All right, if you're in the replay gang gang, um I'll time stamp when I'm not uh waiting anymore and I actually start the story. So, y'all be able to skip this part cuz you know I got to let YouTube connect and do its thing. Lord. Okay. All right. Okay. So, if you have been looking at the body cams of me and stuff or if you're a member, you knew I was traveling to uh St. Louis and that was this week. It was a time. Okay. So, first of all, let me say I did not get to choose the airline. I really kind of didn't get to choose the time, either. So, everything I'm just at the mercy of what was already decided. So, if somebody says, "You should have flown blank." I can't. The company paid for it, so I can't [laughter] I had to fly what I flew. Um this is just a story time. It's not hopefully too dramatic, but it was a lot and I'm still tired from it. Okay. So, the purpose of this trip to St. Louis, it was for work and my my boss's leadership told me that they wanted me to be exposed to higher-level stuff and um that they also like the way I bring back information on things because I usually have a different take. So, they feel like they're Well, I'm interpreting they feel like they're getting a better picture of things going on. So, um that's my purpose for going. Also, when I was asked, I thought it was going to be local to my area. I didn't realize I was going to have to fly, but here we are. I did have to fly. So, that was a surprise. I swear I thought it was going to be on a different floor of my building. But anyway, so I guess we're at the airport for the first day. This was on Monday Monday morning. That's the 27th, right? Monday morning. Oh, hey, y'all. Let me say hi real fast. It's not a lot. I promise I won't be long. Hey, Purple Queen, Veronica Monroe, Sweet Tea, Hey Leah's Grandma, Hey Reeboks. >> [laughter] >> Okay, so I get there Monday morning and you know, nothing's going to happen yet cuz you know, we just get to the airport. This is the first time I've been able to only pack a carry-on and didn't need a checked bag and that was a whole new experience. I I really like that and I'm hoping to never have to check a bag again cuz y'all be living a different life for the people that they have always traveled with just a carry-on. It feels nice. I ain't going to hold you. But, so okay, we're boarding the first plane on Monday morning. We get on the plane. We everybody's on there. Great, great, great. There's people in my company that I haven't met before until this Monday. So, I didn't even know who I was with my company when we got on the plane. I only knew two people cuz I had a point person that I was traveling with and then my supervisor. So, I knew those two, but it was actually eight other people did not never would have known their face if they hadn't identified themselves cuz I never had seen them before. But, so we get on the plane. We're seated. Plane starts taxiing like it should. All of a sudden, the taxiing stops and we're not ready to fly. We're just sitting there and then the pilot comes on the intercom and he's like, "Hey, folks. We just have to do a extra checklist, but for this one, we're sorry but it should only take 15 minutes, but we're sorry because we have to shut the whole plane down to do the complete checklist, so there won't be any lights." Which is fine. Close the windows. It's daylight. And there will be no AC. >> [sighs] >> All right, 15 minutes is not hard to deal with. Fine. Fine, 15 minutes. 15 minutes passes. Nobody's coming back on the intercom. About an hour passes. Finally comes back on the intercom. And they they start the plane back up and I have a layover by the way. So, this isn't like a, you know, from here to just getting to the place. So, there's a layover, which we had a nice buffer had we taken off on time. Uh so, we take we do take off finally. Now now we're hot. Oh my gosh. And so, the plane takes off. We land in um what's our stopover? New York, LaGuardia. So, we land in LaGuardia. We're running. LaGuardia don't label their gate letters. They they So, I we were trying to figure out, okay, we landed in gate B. Are we still in gate B? We see the numbers that are coordinate with the gate, but not the actual gate. So, we're trying to figure out, okay, gate Oh, no. Oh god, I'm skipping something cuz this connects to the rest of the story. So, when Oh, no, we're getting there. Never mind, I'll skip it. This is the one we're getting to. It's been so many things that happened. No AC ring for hour. So, we get to LaGuardia. We we deduce we are in gate B. Just have to go to our correct number. So, we do all that. We get to our gate. We're We're kind of running because now we have no buffer anymore. It's boarding time at this point. So, we're running to the plane. We get on the plane. We made the plane, right? So, we're on the plane. We We taxi. Mhm. I'm like, okay, okay. You know, it wasn't that bad. We got here. We're We're here and we're about to fly out, right? Pilot comes on the intercom. Hey folks. I'm like, don't you do it. Hey folks, um we're we're being rerouted. So, we um we're just getting our new flight plan. Nothing to worry about. Okay, reroute. Better than Better than anything else. That means we're staying on this plane. We're going to fly. He's got to get your new flight pattern. Cool. Hey folks, we're going to have to uh fuel the plane because the the new route uh takes more fuel than we have in the plane. Well, I'm glad you're checking. Great, cuz I don't want to run out of fuel on the flight. Great. Glad, you know, cool cool cool. How long is this going to take? This is what I'm thinking. Oh, and I'm sitting next to a uh a pilot in uniform, by the way. >> [laughter] >> I'm sitting next to a pilot in uniform. He's calm, so I'm calm. You know how you look at the crew and it's like, "Okay, y'all Y'all good. Everything should be okay." So, we get back to the gates that we started at. And I'm I'm guessing they're refueling. This flight would have taken about 2 hours-ish to get to St. Louis from New York. We sit at the gate for a good hour and a half. And And during that time, the pilot does come on and say, "We have to let you know that you can get off the plane, but you have to take all of your things. And if you miss the plane when we start flying, you miss the plane." I'm like, "Cool, cuz I'm not getting off. I don't even want that risk." So, and he's like, "I advise you not to get off the plane, but I have to tell you you can get off the plane." Okay, well, I'm staying. And nobody got off the plane, actually. Not one person took the chance of getting off the plane. So, um I'm looking at Omar comment. Lord, Omar, I'm so glad I didn't see this earlier. Like, I'm glad I'm seeing this after I've gone there and been saved. But, he comes back on the No, no, he doesn't come back on the intercom. My phone gets an alert. I look at my alert. It's the American Airlines app. The plane I'm currently sitting on, it says flight canceled. Not delayed, canceled. I'm like, uh Okay. Okay. Hmm. So, I tapped the pilot that's sitting next to me. I was like, "Did you see this?" And he looks at it. And he has, as he should, has a pretty calm demeanor about him. And he's like, uh He's like, "Yeah, with LaGuardia, once things start getting pushed back or if there's anything, you're most likely not going to be able to fly because they have such a a uh busy terminal or busy airport that you're probably not going to fly." So, I He was probably expecting it as soon as they said we got to refuel. I think he already had in his head we're not going anywhere. So, flight's canceled. I turn Now, you know, they didn't come on the intercom yet and say anything. My app has told me it's canceled. Now, I'm looking back at my I call her my point person. She's one of my coworkers, and she's basically running this whole show of why we're traveling. People have been changing things up to the last minute while we were still back home in the office. And now, she's looking at her phone and sees it's canceled. And I look back at her, and I'm like, "I'm so sorry." I'm sorry to her because the thing she's going to have to do to make this now work because the next morning is when our meeting started at 8:00 in the morning. So, she's looking like she's about to cry, but not quite at the crying stage, but just like, "This is bad. This is bad. What am I going to do? What are we going to do?" So, this is when I started learning who's actually part of my company because we all When we do get off the plane, we start gathering together. So, some people know some people. I know my supervisor and my point person, so I could, you know, it's just starting to form. And so, there was this uh there was this black guy sitting behind me. I thought he was with my company at first because it was just the way he had kind of like, I don't want to say integrated, but he was just It just seemed like he was part of my company, too. So, um the first thing he asked me when we were still on the plane, he was sitting behind me. He was like, "Are they going to rebook us, or do we have have rebook?" I was like, "I wouldn't assume. just go ahead and see if you need to manually rebook. Um So, we're back with our little gaggle at the gate cuz we don't got off the plane. And he's still in the gaggle kind of too. So, I'm like, do you work do you work with us? I just asked cuz I just I just need to know. Cuz oh, cuz the other thing he was like, "Hey, I got a flight. It's leaving out at 7:00. Um so, you probably can get one at 7:00." I'm like, "That's still bad cuz we really trying to fly tonight because we start meetings in the morning." And I was like, "Okay." And then that's when I started I was like, "Are you with ABC company uh with us?" And he was like, "No." I was like, "Oh, okay. Well, thank you for the information. Appreciate it either way." Uh so, then we get an alert. Our flights got automatically rebooked, but it is for the morning. There's nothing for tonight or that night. Nothing. This is Monday night. So, I'm like, "Okay. Um Look. >> [laughter] >> Oh, my I said he already would've been on body cam with the first cancellation. So, we're like, "Okay, now we need a hotel." And I will say the blessing is because I'm traveling for the company, this ain't coming out of my pocket. They got to figure this out. So, they've already automatically rebooked our tickets for the morning. And then we have to call though to say, "Hey, we need a hotel for the night. You got to call for yourself individually. We need a hotel for the night." And so, I'm hearing the prices change as I get on my line to get my hotel room. We're all trying to stay at the hotel that way we can shuttle easily back to the airport in the morning and stuff. So, I'm hearing first cost was like low 200s for somebody. Then it's creeping up. By the time it gets to me, we're at 237 for the night, one night. Then by the time the last person calls, I'm pretty sure there's was right under $300 for the night. I'm like, "Oh, they smell blood. They they they smell blood in the water. They knew what this was. The man went up, prices go up in real time. So, I think Mr. Trini said it was something like stock prices just started changing on us. So, we're comparing rates and then one person was like, I think that's over our per diem though. I'm like, it don't matter. They If they cancel and we still got to go there, per diem's out the window. It don't matter. They got to get us there. Whatever it is, they got to they got to, you know, we got to stay somewhere for the night. Close to the hotel is practical and then this hotel can fit all 10 of us. So, yes, and that's the other thing that that made me mad. That made me mad, but I do want to say throughout this whole thing, I might sound like super mad now, but I was frustrated, but I did not give off the frustration. I just kept waiting for the next thing cuz I'm just like, this trip is just starting. I can't cuz once I sink into a bad mood, it takes a long time for me to crawl back out of it. So, I'd rather just keep trying to be like, it's cool. At least we're safe. You know, you