The Journey from Houston to Zurich

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Like most things in life, hospitality differs from one region to another. In Texas, employees are expected to be kind and friendly to customers. In the Houston airport that expectation was met to the fullest, even when it came to the water lady. When she noticed the stunned look present on my face to see that the 20 oz. bottle of smart water was a steep $3.34 she suggested that I could buy Dasani for a dollar less. I thought that was very kind of her to do! Of course I kept with my smart water but still, the gesture was just the kind of thing one would almost expect. Needless to say, most Texas hospitality is up to a good ranking in my book. However, as soon as we set foot on the plane, the lovely Continental staff chose to remind me that we were not to be in Texas much longer. While the pilots always seem to be curtious, the flight attendants almost never seize to amaze me at how much they really hate their jobs. I had been seated for about 5 minutes, and yes my purse wasn't under my seat like it was supposed to be (and I should know better) but I have never seen such an improper way of the situation being handled. My flight attendant (who thought it was a bright idea to walk backwards) noticed that my purse was out in the walk way by a mere two inches. Rather than simply saying "ma'am could you please put your bag under the seat?" she decided to say "Um, your bag belongs under the seat." I started at her blankly then looked at my bag, and back at her making no motion to change it. She proceed to say "you almost tripped me," then continued to walk down the isle backwards. Personally, I was not shocked because that is the kind of treatment that I naturally expect from Continental. it wasn't until I had two peers look at me and make remarks that I realized just how outrageous it was for a flight attendant to speak to a customer like that when it was less than deserving. So I said goodbye to the southern hospitality right there on the jet-way.
Once we arrived in Jersey, Elizabeth decided she wanted a milk shake so we went into Ruby's Diner and sat ourselves. Whoops! Big mistake apparently. The hostess (who when we walked in was across the room talking with her fellow employees, not at her designated stand) came and gave us a look as she passed out the menu. According to her it wasn't a seat-yourself restaurant. Understandable, that can be frustrating! So we offered to move and she denied us of the offer so we kept our seat. Selah, our waiter came to ask us what we wanted. Boy was he demanding. Elz ordered a chocolate milkshake and I ordered a water. He told us that we would have to take it to-go, that we were not dine in so we must leave as soon as our order arrives!! (All in a very belittling way of course.) Before he even brings out the milkshake he slides the ticket onto the table and walks away. (very rude in the industry!) About a minute later Elz gets her shake (Yum) and I guess that's when my invisible water came out too. 😞 Good thing I was not thirsty or anything...

There is also a big difference in the airports. While IAH is surrounded by walls majority of the time and marked with the colors green and yellow, Zurich airport is nearly all windows on the outter wall! I don't blame them, however, it would be a crime to block the beauty that Switzerland beholds. 😊 They even go so far as to have their jet-ways (the walkway that you walk on the get to the plane) encased in some sort of translucent casing (glass, plexiglass, Idk what is was really.) Once inside, there were hardly any lights because of the natural sunlight let in through all of the windows. It wasn't until the wide open parts that lights were placed normally. Also, most everything is marked with red or green. Since those are the two standard colors of go/ stop or yes/no they figured it would be easier for everyone to understand. My favorite part though is when we were on the tram and all of the sudden a long screen of a Swiss girl popped up on the side. Maybe her name was Heidi! Creepy at first but we all loved it after that.

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