51 Days and I am out of here. EOC. "End of Contract." Christmas day here. We are working half a day. We went to Christmas lunch together at the British difac. Americans and contractors first then they redecorated for the British forces. Christmas crackers everywhere. I used restraint and didn't steal one. It was tough. I wanted one bad. But, Santa, I was a good boy. Turkey and roast beef for lunch. Christmas pudding for desert. All very yummy. Ate too much, just like back at home.
The day before, I was on the phone with American Airlines. Dyncorp buys your ticket here and back. I asked to be routed through London so I could spend some time in Jolly Ole. I will fly E out for a well deserved vacation. So I have my locator number and I call American airlines. I just want to make a stop over from Dubai in London. Instead of 4 hours I want ten days. Sounds easy enough. But noooooooooo. I have to pay the difference in fares. Ok I'll pay the $150 for a change of ticket plus, wait for it, $4000K. Four grand to change my ticket! All I want to do is change one segment. I couldn't even find a 4,000 dollar fare on their website. I could buy a ticket for $900. I went up the chain and got a snooty supervisor. I thought his name was Clarence. Turns out her name was Claire. Oops. Did make my negotiating a little more difficult. I asked for an explanation. None forthcoming. I finally got her to admit that it was a wee bit excessive. The word "can't" was uttered many many times. She said if she did this it would get her fired. Alex was across from me with a suggestion. Cancel the ticket and get it applied to the new ticket. So I proposed this to my new, still employed for the moment, friend, Claire. She was trying so hard to be unhelpful. It was Christmas and this is American Airlines and they have a tradition of uncaring to uphold, after all. "We don't care, because, we don't have to." Too bad Southwest doesn't fly to Europe. I hung in there with my suggestions. Apparently there was a molecule of reasonableness in my offer. She would check. She came back after an eternity of being on hold to tell me that she was still checking and to thank me for holding. I wrote employee evaluations. She was back. Apparently the American Airlines computer was sticking to its guns of non-helpfulness. Still holding, I wrote three evaluations. This is the key, have something to do while on hold. Build a house, read "War and Peace" or even negotiate world peace. Anything to stay on line with them. She was back. Success, but one problem. I had scheduled my flight to fly British Airways. Nobody wants to actually fly American, we just want the mileage. Of course, BA flys non-stop LHR to SFO. Not good ole American. We have to switch in Chicago. In February. What could happen? "Fine," says I. Book it Dano. Or Clarence or, whomever. It had been so long that I forgot her/his name. Got E a flight. Of course, because I am a dumb-ass, I booked the wrong dates. Forgot about that losing a day thing. But rebooked within 24 hours and American waved the booking fee and we are golden. And I did not spend 4000 dollars. It wasn't free by any means but to spend time in London with my honey? Priceless...
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