Monday, August 6, 2007

Divine intervention

This weekend was an unplanned, but welcomed adventure. I flew into NYC for an interview. Just a day trip.

I was so excited that I didn't really sleep the night before. I was up at 3 AM re-reading materials about the company and practicing my interview answers out loud. Got to the airport at 6:00 AM for my 7:40 AM flight. Had an exit row seat (love the leg room) and the flight took off on time.

When we got to LaGuardia, the pilot announced there was trouble on the ground and we were in a holding pattern for 20 minutes. That 20 minutes soon turned into a diversion to Pittsburgh to refuel and waiting in Pittsburgh until we were cleared to go back to LaGuardia. At 12:15 PM, I finally stepped off of the plane. The scheduled arrival was 9:30 AM.

As soon as the pilot announced cell phone use was okay, I got a call from Delta saying that my flight home was cancelled and they rebooked me for Saturday morning. No worries -called the woman that made my travel plans and let her handle it.

Interviews went fine. The travel chick found me a great hotel in Manhattan (Hilton -New York on 6th Ave between 53rd and 54th). Had no clothes other than my suit and some heels, so I needed some retail intervention. The hotel had an 11% discount at Bloomies so I hopped into a bike cab to the one on 59th & Lex. The driver tried his hardest to get me to say yes to a date - to no avail. To his credit, he wasn't the creepy lech type that I sometimes encounter in NY. He was a nice enough guy and respectful when I said no.

Got to Bloomies and met Ms. Judith - one of the coolest salespeople I've met in a long time. The only jeans they had were Ralph Lauren for a pretty penny (even with my 11% discount). I bit the bullet and decided to buy them...only to discover that they were on sale for 40% off. With the additional 11%, that brought them into the range of more than I ever paid for a pair of jeans, but only $10 more than jeans at Lane Bryant at regular price. I couldn't see paying $180 for emergency shoes, so I hopped over to H&M (which had no plus sizes) and got some flip-flops for $5.90.

I have cousins who live in NYC, so I gave them a call. The oldest one invited me to a KRS One concert in Central Park...a free KRS One concert. I was too tired to move so I passed. But, next time I go we'll get together and do something.

The next morning, there was an even bigger surprise as I had to pay for the hotel and the town car to the airport. I thought these would be covered by the company. Thank God I had the funds to cover these expenses. In the past, I would've been up the creek without a paddle.

This trip was definitely full of divine intervention. At no point did I lose my cool or feel like things weren't going to work out for the best. I was even able to muster up energy and professionalism for the interview.


Thankfully, I had enough funds to pay for it -which was a surprise. I also had to pay for the town car to the airport the next morning. Another surprise.

1 comment:

Traveling Matt said...

I wish i was still there!!!!!! Oh well, Chicago is also quite awesome at times. I love more people here.