give yourself, you know, maybe it wasn't meant to be on that flight. We don't know what would have happened. That kind of stuff. So, I'm just like, okay, okay, okay, you know, whatever. But, I was thinking and a lot of people said, why aren't they giving us a hotel voucher? Like, even though the company's paying for it, why aren't they giving us a voucher? Cuz y'all canceled on us. We're here. We're on time. Our seats our bus we're in the seats. So, what's going on? But, they never offered a voucher. Still might go ahead and call them and let them know like, hey, when y'all canceled, y'all didn't do anything to resolve this. It was just like, fend for yourself. Um So, might still look into that voucher later, grandma. In fact, I'll make a note. Hold on. Cuz American Airlines, they know they were wrong for that. Didn't Didn't offer nothing. [clears throat] Okay. So, we get our hotel. We thankfully all get to stay at the the hotel. So, we shuttle to the hotel. Um it was the Marriott. I didn't know the Marriott looked so old inside of it. And I'm like, for the price, y'all charging, y'all need to upgrade update y'all stuff. But it was the Marriott. So, we showed up to the Marriott. Thankfully, they had a in-house restaurant because I was at that point mentally exhausted, which I think most were cuz no well, eight out of 10 of us were mentally exhausted because we all chose to stay at the restaurant in the hotel and just eat there. So, we meet back I mean we get down there, we eat. It's not bad. Overpriced, but it's not bad. Whatever. So, then we all Oh, and then it's figured out that we're going to have to just go ahead and get in our business attire, full regalia. We got to just go ahead and be in it cuz now we don't have a time to get there the night before. We We were originally supposed to get there Monday afternoon at like 2:30 in the afternoon. So, you probably get to your hotel room by 4:00 p.m. after you pick up a rental car and all the stuff you're supposed to do. So, that's not happening. So, we're like, "Okay, so it's like, yeah, we're going to have to go ahead and put on full attire." So, I did not plan on walking in the airport the what You know, y'all If you were in the members, y'all helped me pick out that one outfit, that's the one I wore. I was going to wear for day one, so I had to wear that on the plane. Did not like that, but it is what it is. So, >> [clears throat] >> we get there to LaGuardia the next morning. And they had a really nice fountain, y'all. I know you've seen it if you've already been there before, but this fountain could do pictures, it could do letters, like a water came down shaped like the letters. It was really cool. I I ain't got time to look at you, though, cuz I got to I got places to go. So, we have breakfast at the airport um um because we were leaving too early to have like the little included breakfast at the Marriott. Oh, and we had to argue with them, too, like, "You" cuz they were like, "Yeah, the price is this way uh because you'll you'll have breakfast and Well, it's not really included if you charge for breakfast, actually. So, that's that don't really equate. But that's what they were saying. We were like, "Well, you got to take it off cuz you're not going to be here for breakfast." So, we're all We finally got down to where everybody had identical prices for the night because it's like, "How am I going to explain if I'm the one out of 10 person that had a higher rate and we all stayed at the same hotel and worked for the same company?" So, thankfully all of our rates got down to the back to the low twos or whatever. So, we shuttle out and get to LaGuardia, get to our gate, which it was right there, which was nice how they dropped us off, and we have breakfast at like, you know, little places that are open. So, we have breakfast waiting on the plane. And I'm like, "All I want to hear from this pilot on this trip is your estimated arrival time is." That's all I wanted to know. So, we get on the plane. This one is not delayed. We actually land. We fly out on time. We land on time. But this is now in the morning. That meeting was supposed to start at 8:00. We land after 9:00. And we're still at the airport. We're not done. Now we got to go to the, you know, the rental place to pick up our rental cars for those that were assigned rental cars. Line is moving like molasses. Oh, hold on. Pre-rental car, the same guy that I thought that worked for our company, he's on the same plane as us, which I told y'all the flight time was about It was We all left at 7:00 in the morning. So, then when we get off that plane to get into back into LaGuardia, you know, No, when we get off the plane Yeah, yeah, he was going to St. Louis, too. So, we got off the plane in St. Louis and he was like, "What company do you work for?" And I was like, "I can't really talk about it." And then >> [laughter] >> And he didn't think I I don't think he thought I was serious, but I really couldn't talk about it. So, I was like, "You know, I could I'll tell you my general industry, but I can't really tell you anything else." And then So, I'm waiting on the rest of my group to gather again so we can go get our shuttles to the rental car places. And before before we left, he was like, "Do you have a LinkedIn?" And I'm socially awkward, so I start laughing. Not because he's funny, but I'm just like, "This is awkward." So, all I could get out was, "No, I don't have a LinkedIn." What I meant was, I don't remember my LinkedIn cuz I don't have to use it like that. But either way, I wasn't going to give it to him cuz I ain't trying to have no connection. I have somebody. But I could I didn't get all that out. So, then he was like looking at me like, "You really don't have a LinkedIn?" And I'm like, "I don't have a LinkedIn." And then he was like, "Oh, okay." So, basically he was like, "She's turning me down." Which I was, but I meant to be like, "I'm married. There's no You don't want my LinkedIn cuz there's nothing happening here." But anyway, I was like, "Aw." Cuz he