I thought I’d put a smile on my face and go to work...
DEFIANT Megan Rouse put on her Thomas Cook uniform - and a smile - and went into work as usual.
She had just found out the famous old travel giant went bust overnight when a last-gasp rescue deal failed.
Thousands of miles from her Salford home in a hotel on Portugal’s Algarve, Megan’s job revolves around making holidaymakers happy.
And the 22-year-old wasn’t going to let the devastating news put her off.
Megan works as a hotel entertainer and come the winter, she had been accepted as part of a Thomas Cook flight team to tour Lapland with guests young and old ahead of Christmas.
She’s one of a number of Thomas Cook employees to share their feelings on social media, prompting huge support from the public.
Megan, from Weaste, Salford, told how guests hugged her as she fronted up at the reception desk of her hotel after the news broke early yesterday.
Together, they went on to play boules and Megan had arranged a quiz and disco for last night.
“I would have felt bad if I did not go into work,” Megan told the M.E.N. “At the end of the day, the guests have paid for their holiday. It is nothing to do with them and we have to respect that.
“When I woke up this morning, reality did not hit me. I felt okay and just thought that I would go into work. I work for the guests and I want them to have a good holiday - that’s what is rewarding for me.
“It is not the fault of the guests and I might as well finish the job I am doing.
“I just thought that I would put a smile on my face and go into work.”
And she intends to carry on until there are no Thomas Cook guests left to entertain.
Megan is one of an estimated 21,000 employees now at risk after the tour operator collapsed. The company’s last ever flight after 178 years - from Orlando - touched down at Manchester Airport early yesterday, with cabin crew in tears. There were also tears at Thomas Cook HQ in Peterborough.
Megan, an activities show entertainer who spent five months of the season in Majorca before moving to Portugal, said: “I do not know how I am at the moment.
“It is so sad. I have got so many friends working for Thomas Cook who were all planning to return next summer.
“The guests are getting home okay - which is the most important thing.
“That’s all we know.” “The guests have been really supportive of us. They were thanking us for coming into work and saying ‘well done’.
“There are Thomas Cook values. One of the values is - you are one Thomas Cook.
“Another is about wearing the customers’ flip-flops - how do they feel? That’s what I am doing. We are just working until further notice and that’s that.
“It is just so sad to see. Thomas Cook has been going for so look and there are so many employees.
“People have families to support and bills to pay. I will be able to go home to a roof over my head but others will be worried.”
Some 150,000 tourists are being brought home over the next two weeks in a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) flight programme costing £100m.
Around 15,000 passengers were expected to travel on 61 flights yesterday.
Forty-five aircraft from as far away as Malaysia have been chartered to operate approximately 1,000 flights from 53 airports in 18 countries over the next two weeks.