Lately I’ve been making it a daily practice of keeping a gratitude journal. One of my dear friends and fellow entrepreneur ‘Leo Quinn‘ gave his readers an assignment. The assignment was to write about ‘The nicest financial thing anyone ever did for you’. The following is my gratitude memory.
It was Dec. 1984, I was a temporary part time employee of one of the major airlines working as a Ramp Agent in Salt Lake City, UT. Back then temporary-part time work didn’t include benefits of ANY kind.
Earlier that year my husband and I found out we were unexpectedly expecting our 3rd child. We took the news in stride and figured we would cross the bridge of me possibly not having a job later.
My job description required me to physically be able to lift up to 70lbs at any given time. Back then it wasn’t a common site to see a female working on the ramp as a baggage handler.
As a female we were commonly referred to as ‘A Rampett’. Remember the Smurf’s? Being called a ‘Rampett’ often reminded me of the lone star female ‘Smurfett’ from the cartoon. I’m sure the title today would be classified as sexist but at the time no one thought twice about it. In fact I was quite proud that I could load the bin of a 727 aircraft as well as any one of the guys. ‘Rampett’ or ‘Rampee’…who cared? We all had the same job to do.
I might have been working for one of the major airlines but Salt Lake City was still a new station for us and as such there were only a total of about 24 employees including our Ticket Agents and Marketing personnel. We had to do it all…load the plane, restock the supplies, and clean it! Not to mention the deep cleaning of the overnight aircraft. Yikes!
When I was 6 months pregnant I emphatically told my Supervisor I wasn’t quitting and if they (the powers that be) wanted me out of there they were going to be hard pressed to find a reason to fire me. As I made that statement I knew it would mean loading and cleaning airplanes right up to my due date without any complaints on my part…ugh, the thought!! But believe me, I had set my mind to the task and I was NOT going to give them a reason to fire me!
As a trained Load Planner the guys I worked with (who were also trained) relinquished their rights to that job assignment and I pretty much became the official ‘Load Planner’ from that point forward. That meant I would have a desk job (sort of) and I’d be in charge of planning the weight distribution of the aircraft. However I still had to assist loading bags, emptying trash, replenishing supplies, and cleaning the aircraft. Any and all things necessary to ensure an on-time departure.
I shudder when I think of being 8 months pregnant, standing in the wheel well of a 727 to get a plumb-bob reading for an inoperative fuel gauge. But I digress…that is entirely another story.
Having NO maternity leave to speak of I worked swaps with several of my co-workers prior to my due date. All in order to build up paid time once I gave birth. Everyone knew how concerned I was about the 6 weeks without pay I was facing and the financial hardship that meant to my family.
My due date was the 19th of Dec and from Nov 1st to Dec 15th I worked without a day off (I’m sure it was probably illegal…one of those ‘I won’t say anything if you don’t’ situations).
To make a long story short…unbeknown to me my Supervisor, along with all the guys I worked with obtained approval from our Station Manager to each work a day in my name giving me an additional 6 days of pay during the 6 weeks I had planned to be off.
I had built up approximately 3 weeks of paid time and was brought to tears as I read the card stating what they intended to do. One by one the signatures started to jump off the page. I knew what a huge sacrifice this meant for them…8 hours of FREE labor. Even now it still boggles my mind!
I will never forget the faces of ANY of those guys, my co-workers…my friends. The gift they unselfishly gave me that year is beyond words.
We’ve all gone our separate ways. Some are still with the airline and some are not. Yet I wonder to this day if they have any idea how much that gift of generosity meant to my family and me! My LOVE for them in that moment will always be a part of me.
I’ll be forever grateful to my friend Leo for setting me on this course to revisit my past. It reminds me that we all have many treasures waiting to be dug up and dusted off. This memory was one of mine.
Wishing everyone Abundance, Health & Harmony
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel!
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