Today’s the day! Well maybe…..

Michele was due home this evening at around 8pm Phoenix time. You may notice the “was” in that sentence. At around 4am this morning my cell phone rang (do these people NOT know what a phone call at that hour does to a person?) obviously computer generated, telling me that I (Michele) had been re-ticketed. Now I must admit I was a bit groggy so while listening to the message I thought very little of it because the whole of Michele’s trip had been “re-ticketed” when we changed his travel date. I assumed that’s what the call was all about and peacefully went back to bed…that is until I realized that the recording said Michele had been re-ticketed for March 12th not 11th! As if the ringing phone in the middle of the night was not enough to send my heart racing now I was really in a panic. The 12th? No it can’t be. Do these people not know what they’re doing to me? I need a troop change here, my tour of duty is up – they just can’t do this to me! So I hop out of bed and call United only to get a less than sympathetic representative who did not understand the consequences of an irate, sleep-deprived, stressed-out wife (that’s a man for you)! I was assured that the issues in Rome were of a mechanical nature so Michele would receive a hotel and meal voucher and depart tomorrow evening arriving in Phoenix on the same flight he would be missing today…OK, this guy is REALLY not getting it. Does he not understand that he’s just told me that the husband who has abandoned me for a month will receive the added bonus of a peaceful night’s sleep in a nice hotel all while being wined and dined on someone else’s dime? Where or where is the justice in this whole thing? That hotel room and dinner are MINE all MINE not his! I deserve it more! I calmly (OK, I’m fibbing here) told the gentleman that surely there was some other flight they could book Michele on this evening. Nope, there was only one other later flight and it was booked. I told him I didn’t really care if it was booked they could seat Michele on the wing for all I cared just put him on the flight. Nope, no can do…he’ll be on tomorrow night’s flight, thank you and goodbye. That man’s only saving grace was that his call center is thousands of miles away from me so I could not possibly cause him any physical harm.

Upon my arrival to work this morning I checked each and every airline I could think of to find a flight to Phoenix this evening so that I could call United back and have them switch Michele to another carrier. Guess what? I was able to find one, although my friend from my first phone call was unable to find anything. So I call United back to give them this happy news and what do I find out? That United does indeed have a later flight this evening into Phoenix and Michele has already been placed on the list for a seat. Why on earth do I have to do everyone’s job for them? I just refuse to believe that I’m the only competent human being on the face of the Earth. Maybe the most desperate but certainly not the most competent….

So there you have it, Michel might be home this evening or he might be on a mini-vacation at the airport Hilton. You tell me which is less likely to be harmful to his health.

As I said to anyone who asked me this week if Michele would be home on Wednesday: “I’ll believe it when I see it”…..and the saga continues…..