I currently work in a little office in one of London's busiest ariports.
It's a cool place to be, spending most of the time alone in the office so you can chill and get on with work with only the sounds of the radio and your own thoughts...and all the baggage vehicles crashing past every few minutes.
Other times you have people to talk to, nipping in and out of the office to collect work or materials and so on.
Then there's lunch time when all the guys sit around chatting and having a laugh.
When I venture out around the airport however, humans suddenly become alien-like creatures.
Suddenly everyone becomes clumsy, or walks extra slowly. Babies scream louder and people with colds sneeze with mass force (usually just as you are walking past them)!
I am not often out in the actual airport terminal. Only really when I’m nipping to get something for lunch or if I decide to treat myself to a CD or DVD, and sometimes just to have a little walk, as sitting down all day is surprisingly stressful on your joints.
A place that has so many people, from all different parts of the world, crammed into one place just has to have it's interesting points. There is no way that such a place can be 'normal'.
Nice points about working in the Airport:
* Loads of shops to look around in.
* In some terminals there is a chance you could see or even meet a celebrity.
* Where ever you need to travel to after work - you can pretty much get there from the main station.
* There are some places where you can sit and relax and people watch or plane watch.
Not so nice points about working in the airport:
* Just as you turn the corner on your journey to get your lunch, someone with a surgical mask walks past you and you are reminded of all the germs surrounding you.
* People see your security pass hanging round your neck and assume you know every location, every flight, every gate number etc
* When you explain in the politest way possible that you are unsure of where they need to be and say that you do not work up in the terminal, they look at you like you are a lazy good for nothing teenager who is lying through your teeth.
* You will soon come to realise that customers have no respect for you because of the people who do actually work in the terminal being so unfriendly and careless.
* When you buy your lunch in the shop, you get the worst customer service and feel bad for the times that you yourself worked as a sales assistant and didn't smile. (I'm lucky if the person who serves me actually speaks).
Weird and kind of funny points about working in the airport:
* Surfers always wear flip flops and shorts around the airport, even though it's winter.
* The cleaners always walk in the opposite direction to where ever the mess is.
* There is always an ugly little child with overgrown hair running riot and screaming while it's mother/father looks on as you nearly fall over them. You just get a smile from the parent while you give yourself CPR.
* In the toilets there is always someone with a bad stomach.
* I think the weirdest thing ever - recently as I was walking along the departures area I walked past a rather large pile of brown semi liquid mess on the floor. I assume you know what that 4 letter word is. I immediately noticed there was no trail, it had not been walked in from outside. Someone actually made that mess there!! To top it off, it was right in front of an airline desk that had people working there. They seemed oblivious.
* At the station area people with cases are struggling to get through the barriers that lead to the escalators. Moaning “what a stupid place to put these things”, while in my head I think “those barriers are there to stop stupid people like you tumbling down the escalator because of that ridiculous sized suitcase!” If they seem nice people, I show them where the lifts are. I hate to see people struggle, but some of them really do leave their brains at home when they travel.
I like working here! :O)
