First, some back story. This year in the Shuttles group we had been operating with 4 less people and in order to do that we cut some services out of the daily schedule because we just didn't have the people to do it all. The season started and there were a lot of complaints that we were not offering the same services as we had in the past. Other departments were supposed to pick up the slack but didn't. We didn't have the staff to support it on our own.
Leading up to the end of the year the Shuttle crew was informed that we would be getting two new drivers for the rest of the year. Once we all got this information we were all pretty excited because one of the most liked shuttle drivers from last year was an alternate to come down here. This was Jami. Jami and I became great friends last year and I was able to visit Jami in Cincinnati last summer when I was home. She is the funniest person I have ever met and a ton of fun. Last year she kept the group together by her ability to make every event a fun one. Originally Jami was going to be back again this year but a few months before the season started Jami decided to stay in Cincinnati as things were going exceptionally well for her there. The picture below is of all the Shuttles from New Years 2008 on my first season. Jami is there at the top looking at me. She was the most certain of coming back at the end of last season out of all of this group. She was the only one who didn't come back.
Unfortunately, shortly after we were all informed it was a possibility for her to come down we also found out that she didn't have all her paperwork in and the company was pressing for people and wouldn't wait for the paperwork to be processed and would go with different alternates. So it was a bit sad when the news hit that she would not make it down.
A few days after New Years my boss Kris and I were talking about the morale in the office and how some people were having a hard time this season. I was worried about some of my friends in the office. Kris decided to crack and told me that she had a big surprise and that Jami was in fact coming down and that I could not tell anyone about it. Kris arranged it so know one new and that we all believed that one of the new drivers was a totally different person. I had to deal with the knowledge for a week and almost cracked myself a few times. I was pretty excited for the return of Jami because she really is a fantastic friend. In the office I would sit there with a big smile on my face and tell the rest of the crew that I had a really good feeling about the new guy and that I thought that Friday would be a really good day. I just couldn't resist a little bit of cracking. Here is a picture from this year of Jami, Kris, and me in the Shuttles office after Jami arrived. Welcome back Jami!
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