gave one of my bosses on his last day at the Crazy House as our Sous Chef.

My back didn't feel so great but around eight o'clock suddenly realized it wasn't hurting at all. I think a lot of it is stress. I've been worried about waiting so late to get my badge renewed and even more worried about where we're going to live when us Clampetts move to Orlandy.

I was off the next day and the ache was still there a bit so took it easy for the first part of the day, doing the heating pad / ice pack rotation.

Then like a dummy went out and cut the yards front and back and pushed the small areas ole Johnny Dear can't reach. My back still felt tender but better. I think skipping slinging Mr. Weed Eater around helped.

Cooked dinner and did some cleaning but crashed around one AM, early for me. I woke up around six and the ache was back in full force. I stood it as long as I could then finally got up and stretched for five minutes. Then I went downstairs, let a pup out who wanted to go and filled my ice pack. I took two extra strength Ibuprofen and went back to bed where my heating pad was plugged in by my bed. I alternated the hot/cold for about two hours and it finally relaxed around ten and slept pretty good for a couple of hours. I got up and staggered to a steaming hot shower and boiled my back for a minute or two. Then turned the water to cold and froze for another minute or so.

Made it to work with five minutes to spare (which is late for me) and luckily had a slow easy peasy shift. Had a full lunch box, four sandwiches, crackers and peanut butter and chocolate bars and snacked through the entire shift, sharing with my co workers. (they call me Snax)

Back's still not back but is still better. Trust me, I know...been there done that many times over the past five years. I bought a pack of Icy Hot pads and as long as I continue to stretch my back, legs and arms will be just fine.

When you grow older you re-learn your body and learn what you need to do to survive in it.

And if there's one thing I am, it's a Survivor.

Trust me, if a a fifty six year old woman can put up with all it takes to work at the world's busiest Crazy House, I truly am a survivor.

Til next time...COTTON