walked off before I get my bearings cuz I was going to try to like, you know, I don't I don't I don't want to make people feel bad. But anyway, that's what happened with that. Now we're back together um as our work group. And we go to the rental car place, and the rental car line was molasses. So, it was two people at the counter, like two people to help you rent a car at the counter. There was about when we first got there, about 15 people in front of us. And Sorry, I'm looking at Omar's comment, Auntie Nettie's comment. They It do look like I tell all your business. It really does. But so, my point Oh, oh my god. So, I and I took Now I'm naturally talking to y'all, so I'm skipping on accident. When I woke up that morning to leave to go to this LaGuardia Airport to fly to St. Louis, the point person that organizes every basic last thing about this trip, including how to reshuffle the days because now we're coming in on the day and we're already going to be in the middle of the meeting when we get there, she gets sick. I wake up to to that says, "I'm so sorry. I've been vomiting all night. I told other co-worker to make sure, you know, they that you ride with them." Cuz she was my rental car point person, too, and my um she was a everything. She was everything. She was She was everything. So, I think and we all kind of said the stress got to her because this is like the last thing that needed to go wrong for her because everything leaned on her to have this right. So, she Yeah, she got sick. Um so, she stayed back in New York in the hotel and was going to have to basically teams in to the meeting. And so, that's why I was waiting with the other person at the rental car place. So, she's calling me. I had to explain why she's calling me now. So, she's calling me to say, "Hey, how much longer do you think y'all will be before you get to the other company we're meeting with?" And I was like, "Look, it's taking a average, if I'm being generous, 5 minutes per person to get checked out, and we got a good still 12 people left in front of us. So, it's it's not looking great that we'll be out of here soon. But then, thankfully, my co-worker was like, "Do you want to just catch a Uber?" I was like, "Yes, we can catch an Uber." Cuz it don't even matter. I don't want to stand in this line for nothing. And we're The day's eating away, and our stuff was supposed to be kind of like the first stuff that that happened for the day. So, I'm I'm sure they flipped some things to do somebody else's stuff first for the day. So, we get the Uber. I'm sorry, it was a hot walk to that Uber cuz they couldn't pull up where the rental car place was. So, I'm just reliving that real fast. And I kept asking her, "Do you see the Uber?" Cuz I don't know how they can get here. But basically, we had to almost walk to the road to get to the Uber. Uber gets us straight to the company, though. Once we got in that Uber, that ride was 10 minutes at most. So, now we're at the company. >> [laughter] >> Hold on. Oh, I said, "Nah, she had a boo thing up in New York." I did not have a booty thing in New York. No, I did not. >> [laughter] >> Uh and let me mention this, too. He looked really young. Like I was going to tell him I probably could have birthed him. That's how young he looked compared to my age. Cuz he looked low 20s. I'm like, "Hey, you could have been my child." So, even then, it wasn't going to happen. But I I I didn't say none of that. I was thinking it after I processed what the heck was happening, because I don't go around thinking someone's going to ask me for social media stuff. So, yeah. But Auntie Nanny in St. Louis, we stayed at the the Hilton. We stayed at the Hilton in St. Louis. Some people stayed at the Hilton, some people actually stayed at another hotel, cuz there was a lot of us. We came from other states. Like cuz my company spans states, so some people came from other states. But the one I was at was at a Hilton. And uh so we get there, we got to get badge badges to be escorted in, and then we're walking. I'm walking with my luggage, because the person I rode with with the Uber with, when this meeting's over, she has to fly to another state. So, it's I couldn't leave my stuff in the car, because she's not going to be with me anymore. So, I'm rolling it we're both rolling in with our luggage, cuz she has to Uber back to the airport once this day is over with, and I'm rolling in cuz I got to find another ride. Uh my my people will take care of me, but I had to find somebody that would give me a ride. So, we're rolling in with our stuff. They're already in the middle of the meeting. Now I'm like, I'm nervous, because this is my first time going to one of these, and I'm like, "Where do I sit?" Cuz I'm like, there only looks like the Do I sit at the big boy big girl table with my coworker slash supervisor, really. Supervisor. I'm calling everybody coworker, but she was my supervisor. Or do I find one of these little tables and sit in the back and just, you know, do what I was sent here to do? But uh somebody that was at the table was like, "Uh y'all can have these seats." So, I sat at the big boy big girl table. And didn't realize we were on camera till day two, but we were also on camera. So, I hope I was behaving myself. I really do cuz I did not realize. I'm like, what? Y'all got to tell people you're on camera now. You can't just be having this like this. Um cuz the way I found out is I Teams my coworker back home and I said cuz they're they were attending virtually. I said, "Hey, are we on camera? Do y'all see us?" He was like, "Yep." We can see y'all. I was like, "Oh, okay. All right. What The warning would have been nice, but okay. So, I'm doing my thing. One of my main purposes there is again, if you weren't here in the beginning, my leadership sent me because they say I pick up on things that may not be in other people's notes and they just want to make sure they're aware of everything, not just the one purpose that I kind of was focused on on being there. They want to know about if it wasn't on