the president’s message
D ear CAI Friends, We’ve officially entered the second half of the year. It’s hard to believe that (what feels like) yesterday I was getting ready to take on this great adventure of Presidency. It’s true what they say, it’ll be over before you know it! It’s been a wonderful ride so far and I’ve learned a lot about our group, a lot about myself and a lot about the possibilities in store for our mighty North Chapter! One of the ben- efits of what I do for a living is going to CAI National each year. It is a wealth of information for all persons who serve HOA’s including board members, community managers and business partners. Each membership group even has their own, specific to their field, breakout sessions. Te information is invaluable to our industry and the keynote speakers are always tremen- dous. I have to tell you though, the flight over to Florida was my most memorable experience. I mean, seeing Mr. Geoff Brown walk across the stage to get his PCAM and accepting our CAI North Chapter Leadership Award were VERY close seconds. But what I ex- perienced on the way over was my definition of hospi- tality. So the story starts: For those of you who don’t know me, I can sleep through a Cat- egory 5 hurricane. So much so that I typically set an auto- matic light alarm along with 3 sound alarms, all of which have snooze repeats. Being able to sleep well, as we get older, is something to be truly thank- ful for. But on a day when you have to be to the airport at 5am, this is not a good problem to have. So my wakeup that morning was a very confusing post REM sleep phone call from Mrs. Jennifer Rich- ardson asking where I was. Yes folks, I slept through all 4 of my repeat siren alarms – happily still in bed when I should be at the airport. Time read 5:28 am. I made it to the airport and to my gate by 6:07am. From Citrus Heights. Te CAI lords were with me. Suffice it to say, I was extremely stressed and very frazzled, and so was my counterpart. (I have to send a quick shout out to President-Elect Jennifer Richardson though – it is true that community managers have the patience of Job – for I was welcomed with a huge smile, warm hug and a saved seat. We may have exchanged some “holy cows” but otherwise it was pure relief! SHE IS THE BEST!). I was greeted at the concord-plane entry by an attendant named Alex. He said, to every passenger walking by “good morning, how are you” and “please lower your bag in front of you”. A request made by him to each person so that the sitting pas- sengers didn’t get a swift slam to the face with each row the walk-on
passenger passed. When people would thank him, he would say “well thank you for thanking me”. He was happy, he was light and he was FUN. I am not a huge fan of flying. I’m used to it now, and I don’t have to jump into the arms of my neighbor when turbulence starts anymore, but I’ll certainly never be a fan. Te more I fly the more people I meet who share my sentiment about flying. You know what doesn’t help nerves on a flight? An angry or abrupt flight attendant. Here’s the thing, Alex wasn’t just friendly and professional, he was on a whole different level. His in-flight emergency procedure demonstration was hilarious. Not like some we’ve heard where they get a chuckle here or there, but it was really creative. And he gave us updates throughout the flight with little twists of humor. He walked around the cabin getting to know the passengers and seeing how he could help them. He made them laugh and got the passengers engaged with whatever he was doing. He remembered names and drinks and made sure everyone was comfortable and had what they needed. Tis is a flight that doesn’t serve food and is 5 hours long from CA to Florida, so I can imagine it’s hard to keep folks happy, but he did. At one point, he found out it was someone’s birthday and made a makeshift birthday cake (pictured above) and had the aircraft sing Happy Birth- day to the lucky passenger. He was full of so many jokes and ways to engage. I could go on and on, but I am limited for this article’s length. Te point is, even though some passen- gers were rude or not receptive to his jokes, he chose to keep
his attitude positive. He chose to serve, no matter what obstacle was put in front of him. Southwest Airline’s Mission Statement for its com- mercial aviation and related services is “… dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friend- liness, individual pride, and Company Spirit.”. Alex lived up to this 110%. He changed my day from tense, stressed, arduous and taxing to relieving, relaxing, fun and positive. I truly thank Alex for changing what could have been a rough day, into a great start to my much antici- pated amazing trip ahead. In my Buzz message, I mentioned the quote by Maya Angelou saying “People will forget what you said. Tey will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel.”. Boy oh boy, is that surely true.
Tankful to serve,
Christina ‘Tina’ Keele, CIRMS Chapter President
Community Association Institute ~ California North Chapter
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