Sink’s Clogged!

Ok, one last one under “You found what WHERE?” before we move on to other things.

I finally decided I better learn how to work that lower galley with all the drama upstairs. It was intimidating because it was a huge responsibility. You kept the service going and you didn’t want to let your crew down by getting behind because you didn’t understand the flow. If you understood the galley, you understood the entire L-1011 and could run that thing. It was the heartbeat of the operation. Fortunately I had a great mentor and she taught me tricks to stay ahead of what my crew would need; how to anticipate their needs. I got so good, folks wouldn’t even have to call, I knew where they were in the service, what they would need, and when. It was a dance. I would get down there on long flights and change into my running shorts, put my Walkman (Yup!) on with one ear off so I could hear the squawk box yell at me and just get in my groove. I loved that place.

On all nighters, crew would rotate through and take naps. On Christmas we would bring our spouses and set up a buffet and the champagne would flow. It was our place. None of that was sanctioned of course, but that’s how things rolled in real life. Nobody was hurt in the process and somehow we all lived to tell about it.

There was a great sink down there with a window over it that looked down on the countryside below. I felt like Donna Reed in a plane at that sink. Then, one flight, my sink stopped up. Oh well, no more sink on that flight. I wrote it up and one of our awesome mechanics came on at the next stop to have a look. I swear those guys had seen everything and could fix anything and never complained. They were the best.

I was upstairs getting my bags together with the rest of the crew, when our mechanic came up with one of the trash bags we use to pick up the cabin just as full as could be. It was one of those bags with handles and our logo all over it. It was nice. We asked what he had found.

He got a grin on his face (a big brother who is going to gross you out kind of grin) and started pulling this long ropey thing out of the bag. And pulling, and pulling…

The bag was FULL.

What is that?? We all wondered. IT, was a tapeworm. He had removed it from my sink drain system. Immediately I wondered why I had even asked. I logged that in the “things I kinda wish I’d never seen” file and put another tick in the column gathering support for “just stay in your own lane girl.”

Delay.

Tapeworms on a plane…