Her nose was flaring. Eyes were rolling. Chest was puffing. All at my husband, and I was about to give her a piece of my mind. What is it with people feeling entitled and not waiting their turn for something?
Let me paint the picture.
We had planned a weekender to Boston to see one of our favorite comedians, Jim Gaffigan, perform his stand up. After an on-time and uneventful flight, we landed in Boston and were waiting our turn to deplane. Basic rules we all learned back in grade school of waiting your turn should apply here…you would think, right? But, there’s always those impatient people that think where they need to go and what they need to do is FAR more important than your existence. So, here we were deplaning and our row came up. My husband had turned his cell on and was on a call.
Now, my husband is a very experienced business traveler. On planes a lot. Anyone that knows him is aware he does not like to waste his time on anything. He can pack his suitcase in five minutes, he’s the guy you want to get behind at airport security because he can stealthy maneuver all of his gear in a nanosecond and can deplane like a pro as well-all while on a conference call. He also has no interest in wasting your time either.
Back to the scenario. As my husband stepped out of our row with his cellphone steadied between his shoulder and ear, the aforementioned impatient lady who sat a row behind us felt she should have to get by before he got our two carryons down from above. This drives me insane. Wait your turn sister. Why is his traveling right to gather our carryons and belongings so irritating to you? My husband, who was oblivious to all of this, did not see all of the pained faces this woman was making and the sheer rage that was growing inside her. I, on the other hand, did. I became increasingly protective, ready to spat out in my mousy, will-never-be-intimidating voice something like is there a problem here? what’s wrong with him getting not just one, but two carryons down from above in like 8 seconds flat? She was about to not let me out either. What is the DEAL. I decided to bite my tongue, which is 9 times out of 10 what I do. I was mad though.
I caught up to him wheeling both of our carryons up the ramp, with a backpack on his back and still on the phone. He wrapped up the call and I told him that a cranky lady behind us really pissed me off and I gave him a quick recap. He asked which lady and I nodded her way.
My husband looked at me and said, “well, maybe she had diarrhea?”
I looked at him and said, “you’re right, maybe she had diarrhea.”
And we moved on with our day and had an awesome weekend.
Should I have said something to her when her feathers were getting all ruffled? Maybe. Did I want the situation to set the tone for the beginning of our trip? Absolutely not. Considering this happened on the heels of that horrible shooting tragedy at the movie theater over the dad sending text messages to his daughter, it was just maddening to witness someone so impatient and angry at my husband. We have sent text messages to sitters watching our son while we were out, especially at a movie theater, so it happens and its harmless. It is just so scary to see the rage in some people. Getting a picture message from a sitter showing my son fresh in his PJ’s reading a book to bed is hardly a reason for someone to get mad.
I could have said something to the lady. I could have gotten mad about it for a little while longer. I could have drug out the story to my husband. But, instead I decided to shake it off, consider the alternative (that maybe she really did have diarrhea) and move on with my life. To be honest, I believe she was just a miserable person who was mad he was on his phone while deplaning, which in actuality took up mere seconds of her life, but whatever she had going on-potential diarrhea or not-didn’t have to ruin my day.
By the way – Jim Gaffigan was phenomenal! Highly recommend him. If you haven’t watched/listened to his Hot Pockets skit, it’s a must! Just click here.
And – stay tuned, I’ve got a story from the way home haha.
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