By pure coincidence, I actually heard from a flight attendant who worked this particular flight. The gate agent simply did her job, abiding by company policy and offering alternate options for boarding that applied to the situation. He just didn't like them. From various articles I saw, the employees had a case of…

Especially in the airline industry, all you need is a flight number and date. That narrows the field of possible employees to less than 10 from the entire company. I have had multiple occasions in which a customer has asked for my last name, and absolutely zero letters as a result. It's an intimidation tactic, pure…

I just walked past a 7-11 in Chicago and saw them, so, yes. I'd also never heard of them before, and I'm pretty sure I pissed off a couple people behind me with my rubbernecked gawking.

I've been scouring ModCloth for a nice, splurge dress to wear to a few upcoming weddings, so I'll give eShakti another look. Thanks!

Do you have a lot of experience with eShakti? I got a little turned off by some of the non-sponsored reviews I was able to dig out of the depths of google and never bothered to order from them. I read in a few places that the materials and quality were quite shabby, but your experiences were different?

I may be in danger of being super hypocritical right now, but I find purity balls and pledges to fathers very, very strange. That being said, on my 13th birthday, my dad took me to a nice dinner and gave me a ring that my parents and I had earlier discussed as being a symbol to myself that I would wait until…

I'll have you know I am very proud of my C-and-D hips (so called because I almost always bump the people sitting in the aisle seats). And jackasses like these will do well to remember that the aisle is a shared space and not your private elbow-airing area. (And if you're wondering, I do take pleasure in running into…

I know there's quite a few flight attendants floating around the Gawker network, but if you ever get the hankering to do the cabin crew's perspective, I'd love to help out. (And if you have no desire to do so, feel free to ignore! I know our job isn't quite as glamorous and exciting as doing the actual flying, and…

Re: your ETA, it honestly has everything to do with your airline. So if you fly United most of the time (which I'm assuming you do, going through Chicago and Denver), you won't see Atlanta that much. But if you mainly fly on Delta, you spend a lot of time going through the ATL (among others). Just another weird…

The Denny's Tumblr is a thing of beauty.

Uh, don't rely on anything being wiped down in between flights. Anything. At my airline, the flight attendants are responsible for cleaning the cabin, and that amounts to pulling people's empty Starbucks cups out of the seatback pocket (related: we walk through so many times to take trash, is it your security…

Some people can't carry pepper spray - like me, for instance. TSA considers it a weapon, so I'm not allowed to carry it at work (even to and from my car), which is when I'm most likely by myself (on a layover or visiting a new city for fun). I try not to be out after dark, but that doesn't guarantee my safety. And…

Declaring the plane lost doesn't mean the search has stopped, but they are now officially searching for a wreckage site vs. possibly finding the plane intact somewhere. It would take a lot more than just frustration to give up looking entirely, because explanations will be demanded from a number of sources, and that…

Actually, I'm not saying that reporting on it is making it an issue. The "us vs them" comes from both sides, and both sides should be held responsible for how they respond to one another. I'm not mad that Christian (thanks for the quotation marks, by the way) parents want their kids to be a part of a religious…

I'm not saying everyone's worldview is right or good, but parents are allowed to choose how to raise their kids. What's important is what happens when those kids grow up and are able to think for themselves. And the tragedy comes when that isn't allowed to happen. It's not perfect, but it's what we have to work…

I grew up in Christian Girl Scout alternatives, this is absolutely nothing new. I was a Pioneer Girl and later (after an out-of-state move) a GA (an abbreviation I can't remember the full meaning of). I realize there are many problematic things in evangelical Christianity today (seeing as how I am still involved in…

I highly recommend reading In The Land of Invisible Women, written by a British, American-educated woman who practiced medicine in Saudi Arabia for a short time. Her experiences there with the men and women she worked and socialized with were incredibly eye-opening and fascinating.

This is my problem with the marriage!! culture (for lack of a better word). Two of my best friends, who happened to be married to one another, like to poke fun at the fact that they both turned 30 right after significant events in their dating lives (he after they first met, she after they married). It's ridiculous…

I've never spent more than 20 hours in Indianapolis, but all you had to do was mention Carmel, and now I understand. Carmel, your reputation sucks.

Thank you. I spent quite a few minutes staring at the cursor trying to figure out where I knew that from but it just wouldn't come to me. The dangers of lots of figure skating discussions on different sites, I suppose.