Life As a Susan

As most of you already know, yesterday I hung up my flame-retardant polyester pants. I turned in my bio-identification eyeball-scanning airport pass. I tucked away my canister of bathroom spray for those "little olfactory emergencies". I rolled my rolly bag for the last time. Basically what I'm getting at is I quit my job. It's sad but at the same time kind of liberating. I will miss the job, but the benefit is that I won't miss my family so much anymore, which is kind of nice.

I started a new job a few days ago at a large company downtown. I have to admit it has been a bit of an adjustment.

1. I found out (the hard way) that my trademarked toothy airline smile is remarkably inappropriate in an office setting and actually seems to make people uncomfortable.

2. Walking back and forth through the cabin all day is MUCH different than having to walk blocks between buildings downtown. However, I feel safer dodging cars than I ever did dodging overhead bags.

3. I can eat fresh fruit and hot meals everyday. I realize now, this is one of the great benefits of working on land. I will never take a lunch hour for granted ever again.

4. At this job I not only see my boss everyday, but she actually leans over me to fix mistakes I've made. To this day I still do not know who my boss was at the airline. Whenever I imagined what my airline boss looked like I pictured Dr.Claw from Inspector Gadget.

5. I have a phone that I am expected to answer. This blows.

6. The airline job is to the Twilight Zone what the corporate job is to the Matrix.

7. Should there be a fire in the office, I feel like now I will be able to point out the exits and maybe even yell some commands. I'll probably leave out the part about taking your seat cushion with you though.

All in all I'm pretty happy with my decision. I will keep you posted as I adjust to life back on land.