~ This Is A Drill ~

by Tina~in_ut

At work on Wednesday, it was announced that we would be having a drill on Thursday, and everyones participation was mandatory. We would be activating the Passenger Inquiry Center....that is.....the place you call in case of an aircraft accident. Oh the dread we all felt.

I realize it was just a drill, and that's exactly the first words out of Melissa's mouth when I was "activated" and went to the briefing room. "This is a drill. Flight 69 from XXX to XXX was involved in an accident." The second she said the word accident, my stomach turned and I prayed we would never have to do this for real. Everyone in the room must have felt the same way because we were all quiet and everyone seemed to take this seriously. After we went to the next briefing room for further instructions, we were taken to a restricted area to sign into the computers and phones.

I can't even explain the anxiety I felt. In my head I knew it wasn't real, but the thought that this could really happen was unnerving. AND....although I could receive a call from "the media", someone calling to offer assistance, or someone just wanting details, I KNEW I would be one of the "lucky" ones to get a call from a relative of a passenger.

My first "call" was from the wife of a passenger. She was mean, yelling, wanting information and wanting it NOW! I was able to get her "husband's" name, her name and phone number, but when I entered the information into the computer, I wasn't given any information that told me whether or not he was on the plane. I tried so hard to put the woman on hold to get help from someone, but she wouldn't let me and kept berating me for not telling her what she wanted to know. We had several people walking around to help us. They were all wearing red and easy to spot. When I finally got the woman on hold, there was no one available to help me. I had my hand up waiving like mad, and the next thing I knew, this man I had never seen before was there to help me. He wasn't wearing red. He was actually dressed in business attire. I was so nervous that I didn't care who he was. He seemed to know everything that I was doing wrong. He was such a help. The system we use for this process is something that we are not familiar with. We've never used it for anything else and thank God we haven't used it for what it's intended for either. I sent the woman's information in instead of "searching" the system for the passenger. When I clicked on search, up came the man's name. He was listed as a passenger booked on the flight, but thus far, we had not confirmed that he actually got on the flight. That is what I had to tell her.

If I've learned one thing at this job, it's never ever think you know how a person is going to respond. I thought this woman would start crying once I gave her the information. Oh NO!!!! She thought it was ridiculous that I couldn't tell her for sure if he got on the plane. And let me tell you right now....the people that they used to make these phone calls, they should be nominated for Academy Awards. They were incredible. They stayed in character the entire time and in an office where I'm constantly wearing a sweatshirt because I'm so cold, I was sweating bullets. That's how convincing they were.

Oh! And I made a big boo-boo! The woman was telling me that she wanted to know now and I was no help, and then I said one of the two phrases you are NEVER to say to these people. I said, "I understand!" What I meant was that I understood that she wanted the information, NOT that I understood how she felt. The other no-no phrase is, "I know how you feel!" Thank God I didn't say that one. She lost it again. I never really finished that call because she finally hung up on me. The next call came right in and it was the sister of a passenger. Just my luck! I wanted a "media call."

Afterwards, I learned that the man who had helped me was the person who designed the computer program we were using. He was so nice and helpful. In the debriefing room, we were treated to homemade cookies! Since I'm the type of person who likes to let management know how something works and offer suggestions on how to make it better, I did just that. As crazy as it seems, I also asked if we could do this more often......just in case~