Saturday went well. We finished Becoming Berlin: An Afternoon With Princess Donna. Yay!! Angela and January were both awesome and Mr. Fitzgerald did a wonderful job, as well. I’m fortunate to have such a good team, and awesome friends. The movie is edited, except for what we shot on Saturday. Once that’s added in, then it’s off to have music added and *dramatic music* then it will be available to YOU, faithful reader.
(And any other pervert on the internet, but you’ll know first ’cause I’ll post about it here, yo.)
Sunday went well. I was attending a bachelorette party in Vegas with a friend. Myself and a shit load of her friends from back east and one from Hawaii rented a suite at Caesars Palace. Last night was the first night there with the group, and we’d bought tickets to see Cher, for her last concert at Caesars Palace. Her final performance. She canceled at the last minute, and the only reason we staying at that hotel is because we’d gotten a Cher Package. Blah Blah. So we decide to go see LOVE instead, at the mirage, which turned out to be the same price as Cher. Ticketmaster had already refunded the person who had originally bought the tickets.
While going to dinner and the show while walking up and down the strip dressed in my 4.5″ strappy heels, fishnet pantyhose, a leopard print pencil skirt, a tight black cleavage baring tank top and my beautiful Sue Nice corset, laced at about 21″. I was all dressed up and stumbling over cobblestones for at least 4 hours. I did garner rather a lot of attention, and Jessica was kind enough to take a photo. If she gets it to me in a timely fashion I will post it here. I loved all the stares the corset received. =)
We went to a tequila bar/restaurant’s for dinner and I had two shots of a sweet creamy tequila based something or other. It was a straight liqueur, I think? Whatev. 2100 something. Or something like that. Then we all tottered over to see LOVE and enjoy it’s self proclaimed psychedelic show. ;) We were all very moved and impressed and occasionally overwhelmed. I recommend it and would love to see it again. They rocked it.
Then we teetered over to Caesars and told everyone we saw how much better the Beatles were than Cher. I promptly passed out (I had an early flight this morning, but I’ll get to that in a moment.) This morning was pastries, gummy bear throwing and hung over ness. I’m happy I don’t drink. It never looks fun and it only seems to feel fun for one fleeting moment each time I attempt to go over 2 drinks. I suppose I’m just wired that way.
Moving right along, this morning I caught a cab to the airport, missed the check in time by ten minutes, which is no big deal because I fly a lot on Southwest and usually they just move you to the next flight available. Which was in an hour by the time it was all booked. Perfect. I checked my luggage, smoked my final cigarette, went through security and to my gate. When I got to my gate I looked at the monitor and realized that my flight had been delayed by almost an hour, but that a flight going to LAX was leaving at the same time as my previous flight. So, I headed to the ticket counter closest to me where there were some agents and walked up they were having a conversation about something personal, and there was no one else at the counter. I waited a moment, then smiled and said “Hey there.”
I then stood there like an idiot while they finished their conversation and the gentleman behind the counter looked up and me and said “What?” as if I had interrupted the most important conversation of his life and then he’d realized, mid-word, that I looked exactly like someone he hated for deep seated reasons. I started to say something about wanting to change my ticket and he wasn’t even looking at me anymore.
So, I said “I’ll find help elsewhere. Thank you.”
