In which a blogger realizes all her posts start the same way

Indeed, I have been re-reading my posts and I have come to realize that they all begin with apologies for not blogging in a while. In all honesty, I was going to apologize for not blogging this time around too (I wanted to say that the reason why I was not blogging lately is that I melted as soon as I touched my laptop: the thing gets really hot, and in the sweltering heat we have had this past week, I did not feel like going anywhere near it!). But I will spare you another apology. Or at least apologize for apologizing all the time - lol. No, but really: I am a very apologetic person by nature. I would apologize for the death of someone's dog even if I just met the person and their dog died three years ago!! But I guess that this can also be regarded as compassion... and people like me because I am compassionate... right?

Okay - that was random.

Now to the real post.

So, Air Canada has given me a wonderful start-of-work gift. A stye in my left eye!!! I am going completely nuts with it!! It is itching and makes me look like I got beaten up and it is driving me insane!!! Why do I know it is a gift from work at the airport? Because other employees told me that their career started the same... with styes!!! This is what happens when you are touching hundreds of passports a day and you do not know where people have been keeping them. Then you inadvertently rub your eye and BAM! you are caught with a stye. Now, people say the solution is proper hygiene. However, I doubt I can do more than I already do. I have a HUGE bottle of hand-sanitizer in my purse with me, which I apply about once an hour while at work. Then, every time I get the chance to do it, I go wash my hands with soap and water... how much more am I supposed to do to avoid styes??? Wash my hands after every passenger?!?! I am sure passengers would appreciate that... NOT! They would probably think I thought their hands were dirty!!!.............. *grumble grumble grumble grumble*

In other news, I promised some good gossip about passengers. So here it goes!

1) On Monday, a complete ... uhm... not-very-smart woman (to say it politely) came to my counter. She had already checked in her luggage, but she had been sent back to us by security. Why?
Because she had a freakin' BLENDER in her carry-on luggage!!!
She pulled the blender blade out of her purse: a very sharp, serrated brand-new set of blades. She was waving it in my face and saying that "the security guy" sent her back because these blades seemed to be a problem. A senior agent and I looked at her incredulously. She, I am not kidding, said that she did not understand what the problem was with those blender blades! To answer her dumb question, the other agent asked her whether it would be possible to cut someone's throat with the blades. She said she did not know!!! Did she leave her brain in her checked luggage??? Anyways, she could not grasp why she could not take the blender blades with her and she did not want to throw them out "because it is a brand-new 70$ blender", and so we provided a small box and added the boxed blender blades as a piece of luggage, checking it in... I still cannot believe she was that thick though.

2) This one is rather cute. I was sitting beside a girl at the check-in counter. This girl is a summer-temp, like myself. However, she is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous! Someone in her family is black (I do not know whether it is the mother or the father) so she is dark-skinned, and she is wonderfully tall and really slender (she used to play basketball). She looks stunning! Anyways, a lacrosse player comes up to her counter. HOT guy, I tell you! Not at all my type (blonde and blue-eyed... yiech!), but very well built - so much so, I would have appreciated it if he had removed his shirt, lol. Anyways, he got to my colleague's counter and, for a moment, they just stared at each other, completely speechless, with ridiculous smiles on their faces. It was really cute how speechless they both were about each other. I could not help but giggle a little. Eventually, my colleague snapped out of it and asked for the lacrosse player's passport. He just smiled and nodded and did nothing. She had to ask him twice more before he realized what she had said and handed over the passport, still smiling. She checked him in and even remembered his name. Unfortunately, she forgot to write her name and phone number at the back of the boarding pass. But when it was time for her break, she went specially to the bathrooms on the other side of security to see him again. She told me he waved at her. Sweet, no?

3) This one is really unbelievable and probably very frustrating for most passengers. A lady storms to our counter, with her 10-year-old daughter, and basically yells that security has sent her back. It is important for the reader to note that it was 7:50 p.m. at this point. When asked why she was sent back, the lady soon revealed that she had a liter of extra-virgin olive-oil in her carry-on. Like blender-lady, she did not want to get rid of it. We asked her where she was flying to and when she had checked in. Apparently, she had checked in two hours prior, but her flight was leaving at 7:55. And here she was, arguing that she wanted to keep that olive-oil "or the whole trip will have been for nothing!" She also said that the olive-oil was for her uncle's vineyard (how is a vineyard linked to olive-oil????). Anyways, time was passing, and soon 7:55 came and she and her daughter were the only two passengers missing on the flight. This caused some panic, as baggage handlers had started pulling her checked bags from the aircraft and the lady insisted that she wanted to get on the flight, but that she did not want to get rid of the olive-oil. In the end, even the 10-year-old daughter got exasperated: "Mom! Just throw it out already! We're going to miss the flight!" she said several times. The child was being much more mature than the mother. Swearing a lot, the woman finally gave in, at 8:00 p.m. and decided to run to her gate (and baggage handlers had to be called to make sure the luggage was still on board). The lady forgot her boarding pass at the counter, though, so I was sent running to security to give it back to her. In the end, the flight was delayed by about 15 minutes because of a bottle of olive-oil. I really hope that the cabin announcement with regards to the delay told the passengers to blame the crazy-lady who did not want to get rid of her liquid. As a result, though, we've got some fabulous olive-oil in our lunchroom now! lol

So those are the stories. I did my first wheelchair to the gate last week, which was a lot of fun, but nothing to gossip about. I also did lines and kiosk for one whole day, which not only sucks but really, really hurts the feet once you are done with your shift...

Anyways, work is good and fun. Though the heat did put a damper on things. Because the doors of the airport are constantly open, the air conditioning is rendered completely useless!!

I also went to Ottawa to renew my German passport with my mum on Tuesday. It was a long drive through sweltering weather, but it was fun. Actually, the passport renewal bit was less fun than the long drive, lol.

And that's about it for my week, really. Michael and I went to a street sale on Saint-Hubert yesterday, which was loads of fun and got a lot of really cheap goodies. We also went to my dad's place and made good use of the pool there yesterday and today. My dad (who was spying on us from the balcony) thinks we make a really good couple. Which is good, because that means he approves of Michael. YAY!

And now I feel like actually writing a story. Do not ask me why, the reason is quite ridiculous. I will be blogging again soon, hopefully sooner than last time! Cheers!