the slides, please bring it back so I can have situational awareness was basically my assignment. So, I'm trying to take notes. I'm already trying to get settled in and get my my my life together. They are flying with the stuff they're saying. Now, there's new acronyms being introduced cuz the company has their own set of acronyms. I'm still trying to keep up with the acronyms my company uses. So, I'm My fingers are flying across this keyboard. I And I'm so glad I I was like, I know I'm going to be able to write fast enough. So, I'm typing away, typing away. Then, they keep throwing around the word it. We need it. Such and such is thinking about canceling it. I'm like, what is the it? Because the it could have switched from the spreadsheets, this report, this agreement, this It could have been anything. So, I'm like, "Oh my god, what is the it, y'all? What do you mean? Say the name of the thing." So, I'm just doing my best and taking my notes. Um but I did get to get some clarification later in in to the person that was talking cuz I put their name beside who said some sentences. I was like, "Can you look at this and tell me if this is what you meant?" So, I got that done so I can bring back good notes. So, that part's done. So, day one is over. I get my luggage, get in the car with somebody else from my company. My supervisor flies out to her next destination cuz she has to go to an identical meeting in another state. So, get to my hotel and I check in. I really just want to lay down and and go to sleep at that point. I just I don't even want to do nothing no more. But, I am hungry cuz we, you know, we've been traveling for a while and all that stuff. So, I'm hungry. So, we decide to go somewhere within walking distance. I say this not because you got to know I went somewhere in walking distance. I say this because I didn't get to go anywhere that was suggested because I was too tired to even try. So, I didn't have any famous St. Louis food. Now, the people that stayed behind and went to Pappy's the next day and they got the whole barbecue experience and they they went to the arch. I'm happy for them. I did not get to do that. That's life. If I stay on this team, I'll get to go next year and maybe I'll get to see some stuff that time in St. Louis. But, anyway, went to a sushi place instead cuz it was within walking distance and um Hold on. blah blah blah I'm not dealing with you either. Why? I was not trying to get nothing in St. Louis. >> [laughter] >> I was not. I'm done with you. Go to timeout, both of y'all. I don't know how to type. I need to learn. Play Oh, I got a Oh, that's an emulator though. It's a fun typing game that I have, but that's the the most fun way to learn to type is playing typing games. But, so we go to within walking distance. Sushi place was cool. Somebody had gotten a thing called dragon's breath sushi and it came out on fire, which was really cool. And you just had to wait for the fire to die down because they're you know, they don't they don't snuff the fire. It just sits there and burns until it's burned off. They said they lit they lit they lit the saki on fire or something like that and that's how it had it was on, you know, it was on fire. But that was really cool to see. I didn't get it cuz I was like, I'm too accident-prone for that. So I'll just watch y'all that can get it that may not set something else on fire, unlike my luck. Then we went after we ate we went to a place called Hotbox and I was like, Well, before we went there I had to get context. I said, did Cuz one person kept saying, "Yeah, I'm going to Hotbox after this. I'm going to Hotbox after this." I'm like, "You know we get drug tested, right?" Like you can't hotbox. LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO GET DRUG TESTED. Context is everything. The place was called Hotbox. It was a cookie place. I was like, "Con- context is everything." So it was a cookie place. I ended up getting a shake with caramel. It was supposed to be a What was that cookie? A snickerdoodle shake, but I was like, "Hold the snickerdoodle. Just give me the caramel, the vanilla shake and and whipped cream part of it." So >> [laughter] >> Oh. So Uh yeah, so I got that that it was it was good. Took that took that back to my room, enjoyed that. Uh had to wake up the next morning and because the point person I was supposed to fly back home with was leaving at 6:00 p.m. on day two, I was leaving I was flying back on at 6:00 p.m. on day two. Day two was Wednesday of this week, just to orient all of us. She's not here anymore and I still have a 6:00 p.m. flight with all the things that happened just the day before cuz we haven't had a lot of time. You know what I mean? This was a turn and burn type thing. So I'm still traumatized. Didn't I have a bad attitude, but I was traumatized from the delays and cancellations that already happened. And I had an appointment on the 30th, which would have been yesterday, Thursday. So it's not like I could I really couldn't unless I I was going to cancel that appointment. I really couldn't just be like just switch my flight to leave out the next day. Like people that were saying and we're leaving the next day and go rest for the night and then go visit the sites and all that stuff. So, day two finishes. Got my little carry-on still, got my luggage and everything in in the room with us in the office with us for this meeting because I don't I got to go. I'm packed up out my room. I'm checked out. So, uh the meeting ends. I get I get a ride back to the airport and I'm not ready to see this airport. I am really not ready. And now I am traumatized. So, now I don't want I I I said if anything if one thing happens now I'm about to lose my ish because now the trip is done. I kept my composure. I made my good impression. I also don't want to have a bad time. So, I wasn't you know, I didn't want to be in a bad mood or anything like that. But, you know, everything's done. Fly home should not be like how it was coming there. And I did hear that possibly it was due to tornado and