Blleding Perseverance - Episode 33

Autobiography Fridays

After a few weeks Chino had enough for his car, and not liking the fast food life, quit BK and went back to only working at the grocery store. Because he didn’t have a license, as well as it needing a couple of parts, he just kept the car parked at the back of the house for the meantime.

As for me, I kept fighting my attraction towards Stephanie, but found it harder and harder to do so as time went by. I knew I’d probably never talk to her about my feelings due to the fear of rejection, so I had to get away. Find another job. That and the fact that although management wanted to promote me to a shift manager they wouldn’t since I wasn’t eighteen yet. So I started looking for another job, and soon found a nice opportunity through one of the girls in my business class. She had recently been hired at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport by Host Marriott, the food and beverage company, and told me they were still looking for people.

Fortunately, the bus I needed to take to the airport passed right in front of our house and was only like a twenty-minute ride. So I was soon hired by Host Marriott, and along with turning in my BK cap and shirt, said a silent farewell to my Snow White.

I really liked working at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. I enjoyed being around people on the go, and a great benefit came along with the job. A free meal ticket!

Every week we’d get this punch card that allowed us to eat twice a day at any food place in the airport. Each meal had to be valued at five dollars or below, which was fine since most fast food combo meals were indeed below that price. 99% of the time I’d eat at the BK there since I had grown accustomed to the food. Back at the previous BK, the best deal we got was a discount. Now I had free food, which even meant being able to have a delicious slice of cherry pie with my meal.

The girl who had referred me to Host Marriott had only ended up working there for a couple of weeks. When I first started she introduced me to Melinda, a Caucasian girl who worked at Gate 11. Soon she and I were the ones who became hanging out buddies, often eating together before work.

I’d sometimes hear about celebrities coming through the airport. One evening, Christian Slater’s then girlfriend was flying out of Gate 10, my gate, so he was there to see her off. (This was nearly ten years before 9/11, when you could still go to the gates even if you weren’t flying out).

They kept a low profile while sitting in the snack bar area, and Christian’s girlfriend approached me to buy some food. The total came to a little over four bucks and she paid me with a five. After I gave her the change she claimed she had paid with a twenty, but I was sure she hadn’t.

She started to get bitchy with me and turned to where Christian was seated. “Hun, how much did you give me?”

He didn’t quite hear her at first, so she asked again. “How much did you give me to pay?!”

He then held up five fingers. Without so much as an acknowledgement of being wrong, she just picked up her items and left.

Later, once they had left and I went over to clean their table, a five-dollar bill was sitting there waiting for me. The girlfriend had been the one with the oversized ego, while the real celebrity proved to be down to earth and kind, graciously leaving a tip for his girlfriend’s mistake.

A few minutes later, after having parted with her at the gate, Christian passed the snack bar and glanced in, putting up a friendly hand gesture to me as he did so. He had showed true character that evening, and I’ve been happy to support his work ever since.