01-08-2009, 02:25 PM
I am so sorry this happened to your wife, Tom. And Damon - yes they are AIRPORT personnel.
I was at Queens for 8 days after a very painful kidney surgery 1-1/2 years ago. We could not afford for my husband to leave my mom and pay for a hotel and take off work - so as a result I was alone the entire time.
On my return trip to the Big Island the driver of the Queens Hospital van left me at the curb with a porter, as I needed a wheelchair. When the wheelchair came, they told me there was a $2.00 fee to check my bag in (of course I couldn't carry it). I said I didn't have it and they were nice enough to courtesy check my bag.
The redcoat wheeled me to my flight grudgingly (he knew there was no tip coming) and upon my arrival at Hilo, another redcoat took me down to the curb to wait for my husband. After he got me there he told me that they make their money by collecting tips for the "courtesy" he just did. I told him that I had NO money - not even a quarter and that I couldn't walk far due to my surgery. He was visibly pissed and marched off after loading my suitcase onto my lap.
I was so embarrased BOTH times I thought I would die. I sat there in tears waiting for Tony. I just didn't have any money. I had a debit card, but they didn't use those.
It is a shame that they cannot do their job with pride and spare disabled people their dignity.[:I]
Carrie Rojo
"Every area of trouble gives out a ray of hope; and the one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable."
-- John Fitzgerald Kennedy
I was at Queens for 8 days after a very painful kidney surgery 1-1/2 years ago. We could not afford for my husband to leave my mom and pay for a hotel and take off work - so as a result I was alone the entire time.
On my return trip to the Big Island the driver of the Queens Hospital van left me at the curb with a porter, as I needed a wheelchair. When the wheelchair came, they told me there was a $2.00 fee to check my bag in (of course I couldn't carry it). I said I didn't have it and they were nice enough to courtesy check my bag.
The redcoat wheeled me to my flight grudgingly (he knew there was no tip coming) and upon my arrival at Hilo, another redcoat took me down to the curb to wait for my husband. After he got me there he told me that they make their money by collecting tips for the "courtesy" he just did. I told him that I had NO money - not even a quarter and that I couldn't walk far due to my surgery. He was visibly pissed and marched off after loading my suitcase onto my lap.
I was so embarrased BOTH times I thought I would die. I sat there in tears waiting for Tony. I just didn't have any money. I had a debit card, but they didn't use those.
It is a shame that they cannot do their job with pride and spare disabled people their dignity.[:I]
Carrie Rojo
"Every area of trouble gives out a ray of hope; and the one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable."
-- John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Carrie Rojo
"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..." Galadriel LOTR
"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..." Galadriel LOTR