stuff forming as well because one of those states did have a tornado and stuff. So, it could have been weather-related plus other stuff. It just It is what it is. But, fly home, didn't hear anything about tornadoes. So, I should just be getting to go home now. I've done a full work day. I'm still in my business clothes and I have to fly home and I and to be on time I would have gotten home by midnight if I was on time if everything was on time. I'm saying if because y'all already know. The flight out of St. Louis was on time. I'll give it that. The layover was in Charlotte. I Googled Charlotte. I was like, "Does Charlotte usually have a lot of delays and cancellations?" It said, "Yes, because it's a busy hub." I said, "Oh, okay. All right." So, I text my leadership and I'm like, "Hey, if they cancel this flight once I get to Charlotte, can I be authorized my own rental car? Because I'm not staying to wait to see what they do after that. You're not going to tell me, let me just get there. So, we we fly from St. Louis, everything was on time, we're flying out. We land in Charlotte, I get my phone signal back. Already American Airlines is telling me the next plane is delayed. It's going from departing at about 9-ish p.m. to 1:00 a.m. is when it departs. I got off that plane. I walked straight to the rental car place. I was like, I'm not I'm not I'm not taking the chance. You're not going to tell me it takes off at 1:00 a.m. and then you going you either going to cancel or tell me, "Oh, the crew needs rest." You knew that when you scheduled it, so you're not doing that to me. So, I come It was one of the person flying back home the same night I was, and I told them I said, "Hey, I'll see you later. See you back back home cuz I'm driving. I'm not doing this anymore. I'm not I can't wait to see cuz the risk is they actually do cancel or delay again. And it's it it's at least 9-ish p.m. right now to where I can still kind of function, you know? So, they were like, "Okay, I don't have anything to do tomorrow, so I'mma wait it out." Cool. Have a safe flight. Um I go to Enterprise's counter, but I can't I can't unless I when I get back to work Monday, unless I can write a fire justification, maybe I can talk my way into it. But right now, the company did not pay for that rental car because the flight wasn't canceled, it was just delayed. So, I didn't have proper real proper justification. So, I paid out of my funds. That's how much I was dead set on you're not going to do this to me. I'm not going to be stuck at Charlotte Airport at 1:00 in the morning still trying to figure things out and they don't have a 24-hours uh rental car service to make a decision. And I'll miss my appointment that's in the morning the next day. No. So, I get the rental car and Mr. Trinis like, "Please be careful. This is really late at night for you to be traveling." Like, I know I'm a stubborn person once I make my mind up, it's really hard to change my mind. So, I um So, I get the rental car and I'm like, "Okay, you know, it's got cruise control. I don't need much." Get out Oh, oh, and Mr. Trennon's on the phone the whole time. So, >> [laughter] >> when I get to the little thing where they got to raise the arm to let you out with the rental car, you got to show your driver's license and that you actually have a contract, your agreement, you know? Y'all I I hope you believe me cuz I'm not trying to make anything up, but I know I'm I know how this is going to sound when I say it, but the guy at the booth was like, "Oh, we're almost birthday twins." And I was like, "Oh." Cuz I'm tired. I'm out of it. I'm still trying to get my route in my head on how this is going to go. I hate driving out of airports because it's already confusing. I'm in some place I'm not familiar with and it's dark. I have a lot on my mind. So, I'm like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah." You know, I'm trying to be nice cuz I need him I need to go. So, he [laughter] was like, "Yeah." He was like, "I got a couple years on you though." And then he said something else. I think he said the his birth date, like his day that he was born in August. So, I was like, "Oh, that's cool. That's cool." I said, "Well, happy early birthday." And then he was like, "Same to you." And then Mr. Trennon goes, "When's the wedding?" >> [laughter] >> I was like, "Leave me alone. I did not start this." And he was like, "Just Am I going to get an invitation to a wedding?" I'm like, "Leave me alone." So, now I'm getting out the I'm getting out the airport. It's small, but any airport routing confuses me. I'm already directionally challenged. Like even Right now, I've lived in the state that I live in for going on 9 years. I will get lost easily except from home to work, work to home. So, it can be as small as it wants to be. It don't it I'm going to get confused and it's dark. And everybody's in a rush. So, you can't even you know how it is. People you can't get your bearings and all that stuff. So, I get on the interstate. Good. Good. Found the interstate. Now I'm on the straightaway. That's so great. I I don't know if I had crossed state lines yet, but I will tell you this. When I'm driving, again, it's pitch dark, right? Pitch black dark. Headlights work. So, I'm everything's good in my eyes. I pass a diesel safely cuz there's no one around us, so I didn't have to like, you know, I'm not cutting off the diesel or anything. So, I know they're not they blink their lights at me. And I'm like, why they blink their lights? Cuz you know, I'm in my own lane. I never had to get in front of them. I just, you know, literally just passing by cuz I'm going faster than the diesel. Diesel starts the light goes like this in that frequency and it stops. And then he does it again real slow. Or she. And I'm like, oh my god. Maybe they're trying to warn me a police is up ahead. You know, they got their little radios and stuff. So, maybe they're just trying to be like, "Hey, make sure you're not speeding too much because the police might are ahead." That's what I'm