Around the World in a Bad Mood! by Rene Foss Page A

stewards at this point in history). Apparently the airlines would announce that they were seeking applications via newspapers across the country and then call in qualified candidates for interviews at the headquarters, much like they still do today. In any case that is how my mother, Maxyne, found out about the job. Actually, it was her younger sister, Janice, who saw the advertisement in the newspaper and wanted to apply, but there was a vision requirement and Janice wore glasses. However, Maxyne, with her 20/20 vision and a burning desire to get off the farm, took a strong interest in the idea and decided she would apply instead.
    Within three weeks the girls were on a small plane to the main office for an interview—Maxyne dragged her younger sister along for moral support—and neither had ever been on a plane before. As the story goes, the two girls rented a car and drove from the airport to the personnel office, where Maxyne went for her interview while Janice waited in the car. The airlines could afford to have very specific standards for those they hired, and what they wanted was very beautiful women. Unfortunately Maxyne, although very beautiful, had one small flaw: When she was a little girl a dog bit her, leaving a small scar on the left side of the bridge of her nose. It really was barely visible, but the man in the personnel office noticed it. After the interview he told Maxyne that she met all the qualifications, but because of that small scar, he would have to disqualify her from the application process. This sort of thing could never happen today and if it did, certainly no one would give the actual reason. However, back then that is the way things were, so my mother left the office and went back to the car where Janice was patiently waiting.
    Naturally both girls were disappointed and probably figured they would end up spending the rest of their lives on the farm milking cows, or teaching school. They returned the car and went back to the airport to catch their flight back home. When they boarded the plane the sky started turning gray and it began to rain, which was sort of appropriate for their moods at the time. The plane took off and began a very bumpy journey westward; about midway through the flight the captain announced that the weather ahead was worse and they would have to turn around and return to the airport. Janice and Maxyne were not quite sure how this would affect them since the next flight out wasn’t until the next afternoon at the same time. When they landed on the ground, personnel arranged a hotel reservation and booked them on the same flight home the following day, thus giving them another twenty-four hours in the “big city.” They decided it might be fun to go downtown and see the sights. Maxyne wanted to visit the fancy department stores and see all the latest fashions, and Janice wanted to look at the architecture. They decided to each do her own thing and meet back at the bus stop in one hour. While Maxyne was on her way to the fine furs area, she passed by the cosmetics counter, where she overheard a well-dressed woman and a salesman discussing a foundation cream that covered blemishes and made skin look pure and translucent. Suddenly something clicked in her mind and she approached the man as the other woman was leaving. She told him about her experience with the airlines and showed him the little scar. He put a little bit of the cream on her face and the scar disappeared.
    Without hesitation my mother purchased a jar of the cream and then ran to meet her sister at the bus stop. Janice was amazed at how well the cream covered the scar and even more amazed at Maxyne’s plan to return to the airline personnel office first thing the following morning. She wanted to go right then but the office would have been closed. In all actuality it was a good plan since their flight was not leaving until the following afternoon and they had nothing else to do until then. So