No, it’s not a typo. On Monday, the SWA Communications department held a mini chili cook-off competition called Bring Your Chili to Work Day; and seven Communications Employees “BU- ROT – IT!” The smell of meat and spices hung heavy in the air to the dismay of a few people, and in several cubicles, a crock pot could be found plugged in under the desk. They meant business.
It was a heated competition, no pun intended. There was chili with beans, chili with no beans, organic chili, hotter-than-heck chili, tangy chili, cheesy chili, and EVERY contestant insisted that his or her chili had a secret ingredient to burn the competition.
When all the Employees of Communications tasted every chili and chose their favorite, they cast their vote in a secret ballot. The ballot box held the key to the coveted title, “Communication Chili Chef of the Year.”
The “Communications Chili Chef of the Year” goes on to represent the Communications Department at this year’s 36th and Last SWA Chili Cookoff competition on April 4 where 25 SWA Employee contestants from across the country compete.
For the last several years our own Steve Heaser of Red Belly Radio has been the Communications representative. This year, however, he has been asked to be a judge at the competition which means Communications lost its spectacular chef. After we dried our tears, we came up with the Bring Your Chili to Work Day competition to determine our new chili chef.
Congratulations to Ashley Pettit, of Public Relations! Her spicy chili rendition would have claimed its spot in the Communications Chili Hall of Fame, if there were one.
For the next week or so, Ashley will prepare for the 36th and Last SWA Chili Cookoff by practicing her stir stoke, aligning her Chi and praying to the Gods of Chili for a respectable place in the competition, preferably First Place. Wish her and our entire Communications team ‘good luck’!
Comments
Why is this going to be the last Chili Cook-off?
Thanks
A pleasure flying with you.
Bill
Yea! go Ashley, i have always LOVED your cookies and cheese sandwiches, wish I could taste the chili! ;-) xo
Bill
It's not the last cookoff. The "last" part of the title is tongue and cheek. When we began the Chili Cookoff, our survival was far from certain, so we weren't sure if we would even be in business the next year. Anyway, the "last" part of the title gets used every year.
Brian
OH my gosh this comment really shocked me....
"so we weren't sure if we would even be in business the next year" Really you guys were not sure about SWA a year ago? that is shocking and scarey! A airline world with no SWA in it? man who would i fly? You guys have to be around from one year to the next! I dont like any other airline. you guys are the most relaxed in the business...your pilots and flight staff are not so tightly wrapped they cant smile, like other airlines where the crews are so tightly wrapped they woudl crack if they smiled..and joking around..forget about that they would never do such a thing..unlike SWA you guys are just a lot of fun to fly with. you like to have fun on dreadful flights and any flight over a hour is dredful!
yeah you guys cant, not be around....i would have to do a whole lot of driving and that would suck!
Hi Donna ... what Brian meant is when we started the Chili Cook Off in 1973, we weren't sure if we'd make it to 1974. Luckily we did, but the tradition of always including the phrase, "and last" stuck.
We appreciate your support of airline today. I agree with you-- an airline world without Southwest would be sad indeed!
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