thinking. But he's still flashing. And then I get past the point where I'm like, "Okay, there were no police because I passed the radius of what they're going to have police at at this point, at least in my mind." So, I'm driving again. I pass another diesel. All of a sudden, these bright lights are behind me going like that like this, just blinking at me. And so, I'm like, my headlights are on cuz I can see cuz there's nobody in front of me. So, if they weren't on, I would know cuz there's no light out here. I look behind me. And what's missing is the soft red glow of the tail lights. So, they've been flashing me because I have no tail lights. What am I supposed to do? It's a rental car. It's night time and now I have to get drive across state lines for a lot of a lot of hours. Not a lot of hours. I It was It took me It was like a 3-hour drive or so, but a lot for me cuz now I'm tense. And I have no tail lights. I'm like, "Oh, this is what I This is exactly what I said. I'm about to be on body cam because I'm definitely getting pulled over with no tail lights. It's I said it's happening. I spoke it and now it's going to happen because I was talking noise. Um oh, I said me too. That's how I'm at Houston Airport. I'm always confused. It could be this a small regional airport. I'm done. Yes. Yes. For some reason I love ATL Airport. Maybe because of the shuttle, too. That does help to give you a shuttle. LaGuardia did not have a you know, the tram. LaGuardia didn't have that and they need it. Like you are very busy. So, maybe maybe that's why. Do you like it cuz of the shuttle or the food probably if not the shuttle. Layers Grandma. Lovable said I want to be like you when I grow up because I would have told him, "Look, I am not in the mood for small talk." >> [laughter] >> I always think they have to I I Now, I don't know how people going to react. That's why I don't ever do that, but I really didn't have time, but I ain't going to talk to them like that cuz I don't know how they going they going to do me. So, that's funny, Lovable. Um so, I'm driving. I'm tense the rest of the way home cuz now I know I don't have tail lights. So, I make it home though. Surprisingly did not get pulled over cuz when I tell you I don't know how I didn't get pulled over, I really don't know. And it was police out there because they they were doing night construction. I did not get pulled over. It was a blessing. And I was thinking about what I would always tell y'all cuz they going to they going to ask cuz you know, I'm sleepy. SO, I PROBABLY I probably swerved a little bit at one point. I was cuz I was sleepy. So, they going to be like, you know, "Ma'am, have you been drinking?" I can already picture it. "We saw you cross the the line twice. Have you been drinking? Would you be willing to take a field sobriety test?" And then I have to tell them what I tell y'all. "Take my blood and take my breath because I will not pass a field sobriety test on any day. I could be well rested. I was sober. I didn't have alcohol on the trip. I I kept getting my Shirley Temples. So, the at no point was alcohol in my system. But, it wouldn't matter because I can't pass those. If I'm nervous, I can't remember instructions. And then, I don't have the best balance. That's why I I'm clumsy. So, I'm I'm just like, I'm just going to tell them what I always say when we we watch body cams, take my blood and take my breath cuz I ain't got nothing in it. I I ain't got it. So, and then you know what that means though, if you don't submit, they could temporarily take you to be booked. So, then I have to fight that later. But, I'm like, it is what it is cuz I can't I don't want to fail something knowing I shouldn't have been taking in the first place. No. Just take my blood and breath. Um so, but I didn't get pulled over. I made it home about 2:00 a little after 2:00 a.m. I had I did have brake lights. Thank God. That's why I didn't notice it at first. I had brake lights. Cuz I was like, Enterprise, y'all know better than this. How are you giving a car with no lights? I'm like, oh, I was I was upset with them. And I that's another one, too. Somebody else might get a call about that, too. But, we'll see. I don't know. But, definitely that voucher thing was crazy. I'm I'm going to ask them about that. But, I made it home about 2:00 a.m. after 2:00 a.m. Thank goodness. When I tell you I was so exhausted, I took the next day I asked I was like, I need a recovery day. And I already had my appointment anyway, so I was like, just the whole day. Don't don't expect to see me. Don't You're not going to see me on Thursday. Cuz I got home Thursday morning at 2:00 a.m. And then, today I was like, can I please telework? I'm still recovering. I I don't have it. And they approved all of it with no issues cuz I don't give them issues. So, you know, the company's really good about that stuff. As long as you haven't abused anything, they don't really care. Like, it is what it is. Um so, I teleworked today cuz that was that was today, Friday. And but, I will say this is my takeaways after all of that. First of all, not really looking to fly. I'm not looking forward to flying to Puerto Rico uh in August now. I'm really kind of I know it won't be like that cuz it's a straight flight. There's not There's not even a layover. But now I'm just like I'm a little traumatized right now. I don't want to see a plane right now. But and it'll be JetBlue not American Airlines. Anyway, um what I took away from this whole thing though is I made a good impression no matter what. It is now going on my resume that I did this. I was at this huge meeting and contributed. And then I'm bringing back stuff for like a hot wash after action report type thing for my leadership. I also ended up being asked could I uh send my notes to a different department because they noticed I was taking great notes. So I'm putting that on my resume too because I helped you help yourself with your action items. So you're going to go on my resume and my performance review. Just know that. Then they