How the snow-pocalypse tried to get me fired.

Today I was supposed to work. Just an easy little turn from Baltimore (BWI) to Long Island (ISP) to Tampa (TPA) and back. It paid really well and one of the legs was even a dead head (meaning you don't have to work, just sit in a passenger seat and look pretty- or in my case- nap). At first I wasn't even sure if the airport would be open today. Baltimore is sorely unprepared for this kind of weather, it's just not normal. As in "somewhere a polar bear is crying 'cause all the ice is melting" kind of abnormal. So in an unprecedented decision they closed down the whole airport for three days "pending" runway clearance. In layman's terms: they were SOL because they had 1.3 plows and nobody to drive them. So like I said, I was dubious they were even going to open today as planned and VERY afraid they would.

Let me explain.  Flight attendants are required to be on time every time. During training and your six month probationary period you have the fear of God put in you about being late. Because you will be fired. No ifs, ands or buts, that is how its been for the last 30 years and how it will always be. This is the one area of my life where I am always unequivocally on time. So you can imagine my fear of being late today. Especially since I can't even DRIVE down my street. You would say, "why don't you call someone and explain?" To that I say HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAaaaaaa....sputter...hahahaaaa..... *chokes*. Then I'd tell you a story. Three years ago MrE and I only had the one vehicle which meant I had occasionally to take a taxi to the train station, a train to the bus station, and a bus to the airport where I jumped on a plane to somewhere glamorous *more laughing*. As usual I called the taxi a hour early and then waited. And waited. And waited. And then called the cab again. And panicked. When they finally arrived an hour late (!) I didn't have time for the usual planes, trains & automobiles routine. Two options: call in sick or pay a $75 fare to drive straight to the airport. I arrived at the airport sweating, running and exactly one minute early. And $75 lighter. It sucked.
So, back to my current situation, if I called my supervisors they would tell me to walk miles to the nearest plowed road with my luggage and hitchhike to work if necessary. Basically I'd be screwed. Which is why I was panicking this morning. Until the stars aligned and an angel named Patty picked up my trip. So now I don't get fired and the only thing I have to worry about is how the ambulance is going to get down our road when MrE falls off the icy roof because which he is shoveling despite wifely protest. Good thing we took out that fairly large life insurance policy on him this year.