My connecting flight from Chicago to Boise is delayed by about 25 minutes. The plane arrived late, so the cleaning and safety crew needed time to prepare it.
I sit near the podium, pecking away at my keyboard, when I hear a man become irritated with the gate agent.
“How long does it take to clean a plane?” he asks.
“People are waiting. Can’t they work any faster?”
“This is ridiculous.”
He’s not nice. He’s loud. His tone is aggressive and rude.
He’s also being ridiculous. We’re landing in Boise around midnight. He’s not trying to make a connection. Boise is his destination, so this short delay won’t cause him to miss a plane. Also, it’s likely the pilots will make up most of this time in flight, as they often do.
A second later, he sits beside me. I wait for a moment, and then I look in his direction, hoping against hope that he will notice my gaze and say something to me.
Allow me to engage.
Then he makes eye contact with me. He says, “Can you believe this nonsense?”
“Are you okay?” I ask. I try to sound as sincere as possible.
“What?”
I repeat myself. “Are you okay?”
It’s one of my favorite lines in situations like this:
Accusation wrapped in sincerity.
“I’m fine,” he says, already sounding defensive. “Just annoyed about the stupid delay.”
“Oh,” I say, trying to sound incredulous. “Okay…”
“Why?” he asks. He’s mad now.
“I fly a lot,” I say. “And I don’t often hear people speak to gate agents like that, especially when there is absolutely nothing they can do. So I thought maybe something was wrong. Maybe you’re having a bad day? Got some bad news?”
He stands up and walks away. Finds another seat.
A young woman sitting opposite me taps my foot to get my attention and smiles.
She enjoyed it, too.
About half an hour later, I’m boarding the plane. I have a row to myself because I switched to an empty row while standing in line to scan my ticket.
I fly a lot. I know some tricks.
It turns out I have also switched to the seat across the aisle from the man.
Of course.
I smile at him as I sit down.
He does not smile back.
As I type these words, we have about an hour to go on the flight. There is still silence from the other side of the aisle.
The pilot has announced that we’ll be landing in Boise 15 minutes ahead of schedule.
I don’t like delays either, but I made the best of this one.
