Every time I step onto a plane I know I’m in for some type of show. After all, when you take 200 people from all walks-of-life, shove them into a tube and make them sit practically on top of each other for hours on end, something is going to happen.
Last night was no exception. My original flight experienced engine problems during takeoff which forced us to fly around in circles for 90 minutes to burn off fuel so we could land back at the airport. Considering the flight from FLL to CLT was 90 minutes, several passengers were upset that we flew in circles for the amount of time it would have taken to reach our destination.
Upon exiting the plane, one man confronted the pilot and told him, “you’re a f***ing a**hole and your license should be revoked.”
He was met at the top of the Jetway by the Broward County Sheriff’s Department and I’m sure his night got more interesting than mine.
I managed to hop another airline since I wouldn’t make my original connection. The flight was uneventful until it was time to get off. As I was getting out of my aisle and the woman in the aisle across from me was making her way out, a young couple around 18 started pushing their way through.
I asked the thug-in-training with the saggy pants and tilted baseball cap where he was going in such a hurry. At the same time, the woman across the aisle asked him, “don’t you know it’s common courtesy to let people out row by row?”
He stared straight ahead and said, “mind your own f***ing business.”
The moll-in-tow mumbled, “f*** you.”
I’m not sure what kind of upbringing it takes to develop attitudes like these two young people received, but it’s sad. When I see situations like this, I can’t help but think that respect and courtesy are fading away in a world that needs them more than ever.
As the woman in 10C and I continued to converse about these two as we walked up the Jetway, the girl turn around and said, “if you’re going to talk about us talk to our faces, not behind our backs.”
We looked at each other, laughed, and in unison said, “f*** you.”
For a brief moment, we let ourselves go.
But boy did it feel good.