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40 Years in 40 Days: Class of 1977

nnewsom
Explorer C

I began my career with Southwest Airlines in June of 1977 at DRC.  Orientation was held at the original headquarters on Regal Row, where we were ushered back to Lamar Muse's office to watch a few Southwest Airlines commercials.  I sat on the floor, and glanced over at Mr. Muse.  His secretary sat down on his lap for a few minutes, everyone was laughing and I thought to myself..."this is going to be a fun place to work!"  It was a busy summer, we had recently begun service to Lubbock and Midland/Odessa, and initially answered those calls on a black rotary dial phone.

When I was hired, there were approximately 100 employees in the reservations department.  Donna Conover and Wade Crandall were also in my class. Karen Wallace was Director of Reservations, and to personalize the customer experience, the policy was that everyone must use a unique name to answer calls.  There could only be 1 Linda, 1 Ken, 1 Susie, etc...and since there was already a Nancy (actually, I made the third), I came up with the name of Heidi.  Many times, I would say "Southwest Airlines, Heidi" and the response was "Well, howdy to you too!"  It always made me smile.  This policy continuted for only a few months, as the names were getting a bit more, shall we say, exotic?  We had Monique, Dusty, Stormy, Windy...we were told on more than one occasion that we were starting to sound like a weather forecast, or an escort service!  It's a fun bit of trivia that few people even know about.

I was at DRC for 14 years, then transferred to the MAF ticket counter in 1991. I found my passion in Ground Operations, and love the one-on-one interaction with my customers.  In 2001 we moved to San Antonio, where I currently work as a Customer Service Supervisor.  I was going to be an English teacher, but instead I've been blessed to be part of something very special for 34 years and counting.  Thanks for the LUV!