don't have a problem with them. I'm just like I'm getting all my credit. You can have whatever you want but I'm getting my credit. Um so that was good. I'm promotion eligible. I've always I've always been promotion eligible but getting more and more stuff under my belt and being promotion eligible helps. Possibly possibly could be promoted within before 2026 ends but I do say if that's meant to be because the job role I have now, I'm not rushing to get out of it. I'm just waiting on my right opportunity if that makes sense. Like I'm really like and there were a couple that I thought were meant for me but they were not. And that's okay. Uh I don't I don't want to force myself in anything cuz I think that's when you start to hate your job. So I'm good like but that's because they started talking to me about it. And this is the first time my leadership said you are ready for this versus I just went out for things because I felt like I was ready for something. So that was nice. Um Sweetie said I will first say you also Omar. I always tell my kids to get a hotel room when they get tired. Yeah, yeah. Um I I don't want to do what I did again because I really had to use willpower to get through that one. Gwen [clears throat] said Omar would have done your cop cam review. Yes, yes, we have to look at your cop your body cam Omar. If you ever get on body cam, we have to look at it. Um Is there anything else? I think that's it. I don't think I missed anything. But yeah, I I'm tired, but thankfully now it's the weekend so I can finish recovering. I was going to go live a couple times while I was actually going through it, but I felt like I was just going to be a Debbie Downer if I did that and I didn't want to put my attitude off on y'all. So I was like I'll just wait and summarize the whole thing. So it's nothing dramatic, but that is what happened and that's why you will not see any pictures from St. Louis because I didn't have energy. There were There's The only picture I have is when we were on the first plane and I just took a picture out the window, you know, the little pretty clouds and stuff and there's a picture of my knees. I don't know why. I was in the airplane seat. I was trying to take a picture of something. I don't know. There's two pictures in my phone. There's no memories coming from me. So somebody else maybe if they took a picture, but I don't have anything. Cuz I was just like I'm I'm kind of over it. Kind of over it. But yeah. So that was the trip. I'm glad Yes, thank you. I'm glad I made it back safely, too. It was a touch-and-go a couple times, especially with those no tail lights. I'm like, what if someone was coming up behind me and they don't have the best depth depth perception like I don't have the best depth perception. Like I didn't like that. I'm I'm so mad that How do you not have working tail lights? Like come on. Did you see my comment if I was on body cam footage? Hold on. Oh. >> [laughter] >> Omar said, I WOULD HAVE SAID THE SQUARE on the bingo card to make sure we y'all watch my body cam footage, even if it don't make sense. That's funny. Yes, Omar. I can see you doing it, too. I only had two drinks, officer. Or um Is your body cam on? I can see you doing it just to make sure we got some bingo squares. That would be hilarious. That would be a time. Um I can't remember if nothing happened at the airport cuz y'all know I'll be looking now so we can have some good airport footage, too. Cuz they be wilding out at the airport. But nothing happened at the airport. It still um Yeah, so that was a trip. I'm back. The actual meeting part was great. I really liked that. I really, really liked that. I I I don't I'm glad I got to go. I don't like how I got there, but I'm glad I got to go. Yes, Auntie Nattie, thank thankful for traveling grace cuz Don't put me on a plane that has issues. So, I'm it is what it is. Cancel it, whatever. Weather cancel it, I'd rather be on the ground and mad than up in the sky and about to die. >> [laughter] >> I'll take it. Enterprise is like that because I rented a car and they gave me a car with expired license plates. >> [gasps] >> I Enterprise is supposed to be better than this. Some people say they're like Hertz, but you know Hertz will get you arrested. They'll report the car stolen cuz they didn't take their inventory properly and just don't realize it's actually being rented out properly. They'll just They'll just get you arrested. They'll call the police and say you're in a stolen car. That's how they They have a class They had a class action lawsuit against them for that, I believe. You can put your foot on the brake, the lights come on before the brakes engage. That is true, but the amount of miles I was traveling, I couldn't maintain that. I needed cruise control to just make it. If it was a short places to go, I would, but it was a long drive and I couldn't do it. But you are right. That is a good workaround. Be careful, Omar. You might be on body cam anyway getting getting a car from Hertz. Cuz they don't care. >> [laughter] >> They do not care. They won't look at their paperwork. It's It's actually I heard it was easier for them just to report the car stolen than to hunt for the car in the inventory and all that stuff. Which is not good. Um but yeah, so that was the travel to St. Louis. Outfits were cute. Wish I could have got you some pictures, but you know, it is what it is. But yeah, I'll see y'all I should see you tomorrow morning for our normal Saturday morning body cam. And hopefully I want to see I I'll be seeing Odyssey tomorrow. Oh, he got his music in. He can't hear me. But we might be going to see Odyssey tomorrow. If not, we'll see it Sunday. I heard it's really good, so I want to see that. Thank you, wildcows. Uh yeah, that's a Nah, nah, I can't get you in trouble. That is true. But all right, y'all. Have a good evening. I'll see some of y'all tomorrow morning. Thank you for listening to my story time cuz it wasn't dramatic. It's just that's what happened. >> [laughter] >> All right, talk to y'all later. Bye.