This last story took place about the same time as my adventure down south. It was the culmination of years of preparation. Had I not taken that first dive many years earlier, I would never have been pepared for this.
I worked for an airline a little over 1.5 years and it was the best job I ever had. I thoroughly enjoy the work, the airport, the customers, the razzle-dazzle of getting flights off on-time, and the occasional celebrity. I worked mostly 4 hour shifts in the evening 5 days a week.
The shift would start with a briefing of all who started at that hour. On-time was always stressed. If your shift started at 5:00, you had to be at the 5:00 briefing in uniform. Anything unusual that may be happening for that shift, evening assignments, and emphasis on certain procedures were discussed. Then you would proceed to your assignment.
When I first started, there was a men's locker room and a lady's locker. I can't vouch for the lady's locker room, but the men's was pretty beat up. That is where we changed into our uniform and stored our spare uniforms and our street clothes and any personal possessions during the shift. The problem was that the lockers were dirty, unreliable, and didn't "lock" and the room itself was old and dirty.
Shortly after I started, we were told they were building new locker rooms. Space is at a premium for most airlines. Not only that, but the more space you used the higher your rent. As the planning progressed, the plan was changed from locker rooms to using some empty space for one large locker room. It was to be used by everybody to store there clothing (and possessions), but since most of the employees were female, the women would also dress there. The men would have to retrieve there uniforms and store their street clothes in the new locker room, but still dress in the old locker room.