I then went to the next counter down and was assisted by another lady with my ticket change. No big deal. I mention the treatment I’d gotten at the previous counter and asked to speak to the supervisor before I go. Then I ask what we can do about my luggage, that’s been checked into another flight that’s leaving much later than the flight I’m currently on and she tells me that I’d have to talk to the supervisor about that, anyways. She calls the supervisor on duty, asks him/her to come over and the supervisor asks for me to move to a different gates’ ticketing booth. I head over there (which is near my intended departure gate) and walk up to the counter. I walk up to the open space in line and the lady I am about to have a confrontation with looks at me expectantly, which I take to be a sign that she’d like to know why I’m here. I tell her who I am and show her my boarding pass and tell her that I am supposed to meet a supervisor at this gate. She gets defensive and wants to know why I need to talk to a supervisor. I tell her that I needed a special request with regards to my luggage and the other was a matter that I’d discuss with her. She looked at me, called over a supervisor and said “I can’t help you with anything else” and then she GAVE ME THE HAND. She stuck her fucking hand in my face. I looked directly at her, told her that she was classy and wrote her name down. I then proceeded to tell her that I had been sent here from another gate. She looked at the person in line behind me, gave me the hand and said “May I help you?” I then stood away from the counter and waited to speak to the supervisor for about ten minutes. It had taken me about 15 minutes to actually get to the gate. Meanwhile, back at the counter, the lady who refused to assist me was discussing the merits of our discussion. I’m sure I heard a racial slur in there somewhere. Her counter companion told her more than once to just humor me. Once the waiting game hit the 1/2 hour mark I got really irritated and I called the number on my ticket sleeve after asking when the supervisor was expected to arrive and being given answers like “when she gets here”. All I had was a simple luggage complaint to worry about in the beginning and it had become a little annoying. I got someone on the phone and I was explaining to him that I had a flight leaving, and that finding someone to help me resolve the issue was more than difficult. In the middle of our conversation, the supervisor stepped up, followed by another lady in a polo shirt. I told the supervisor that I was on the phone with Southwest and that I’d get off now that she’d arrived. I said good bye and she immediately became very defensive and wanted to know why I was on the phone. I told her that my time was limited and I had three issues to resolve with her, and one involved my luggage, and the other two were in regards to customer service. She told me that she’d already been briefed on the customer service issues and that there weren’t any. I then launched into a mini monologue that described what had happened and handed her my luggage ticket.
She did not address any of my issues, nor my luggage, but preceded to tell me that I, in fact, had been in the wrong entirely and having a supervisor over was a courtesy since none of my problems were urgent and that I “felt” a little negative. I heartily agreed with and used verbal bullet points to illustrate it again. She told me she couldn’t help me and reiterated that those on her watch had done nothing wrong. I then told her that I thought that her customer service standards sucked and that I would be calling corporate. Before thanking her for her time I made a mental note of her name and proceeded to call TMS, vent a bit, buy a small chai and went to my gate. I sat down near my gate and waited for the flight to board. (Only moments away!!) I then called the customer service number on my A List membership card and began chatting with a lady who works exclusively in the customer service department at corporate headquarters. She looked up my flight history and my records and saw that I flew a lot with Southwest and that the only other time I’d had an issue had been in Las Vegas. WTF?? She also noticed a ticket that hadn’t been refunded yet from a few months ago. After I’d given her the low down, she agreed to try and resolve at least the luggage issue and would speak to the supervise about the other issues and get back to me. Then I noticed the original supervisor standing approx 20 feet away from me with two police officers and the mystery blonde polo shirt lady. I mentioned this to the lady I’m on the phone with and she’s like WTF? and tells me to remain calm. We keep chatting and she tells me that it’s no big deal, that she’ll talk to the supervisor, even though she has no direct authority, she doesn’t think this sounds right. Which it wasn’t. I’m told I can’t be helped, and then I am approached by the police? The supervisor walks over JUST AS THE FUCKING PLANE IS PREPPING FOR BOARDING and people are lining up and milling about, holding their newly purchased soft pretzels and chocolate boxes and I heart vegas t-shirts. She tells me to hang up the phone. I tell her that I’m currently on the phone with customer service and they’re resolving my issues. She then tells me that I am to come with her and the police officers for a chat. I ask why, and am told it’s because I instigated a confrontation with her and two of her customer service representatives. I tell her to pull up the security tape and review it. Polo blondie then says that they don’t need the tape because they have witnesses. WTF? I tell her that I’m afraid I would miss my flight if I did that and would just like to get on the plane, and out of her terminal. Then the customer service representative told me to hand the supervisor my phone. Which I did. They spoke for about two seconds. The supervisor laughed and handed me my phone back. The customer service representative then told me to call her back as soon as we were done with whatever chat we needed to have before I boarded my plane.
I stood up and asked the supervisor what she needed to talk to me about. She told me that I would not be boarding that Southwest flight and that I would have to go back downstairs with my current boarding pass, go back to the Southwest desk and use that confirmation number to get on another flight, and that the police would be escorting me out of the boarding area.
Continue Reading »
