When You Don't Really Get Along With Someone You Fly With

99% of the time I get along with everyone I fly with. But every so often you meet Crazy.

Crazy is usually very easy to spot, because the first thing out of his or her mouth lets you know they were either born that way, or long ago had a lobotomy to remove the part of the brain that handles social skills.

The A flight attendant had only been working a month longer than me but she was overbearing, controlling and very bossy. The first thing out of her mouth was "you're 32 seconds late." I was like, oh dear. This is gonna be interesting.
For 4 days and 3 nights we had to sit together in the front of the plane on a bench jumpseat. What was even worse was how she could go from being a tolerable human being to a complete headache in the same hour. Everything about her personality rubbed against the grain, and it was really difficult to relax throughout the trip as a result.

The B flight attendant was pretty senior (I think she was hired the year I was born) and she was a bit of a Negative Nancy. Things that are only mildly annoying to me, such as someone's legs or shoulder hanging out into the aisle when we're trying to get the beverage cart by are huge ordeals for her. I don't mind doing the courtesy "'scuse me, 'scuse me, coming through, pardon me. Thank you, sir."  But she would sigh exasperatedly and ask out loud how we were expected to do our jobs when people were so unruly.
She was also one of those  "I have my own system of doing things" in the back galley. No helping allowed. Most people would be like, great, I can just sit down and read the entire time, but not me. I like to feel productive at least some of the time. Plus, sitting on the 20+ year old jumpseat cushions on a 737 aren't exactly a treat. Good thing they're about to retire the entire fleet! On a side note, Boeings are fantastic planes. They fly great, they're reliable and they're American made. (Mericuh!) But, they're also extremely loud, kinda cramped and uncomfortable. I digress.

The thing about working with people who you don't really get along with in an airline is proximity. Its easy enough to ignore someone when they're 7 cubicles away, but when you're in an aluminum tube with them for 3+ hours, there's not much you can do. Basically I spent the duration of the flights after the drink service making trash collection runs and thats it. If I sat by fussy-face in the front I'd have to listen to a lecture about the only right way to serve a snack basket. If I sat in the back with Nancy, I had better be sure to bring something to read while she puttered around and cleaned the coffee maker rather than make an attempt at conversation.

The good part of the trip was I got to spend 3 overnights in Florida at a nice hotel near the beach. They weren't long overnights, but I was dead set on getting some sand between my toes and some ocean in my hair. I begged the shuttle driver to take me the 10 minute drive to the beach early in the morning before we left at 4 PM. Technically, a hotel is not obligated to take you anywhere except a grocery store or pharmacy, etc. But I begged, and did the puppy eyes (and offered monetary incentive) and one of the drivers took pity on me. We exchanged cell phones, and I spent some much needed time in the sun. Honestly, the entire trip was worth it for that one day.

In the early morning the water is cooooolllld