LIVE FROM DALLAS – 6/6/12
I just want to start this evening by letting you all know how much I appreciate your feedback. These are long days and there are nights, like tonight, when I would really rather get a little more sleep than sit and blog home. But not only do I love to write (have you noticed?) but I made a promise to you all that I would keep you informed with the thought that perhaps, if you could hear it from those of us who are here, it would ease your fears and anxieties about making this transition. If I accomplish that with just one of you, then I have done what I set out to do. And to those who fear that I have left no surprises, you don’t know me very well! I wouldn’t steal all of their thunder here – you deserve something “new” when you get here, too!
All that being said, there really isn’t much to say about today, as this was the day the “work” began. (Mind you, whenever I make that statement I usually wind up with a rather long blog. We shall see!!) To start the day we had a presentation on Customer Service. They seem to have that mastered to an art here – but I guess that’s what you get when your customer service starts with your internal customer. And that’s just what Cindy shared – “We serve each other first!” Here, we are not Coke machines in the sky, we are care givers, and supporters, and professionals and, most of all, great at customer service! It’s a hard lesson to learn that the customer has the right to bring all their personal baggage with them (and I don’t mean the Samsonite kind) while we have to leave ours at home. But with the LUV and family atmosphere here, I really feel that I will be able to do that even BETTER than I have ever done it before.
Southwest classes are large, as you know, and it is a bit unwieldy to handle 73 or us all the time, so today we were divided into 3 groups. We were told to check the list, find out names, and head to the room to which we were assigned. I am in the PHX room in which our trainer, Dave, told us, “You are our brothers and sisters and we are honored to have you!” WOW (that has become our favorite word), when was the last time I heard that! Oh, that’s right, I’ve heard pretty much that same thing every day I have been here. Please don’t pinch me – I don’t want to wake up!
We spent the rest of the day learning the differences between our aircraft and Southwest’s. You’ll learn it all soon enough but, suffice it to say, welcome to the world of blue juice, touch screens, flight attendant pouches and braille translations! And, I’ll clean your planes (just like I would if my Mom or my sister asked me!) cause that’s how family helps each other out. Just gimme that Hoky and get me started!
There was some excitement today. Along with those of you who are in the next class, we got our July bid award today. I’m not sure if everyone was happy – because yesterday we were just happy that we had managed amid all of this excitement to figure out how to put the bids in! But I heard many of us saying (myself included) that we got our FIRST CHOICE! I can say for sure that I did not expect that. And I’m still not certain it was a good choice, but I’ll make it work, and I’ll enjoy it because I just can’t wait to get out on the line!
