When my alarm went off at 5:45 AM, I was a little grumpy. I jumped in the shower, dried off, and pumped. When your baby is exclusively breastfed and you travel a lot for work, it’s a little stressful to count the frozen bags of milk in the freezer and realize that, give or take a bottle or two, he’s got just enough to make it through your trip. Every ounce counts, right?
I was disassembling my pump when I knocked over the pumped bottles and spilled over 10 ounces of milk all over floor (that is a lot of milk). Not only did I spill it, but I dumped it all over the outfit I was planning on wearing to the airport. Whoever said, “There’s no use crying over spilled milk,” was not a pumping momma. I let a loud four letter word escape my lips and then took a deep breath. I reminded myself that Henry has enough milk; those bottles were just extra.
A quick glance at my phone told me that I was getting late. I started flipping through my closet like a mad woman, trying to find something that was clean and matched. I was getting all worked up over being late. Again – I took a deep breath and thought, “Maybe I spilled that milk because I would’ve been in a horrific car accident on the way to the airport if I had left on time.” Everything happens for a reason. I suddenly felt a lot better.
I made it to the airport – safely – and got to my gate. When I walked up, they announced a mechanical error and said the flight was delayed an hour and ten minutes. I thought, “Uggggh, great. I woke up early for nothing.” I was pissed. I was doubly pissed because I had a layover; I’d still make my connection, but I really hate layovers. I had only booked a connection because a direct flight was an extra $200 more. The delay was the icing on the cake. I sent a whiny text to Kristien. Then I took a deep breath and decided it didn’t really matter that my flight was late.
Over the loudspeaker, I heard an announcement – “Caitlin Boyle, can you please come to the podium?” I walked up, nervous that I was about to get screwed, and I’d miss the presentation that I’m giving at the ZOOMA expo tonight. The US Airways rep said, “Hey, I thought I’d move you to a direct flight so you don’t have to worry about making your connection.” I was so happy and thanked him profusely. He clicked around on the computer for a bit and said, “Wow, your connection home tomorrow totally blows. Do you want me to move you to a direct flight for tomorrow, too? I’ll do it free of charge.” I couldn’t believe it! He was so proactively nice to me. It completely made my morning. You can bet that I’ll be writing US Airways an e-mail telling them all about the wonderful Christopher Gossner. Flying is usually such a headache, but the experience made my morning.
I guess this is my way of saying… Positivity pays off. If your day seems to be going horribly, it can really all turn around on a dime. That’s the nice thing about life, huh? Even when you’ve got pumped milk all over your shoes, great things can happen.
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That’s awesome! Good customer service goes a long way