Tuesday, May 27, 2008

I Just Got Home From Dublin...

Flight Crew Layover Hangover Ratings Guide:

One-Star Hangover: No pain. No real feeling of illness. Your sleep last night was a mere disco nap which is giving you a whole lot of misplaced energy. Be glad that you are able to function relatively well. However, you are still parched. You get to the plane and you can drink 10 sodas and still feel this way. Even vegetarians are craving a steak bomb and a side of gravy fries from any truck stop USA.

Two-Star Hangover: No pain. Something is definitely amiss. You may look okay but you have the attention span and mental capacity of a duty desk supervisor. The coffee you chug to try and remain focused is only exacerbating your rumbling gut, which is craving a rootie tootie fresh and fruity pancake breakfast from IHOP which is no where in sight on the bus ride to the airport. Last night has wreaked havoc on your bowels and even though you have a nice demeanor about the flight, you are wasting the company's valuable money because all you really can handle is reading on the jumpseat.

Thee-Star Hangover: Slight headache. Stomach feels crappy. You are definitely a space shot and so not productive. You have the attention span of a gnat. Anytime a female walks by you gag because her perfume reminds you of the random gin shots you did with your alcoholic crew members after the bouncer 86'd you at 3:45 a.m. Life would be better right now if you were in your crash pad bed with a dozen donuts and a meatball sub watching the E! fashion awards. You've had 4 cups of coffee, a gallon of water, 3 cans of oolong teas and a liter of Diet Coke - yet you haven't peed once.

Four-Star Hangover: Life sucks. Your head is throbbing and you can't speak too quickly or else you might puke. Your flight manager has already lambasted you for being late and has given you a lecture for reeking of booze. You uniform is nice, but that can't hide the fact that you missed an oh-so crucial spot shaving, (girls, it looks like you put your make-up on while riding the crew bus) your teeth have sweaters, your eyes look like one big vein and your hair style makes you look like a reject from the class picture of training class. You would shoot your mother for one or all of the following:
1. The announcement to prepare for landing.
2. The entire appetizer list from TGI Fridays
3. A time machine so you could go back and NOT have gone out the night before with the crew.

Five-Star Hangover (aka Dante's 4th Circle of Hell): You have a second heartbeat in your head, exacerbated by 6 bouts of the dry heaves, which is actually annoying the flight attendant who sits next to you on the jumpseat. Vodka vapor is seeping out of every pour and making you dizzy. You still have toothpaste crust in the corners of your mouth from brushing your teeth. Your body has lost the ability to generate saliva, so your tongue is suffocating you. You'd cry but that would take the last of the moisture left in your body. Death seems pretty good right now. Your flight manager doesn't even get mad at you and your co-workers think that your dog just died because you look so pathetic. You should have called in sick because, let's face it, all you can manage to do is bitch about your state - which is a mystery to you because you definitely don't remember who you were with, where you were, what you drank and why there is a stranger still sleeping in your bed, unaccompanied, at your hotel. The only thing you can do is pass out. It's when you wake up a few hours later, after crew rest, with a lesser star hangover that you eat 20 bags of peanuts, 3 first class meals and six 5-hour old coach cabin meals.

No comments: