We can all be tempted to “spew”
(I posted this four years ago but it’s a good reminder that given certain circumstances, we can all be tempted to spew out harsh words.)
I found this fun vase at a thrift store in Florida and I so wanted it to take it home. But my husband and I had flown down to Florida and only had one carry-on piece of luggage apiece. My husband bought it anyway and said he had room in his suitcase. Seeing as it was carry-on luggage, we figured we could get it home unbroken.
We arrive at the airport and hand the boarding passes to the agent. He waves me through and I head down the tarmac but my husband is not behind me. I wait a few minutes and he’s still not there. I go back to the entrance and my hubby is having a “discussion” with the agent about the fact that he (my husband) had one too many pieces of luggage and he would have to check the piece of luggage that is holding my precious five-dollar vase.
My hubby was carrying my computer case so he had three items. (I should add that my husband at this point had extensively traveled internationally and certainly knew how much luggage he could carry-on. However, this trip we didn’t use his frequent flyer status because the tickets were so cheap we didn’t want to use his earned miles.)
I offered to take my computer case but then I would have three items because the agent was considering my small purse as luggage!
We have traveled extensively and this is the first time my purse has counted as luggage. (Now I want you to know that our carry-ons were easily half the size of what most people carry on. We pack very lightly.) Our computer bags are also small. So I tell the ticket agent that I can easily put my purse inside my carry-on as I have plenty of room.
Problem solved.
Right?
Wrong.
He was one of those agents one runs across now and then that seems intent on making a traveler’s life miserable. He said it was too late as he’d already tagged my husband’s luggage. God forbid he had to do any work. At this point, I am so ready to call him a jerk when I realize that:
(1) I might never get on the plane,
(2) The flight has already been delayed two hours,
(3) It’s ten o’clock at night,
(4) We have a two-hour flight plus an hour-long ride home from the airport still facing us and
(5) We started this trip home eleven hours earlier and we’re tired. (It took us only two hours on the flight down.)
When we arrive at our destination, I took pictures of how much luggage some people were carrying and that made me even madder. We still don’t get why we were singled out and there’s a letter going to the airline for sure. During that whole two hours of flight, I was fuming the entire time.
Aren’t you wondering how this story turns out? Well, let’s just say my vase has a prized spot on my fireplace, all in one piece. Yea! (Of course, it’s no longer green.)
I came close. If it hadn’t been for the fact that I wanted to get home as scheduled, I could have easily succumbed to a tirade of angry words.
I tried to tell myself the agent was just having a bad day. That’s not an excuse, of course. We all have bad days. But I decided his bad day wasn’t going to become mine.
God bless and I hope you have a good day.
