BACK HOLINESS 5'?m2f Holiness: a reputation for attending to details LIZ -- (enters wearing business clothes, carrying steno book, looks around, looks at watch, paces, looks at watch, paces) AMY -- (enters opposite hurriedly wearing business clothes, carrying thick file folder) I'm so sorry I'm late. We had some technical problems. (offers hand) I'm Amy Miller. (shakes, looks in folder) And you are... Ann Jaffee? LIZ -- No. I'm Elizabeth Jordan. Ann Jaffee is my... AMY -- ...Oh, ah, Ann Jaffee is your editor? LIZ -- She's my publisher. AMY -- Yes, of course, (paging through file) at Time Magazine. LIZ -- Newsweek. AMY -- Yes, of course. And you're here to do a fly-along on our flight number 911 to Seattle? LIZ -- Flight 857 to Los Angeles. AMY -- Oh, yes, of course. And you were particularly interested in... (paging) in... LIZ -- (irritated) Your company's slogan: attention to details. AMY -- ...I'm sorry. I really am. You see, I'm not the one who was supposed to brief you. (throws up hand in frustration) The public relations person who gathered all the information you requested was rushed to the hospital this morning for an emergency appendectomy. LIZ -- So, that's her information there? (points to file) AMY -- Actually, her file is probably locked up in the trunk of her car. On such short notice, all the public relations department had time to do was to print out all of the recent files on her computer, (pages) in no particular order, and email them here to the airport... LIZ -- ...Wait. AMY -- Yes? LIZ -- You said, "THE public relations department". Aren't you from the public relations department? AMY -- No. My job is to recover lost luggage for passengers. Public relations thought that since I was already here at the airport and since I have experience talking to passengers... LIZ -- ...That you could fake it. AMY -- Well, yes. I'm sorry. LIZ -- Your airline goes public with their initial stock offering in less than two months, right? AMY -- Yes. LIZ -- You know, if I told my readers how shabbily your company handled my fly-along, I could do serious damage. AMY -- Oh, please don't do that! Our intentions were good. We thought it would be better to fake it than to cancel the fly-along. And they only chose me because... LIZ -- (holds up hand) ...Don't worry. I won't be too hard on you. AMY -- (sigh) Thank you. Say, listen, I've been with the airline long enough to know how things work around here. What particularly did you want to know about us before we put you on the flight? LIZ -- Actually, it was the details behind your reputation for attending to the small details. AMY -- Oh. Nearly all airline handle the day to day operation in basically the same way. For instance, the airplane for your flight, which is a continuation of a flight from Boston, had its fuel tanker scheduled for refueling here before it took off from Boston. The in-flight meals that we are loading in the galley right now were ordered two days ago, because your flight is full and we know exactly how many to order. Normally, we order the meals the same day to get an accurate count. Most of the food was cooked in the wee hours of the morning this morning. The number of baggage handlers assigned to load and unload your bags and the number of aircraft maintenance and cleaning crew are allocated based on the size and model of the airplane, well in advance of the plane's arrival here. LIZ -- (writing) Is that so? Everything just seems to come together so effortlessly. It's amazing what happens behind the scenes. AMY -- Actually, though, I think all airlines pretty much assign airplanes and people and food the same way. What gives our airline a reputation for attending to the details is the commitment of the managers of each department to make sure that each job gets done right. (ponders) Oh! LIZ -- What's the matter? AMY -- Oh, ah, nothing. I just had an idea for my Sunday School class. LIZ -- (amused) I'm dying to hear how the inner workings of an airline have anything to do with your Sunday School class. AMY -- Well, you might think this is a little bazaar, but next Sunday's lesson is about HOLINESS. LIZ -- Holiness. AMY -- Yes. LIZ -- And that's connected to the airline business... How? AMY -- Well, in a manner of speaking, holiness is just like flight 857 to Los Angeles. Once we know where we're going, we allocate all the needed resources to get there. I mean, when you know your purpose in life, preparing and executing it is every bit as deliberate and detailed as preparing and executing an airline flight. LIZ -- (writing) It is? How? AMY -- Well, for instance, if I order 210 meals for flight 857, but only 209 meals show up, we as an airline have failed our passengers. Likewise, if I've decided that in order to reach my spiritual goals I should abstain from drinking alcohol, I've failed if I fall off the wagon just one day out of 210 days. LIZ -- I never thought of holiness that way. AMY -- The lesson I learned for my Sunday School class this morning is that the biggest enemy of holiness is not failure, but faking it. Faking it takes my focus away from doing good and puts the focus on LOOKING good. Faking it doesn't work for an airline and certainly doesn't work for holiness. LIZ -- (writing) Hummm. I like that. AMY -- (looks at watch) But I digress. (guides Liz to exit) It's time for boarding. LIZ -- Tell me more about this HOLINESS thing. What planning do YOU do? �2013 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: Do not sell any part of this script, even if you rewrite it. Pay no royalties, even if you make money from performances. 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