One of the many ways we keep our Southwest Culture and SPIRIT alive is by telling, and re-telling, stories of the events that have defined us as a Company. There are many venues for telling such stories.
FLY classes (Freedom, LUV & You) that all new Employees go through
Rocking Chair events where a group of longtime Employees sit around (in rocking chairs) and talk about their lives at Southwest
Halloween skits, which almost always lightheartedly relive events from long ago, and not so long ago (And wait 'til you see some of the video from a Southwest Halloween. We go completely Nuts for Halloween.)
A fantastic Puppet Show that our People Department presents at special New Hire luncheons (I’ll have to show you some of that one of these days.)
And just about any gathering of two or more current or former Southwest Employees
You probably already know about many of the stories that made headlines.
Our years of court battles just to get the right to fly
The $13 Fare War in 1973 when we proclaimed “Nobody’s Going to Shoot Southwest Airlines Out of the Sky for a Lousy $13″ (Winning that confrontation with Braniff led to our first profitability.)
Malice in Dallas, when Herb saved lots of money and got a ton of free publicity by arm wrestling for the rights to the “Just Plane Smart” slogan
And most recently, our successful Wright is Wrong campaign to lift the outdated Wright Amendment restrictions at Love Field
But there are hundreds … thousands … of smaller, more-personal stories inside Southwest that are just as important to our Culture and SPIRIT, and I recently became aware of another venue where many of these stories live and thrive.
There is a group of retired Employees who meets about once a quarter at The Landing (our headquarters cafeteria). I heard they used to call themselves Old LUVers, but that was quickly changed to just LUVers. They come from all over the United States just to be together for a few hours … to catch up on what’s new and reminisce about old times. So I asked them if I could set up my camcorder, record their LUV Stories, and share them with YOU!
This first story is from Buddy Mitchell, Southwest Employee #946, retired. It illustrates how important a simple “thank you” can be. It can be something that makes a difference forever!
Thanks, & great post! I remember reading those stories in my book "Nuts!" I've read that book so many times some of the pages have fallen out, so I certainly need to tape them back in! I could buy another copy, but two of my dear friends who work for the Company in TUL autographed it for me, so I can't (& won't) throw it away!
Can you please hire me next year? :)
Interesting fact of the day: George Eastman invented the Kodak.
I used to work for Southwest in MCO and we had to move to a "non-Southwest" city. I took the early retirement and thought I had made the right choice, but every once in awhile I'll see something like a great commercial during a football game, a Southwest plane when I fly in to a "Southwest city," or I'll hear a story like this from Buddy and I'll get a little twinge of doubt about the choice I made. It really is a great company full of great people and I miss it dearly.
Buddy,
Thank you for reminding me of all the good things we were a part of at Southwest. What a great way to make a living---having the opportunity to make a difference in someone's life. You are in my prayers.
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