Sometimes I wonder if working at Sky Harbor is good for my health! After waking from my coma I realize the third time (accident) is not a charm! Lets backtrack to the first accident (incident) when I first started sky capping about three years ago. Back then I closed the curb and would leave about 8:30 – 9:00 every evening unlike my 7:00pm I currently do. This unlucky night on the south curb I felt a rush of rain right on my head and on my white shirt until I realized it was a grotesque dark murky color. Apparently the supposed rain was a leaky ceiling coming from paradise. I mean Paradise Bakery. The other skycap, who had more seniority, wouldn’t close for me so after I rinsed my hair and changed shirts I was stuck out there waiting to get smacked again. Thank goodness the city came out and fixed the problem. I never did find out if it was grease, the sewer or toxic waste. But as of 10:00 pm February 5, 2006, I am not dead.
I was smacked again about two years later on that same south curb. Again my head was a target. You’ve probably seen the comic from the birds view of these heads below with big bulls eye targets on top of them seeming to say, ”hit me with your best shot” (“fire away” aka Pat Benitar- I loved that song in high school. Wait a second, I am aging myself. Why am I talking about high school?) Anyway back to two years ago, yes I had some white stuff on my hair surely that couldn’t be bird droppings. It’s not like we have any birds flying in this area that is completely covered. I looked up and sure enough straight above me about thirty feet there is the culprit- a pigeon standing on a pipe probably the same pipe that leaked, who knows what, on me two years earlier. Fortunately for me it was quiet on the curb and no passenger had to be traumatized by these horrific events. I can’t blame the city on the fugitive bird’s action but I sure wished the FAA would have allowed arms on that night. I don’t think a BB or pellet gun would suffice. For a while after I always looked up in the air to make sure the path was clear! Maybe someone took care of the problem for me. I swear I didn’t hire a hit –man, I mean a hit-bird.
Fast forward to Friday, February 3, 2006. I was working a double. I took my lunch break. I went to the break room and inquired about sitting at a table where many of my coworkers were sitting and low and behold the sky was falling. The ceiling came crashing down on my head, neck and shoulder. Did I say something about a
coma? That was a misprint. With all that white dust I really needed to
comb my hair to even out the white hair. Oh yah, I already have lots of gray hair. I had dust particles and wet cement all over me. Who ever said the third time is a charm. Not with me. Some of my coworkers think that I am an accident waiting to happen and do not want to be too close to me. Maybe I’m a jinx, so hit me with your best shot!
The Phoenix Zoo with cousins.
New planting area - only half finished. The "Secret Garden" is behind the tree.
