On the update front: I had my quarterly visit to the ALS/MDA clinic this past Friday and my muscles basically haven't declined in years. My legs don't work but the arms are strong and manual dexterity is good. I am now 10 and a half years since diagnosis (Jan, 2004). And my symptoms can be traced as far back as 1997. I will start getting in-home physical and occupational therapy again to maintain and improve independence. I lost 2 pounds, and would like to lose 15 more. Summer is here and I went to Red Mango twice with Louise for my fro-yo fix. I am excited because I have two bunny rescuers who have come forward to say that they want to visit, and a former student of mine has offered to help with a project around the house.
Cayman Airways was my first position as a sales executive in the travel industry and it was a very strange setup. I interviewed there in 1989 and didn't get the job. I could tell I was well-liked at my interview, but they were starting a whole new non-stop service out of New York and needed someone with experience, so they hired Winston, who was an experienced sales manager at British Airways and whose parents were from Jamaica. This was all explained to me through a really nice letter from my would-be [and future] boss Frank. Much to my chagrin, I went back to the job I had at Garuda Indonesia Airlines. At the time i and even joined a better company with better chances of advancement. When I had my new job for only five months as a sales assistant, I received a phone call from Frank at Cayman Airways. The man who had gotten the job instead of me, was moving to start an office in Atlanta and the position in NYC was open again. I interviewed again and I got it.
I was informed that I was reporting to my bosses in Miami and flew to Miami for the quarterly sales meeting and met all my co-workers. But I soon learned that there was a structure that was very confusing. You see, for years, Cayman had a staff in our cities that was under the control of the Department of Tourism, but they also repped the airline. It was their concern to get people to the islands on any airline, but Cayman Airways felt they needed dedicated airline professionals in every office. In my office, there had been a boss for years, but he wasn't MY boss and my Miami boss let me know it. But C., the tourism boss in NYC had other ideas. It was very uncomfortable that he expected to control me, but I had a boss in Miami. Eventually my boss -- who always had my back, was terminated and my boss in Miami was B who would tell me to stand up to C but then would betray me behind my back. I was very naive about all this. Let's just say that while I was on the road four days a week, it was natural for Annu to want companionship with the Cayman Airways/DOT people and there was a lot of manipulation going on by C and B and when the airline stopped flying out of NY and I was scrambling for a job, things had become so strained between Annu - who had already been hired by DOT, and C had hated me from day one, I ran out of there to a new job and didn't look back. I should have,
Fast forward to now in 2014. I had a long-needed talk online with Annu and I apologized for the crappy way I managed everything and we cleared the air, There is still one person I need to reconnect with, but he has fallen off the face of the earth. How does one disappear in this day and age of social media. Anyway, I miss my days at Cayman Airways and it was a time of fantasy for me: a dream job and a dream island.
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