"Hey! I'm off probation!" I texted excitedly to a friend.
"Where have you been?!" he replied. That's when I realized my non-aviation friend thought I'd been to jail.
"Working for Hawaiian Airlines! It's been 6 months and I'm off job probation."
"Oh! Congrats!"
Relief. Pride. A couple words that describe how I felt about my accomplishment.
The entire airline had done a complete overhaul and switch of its reservation and ticketing systems about a month into my employment. For a new (and seasoned) employee, the experience was like just learning to speak French then being switched to Finnish class.
The need for excellent customer service on the frontend was at an all-time high, and still is, as operations get smoothed out.
Under the pressure the SFO team didn't collapse, it came together. With constant collaboration, we helped each other through the changes that inevitably lead to frustrations...and some triumphs. We were forced to ask for help, new and experienced employees alike, from managers to chiefs to agents.
As the days wore on and I kept showing up with my phone notes, which I called "my other brain", the team began to call me 'sis', and some customers referred to me as 'auntie'. These names are a form of respect and shared-community in numerous Polynesian cultures.
I was especially honored to be called 'sis' and 'auntie' as a white woman, the only haole at my station.
Having lived with the Truong family for many years off and on and having helped care for the patriarch before his passing, I had been made an honorary part of the family. We joked that this German-English-Norwegian American was honorary Vietnamese-Chinese as well.
When I originally mentioned this at work to my coworker from Vietnam, this concept did not fly. (Aviation pun! You're welcome.) But as time passed, fellow guest service agents (GSAs) from Samoa and Hawaii made me honorary Samoan and Hawaiian, and I became part of the larger family of the Pacific Ocean nations.
In reality, I work with people with roots in Samoa, Hawaii, the Philippines, Fiji, Vietnam, China and beyond. We fly guests to some of these nations and more, many of them going home to see family and bringing supplies they cannot find there.
My coworkers work hard at low pay for the flight benefits -- sure, to have fun and see the world, but often because it is a lifeline home and to distant family. I understand this better now.
The moral of the story is:
I treat my airline guests as my SFO team has treated me --
as family.
Mahalo nui for reading my blog!