interview with united...

the morning started all-too-early when the damned alarm clock began buzzing in my not-too-rested ears. i slept well, just not enough. i lay there for a while just attempting to wake up. my eyes wouldn't cooperate; they felt like cinder blocks.

i'm a planner, though, and i knew that i had set the alarm precisely thirty minutes ahead of the time i actually needed to be awake. it's like having dessert first: you know you have to wake up but you also know that you can lay still just a bit longer.

i got to the airport around eight; my flight was at 10:02. traffic, on a friday, was a breeze. inside hartsfield, the line snaked around the terminal for miles, it seemed, yet it only took about twenty minutes to make it through security. so, yeah, i arrived at the gate more than an hour-and-a-half early. blah.

i read magazines and ate a sub from blimpies while waiting. i was on the t-gate so the only view you had was of the parking lot and cab stand. and the maintenance bay. not as exciting as the sight of planes taking off and landing and the hundreds of tugs pulling luggage and the shuttles carrying employees too and fro with the magic of an ant farm.

oh well.

my flight was on time... i was concerned going from the worlds busiest airport to the second on friday morning. boarding was a cinch; it was then that i began to realize and remember why i loved the job and why i was spending a whole day in chicago to possibly return to flying the friendly skies.

i introduced myself to the flight attendants, one of which worked at airtran previously. he is now one of two i know who work for united now. betts is there and tyson had an interview a week or two ago.

we arrived at o'haire a little behind schedule. figures. not a problem for me, though, since my interview wasn't until two. i took the train into town and ate at viere, chicago's oldest italian restaurant. i bellied up to the bar and treated myself to the best lasagna i've ever tasted. i'm not sure what kind of cheese they had in the dish but it rocked! it was creamy, meaty and the pasta was made fresh, so...

i looked at my phone for the time and realized it was just thirty-three minutes until two. i was supposed to be at the interview ten minutes prior, just twenty-three minutes away. i had just ordered a glass of wine, believing that it was still closer to noon. apparently the train ride was much longer than i imagined.

i hurried out of there, drinking only a few sips of the wine, and walked toward 10 riverside plaza. i could see the bridge shortly and breathed a sigh of relief knowing it was just a few blocks away.

but... it was then that i remembered i was also going to stop at kinkos and print my resume. oops. it turned out not to be a problem but i don't like to not follow directions... well, sometimes i don't.

the interview itself, in my opinion, was a repeat of the prior one and a waste of my time and united's money. the questions they asked were the same. exactly. i filled out two forms: one with my address, which i'll have to change and another stating that i hadn't commited any crimes in the last ten years and no drug use, etc., etc.

i could have done that by mail.

having said that, the interview went well. working with airtran obviously taught me about the profression and i knew better the answers to their canned questions. we'll see if they work for them.

i was just myself. perhaps that was enough.

on the way back to the airport, i walked around for a little bit. in hindsight i should have walked longer but wanted to make sure i was on time for my flight. having misjudged the time of the train ride earlier, i didn't want to miss my flight... that would surely cause me not to get the job.

o'hare is a boring place. if you have three hours to wait for a flight, wait somewhere else. i was so early, my flight was not even on the board. i ate at chili's. walked around... and around... and around. thankfully i did not have any luggage.

finally, i decided i'd go back to sleep. back because i fell asleep on the train. the poor lady beside me almost missed getting off 'cause she couldn't wake me up. oops.

it was easier to sleep on the train even with the jerking and vibrating that it was in the terminal at o'hare. everywhere i tried to sit people were yacking on their phones or there were pubescent girls shrieking. ugh.

then, as luck would have it, my flight was delayed... then they had to wait on the plane to be re-crewed. oooo. a memory of one of the set-backs of the job. the difference now is, though, that i can use the benefits to see my friends and have a bit better knowledge of the whole system. i never dove into the job at airtran. i had more than one distraction back then.

matt was supposed to pick me up but his friends dad was killed in a car crash in north carolina... so, i planned to ride marta. thing is, marta's last train runs at one a.m. on friday. i arrived at the tracks at 1:05. who's this bitch named karma and where can i find her? i feel like i have a huge apology to make to her.

by the way, the flat rate cab ride from the airport to midtown is $32 if you are interested. the cabbie was pissed because i told him i was using a credit card. he wanted cash, he said, because my transaction would cost him money. too bad, i told him. i was tired, irritable, it was already costing me $32 and i wasn't about to stop at an atm, which would cost about four dollars more in fees. get over it and get me home.