The Sunday Memory Drawer - Me and Maxine

 

Ah, here she is.  With the face only a baboon's mother would love.  With Trump in office again, Mad Maxine Waters is flapping those big Ubangi lips again.   She is a detestable human being who has skimmed millions of dollars off innocent tax payers for years.   Close to 90, I keep looking for your expiration date.   I guess Billy Joel's song is on the mark.  Only the good die young.

Luckily, I don't live in Maxine's "hood" district.  So, I should be thankful that her antics have nothing to do with me.  But...

That was not the case about 15 or so years ago.  A time when Ms. Cheeta got me and good.

It was back in the day when I was making a LA-to-NY trip every six weeks.   Now, despite the fact that I flew a lot and got rewarded a million plus miles, it wasn't always easy to upgrade to business or first class on American Airlines.

I was all set to travel out to NY on the 8AM flight.  The night before, I got one of those rare notifications.

"You have been upgraded to business class."

Sweet.  No need to buy some overpriced airport cookies or cupcakes for breakfast.   I could taste the omelet already.

Except...

I was seated comfortably in the terminal the next morning waiting to board.   And then I got called to the desk.

"Um, we are so sorry but somebody's party bumped your upgrade off the grid."

Okay, so it's somebody with millions of miles more than me.  But that was not the scenario in play.

About five minutes later, an entourage of 20 Black travelers showed up.  Their Pied Piper leading the parade?

You guessed it.

This group essentially took over business class.  The Queen herself grabbed the available seat in First Class...which is an oxymoron.

I always made it a practice to chat with the flight attendants.  Some even saw me multiple times.  So I asked about some intel of what happened.  It seems AA got a distress call the night before.  Maxine and her entire office was being flown last minute for an appearance on...wait for it...

The View.

Kill me now.  Naturally, Maxine and her fiefdom flew for free.   And somebody paid for it via their income taxes.  

As for me, I got bonused 10,000 miles.   Nevertheless, I suddenly realized I could hate this woman even more.

Dinner last night:  Burger at Nomad.