A Call for Back-up, A Turtle Saved...

If you're thinking the title to this blog implies a turtle was saved after back up was called, please keep reading!

Evening shifts at the airport can be pretty busy or very dull depending on the night. It seems that Friday nights can have a little more activity than most and to illustrate that point I'll share my bizarre encounter with someone who had som "issues" with the airport.

Its not uncommon for me to see customers either in person or talk to them by phone regarding compliments and complaints they may have about any number of things that may have gone wrong or right with their travel experience. We take some on behalf of the airlines and forward them a copy while others relating to the airport authority gets sent to our executive staff. I try my best to help resolve their problems if I can; short of buying them a ticket for another flight.

It is, however, less common to have some really bizarre person come to us with issues that, to this day, I have no idea what they were! And it gets even more uncommon to have to call our police for a little back up, which I did only after being told to dig deeper into my professional repatoire (his words, not mine) to understand his needs. Of course when your dealing with someone whose family name appears on the bottom of every keyboard in the world ( the Del key..short for Delgado) how could I've possibly understood. You, like me, can now see how something like transients from the airport with suitcases running through his neighborhood would be disturbing for someone with such importance in the world. I can appreciate his discreet answer to my question..."What is your neighborhood?"......"We're all over Tampa". Obviously my next step was to call for a police officer to try and quell this activity apparently running rampant all over town. A few questions later by the police and a friendly reminder to not come here again unless on official airport business and my new friend was on his way.

About the turtle, it was his lucky day as I found him alive and well on the centerline of a taxiway last night. Although he probably didn't think getting picked up with a shovel and put into a bucket upside down was going to save his life, it did as I moved him into a more remote wooded area of the airport!

Highlights from an airport Friday evening!!