Did I miss a memo?

[mmc45414]

Reminds me of the story about the gentlemen in the airline check in line.

My true story was one that showed the benefit of being nice. Was in Minneapolis connecting to Lincoln, NE and it was storming bad enough that the news was showing cars driving through hub deep water on flooded streets, so the turboprop planes were obviously going nowhere for a while. I bounce out of the bar to my gate that was right next door, and politely explained to the agent that I certainly understand that she has no way to accurately predict a weather delay, but asked if she had any idea, and probably conceded that I was asking her if I had time to order another beer. Based on her feedback I went back to the bar and ordered another beer, and about half way through it I feel a tap on my shoulder and she whispers "come right away, we are overbooked".

So this lady left her work station to come into the bar to get me instead of just letting me chug away and get bumped. Probably safe to assume the person that ultimately got bumped was being a prick to her because it was raining

[scjbash]

This is timely.

"The man had begun the altercation with Lambert’s male friend in the men’s restroom over a statement about millennials and their cellphones"


https://www.foxnews.com/entertainmen...rgument-report

[Cypher]

If you really want to know what kind of person someone is watch how they treat the waitstaff.

[RevolverRob]

So this lady left her work station to come into the bar to get me instead of just letting me chug away and get bumped. Probably safe to assume the person that ultimately got bumped was being a prick to her because it was raining

Mine came in a slightly different form. About five years ago, on my way back from Indianapolis by way of Charlotte, NC. I had to change planes in Charlotte to get back to Austin. As I'm sitting at the gate, minding my own business, the gate attendant calls six of us up, I'm third in line. She calmly explains that the flight is overbooked and half of us aren't getting on this plane. The woman next to me just begins sobbing and I ask her what's wrong and she says, "I'm sorry, I'm just trying to get to Austin to meet my husband who is on leave from Afghanistan for 72-hours. I had five hours notice and packed everything and drove here and bought the last ticket." After a moment she straightens up and calms herself and says, "It'll be fine.". The asshole couple in front of me sees this, mutters to themselves how they won't be missing their vacation, and quickly takes their boarding passes. At this point I'm next and by all accounts could take the boarding pass (first come, first serve, right?). But fuck, I LIVE in Austin, my house and wife will be there when I get there. So, I turn and tell the woman to please go ahead and get her boarding pass. And to thank her husband for his service. She thanks me profusely and gets the ticket.

Now, I've got no plane ticket, literally. But the gate attendant rapidly begins working on it and in a few minutes, I'm booked on a later flight with a business class upgrade and free drink vouchers. The couple behind me, who never said a peep, got the same upgrade, and bought me a drink at the bar after everything was sorted. My wife, who was a bit miffed initially at me being on a later flight, got over it, when she heard why.

Moral of the story is - being nice gets your farther than being mean does in many instances. I could have taken my flight home and been done with it, but I know I would've felt like an asshole getting on that plane. And despite frequently being an asshole, I'm not actually an asshole to my core.

[mmc45414]

I'm just trying to get to Austin to meet my husband who is on leave from Afghanistan for 72-hours.

I used to connect through Chicago frequently on my way to and from Dayton, OH and Eugene, OR, and frequently with two connections there were issues. On one such day I was waiting in the endless line to either get accommodated or rerouted (Cincinnati offered two later flights, and a duration almost exactly matched to how long it took my wife to drive there) when I probably grumbled something to the guy in line with me. He is active duty Army, traveling with his whole family (2 or 3 kids) and said he they left Germany like 17hrs prior, still had to get to Kentucky to get his car, and then drive to their next base (I forget where) before morning or be AWOL.

There really wasn't anything I could do to help (they were already in front of me) but I sure quit feeling sorry for myself real quick like.

[Robert Mitchum]

Hard core stuff telling off a 70 year old Lady .. Did I miss the Memo that that was a big deal ?

[Robert Mitchum]

“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.”

[hufnagel]

Some older folks have orbitofrontal cortex injury from microvascular disease and strokes. This area controls emotional inhibition. A couple of years ago, a geezer snapped and killed a couple of people during a civil litigation deposition. He took off and then killed himself. My friend's wife used to walk by his house all the time while pushing her baby carriage. She states he was the proverbial 'get off my lawn" curmudgeon. Now I see folks like the OP old lady as both a nuisance and at the same time a possible threat. You don't have to be young to pull out a pistol from your pocket and let the devil in your damaged brain take over.

Did you just science the shit out of being an old fart? That kind of takes all the joy out of it.
Except for the whole deposition killing thing. I think the jury is out on if that's justifiable or not.

[RevolverRob]

Hard core stuff telling off a 70 year old Lady .. Did I miss the Memo that that was a big deal ?

Your next post kind of takes the attempted bite out of this one...

“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.”

Don't get flattened by your trivialities.

Did you just science the shit out of being an old fart? That kind of takes all the joy out of it.
Except for the whole deposition killing thing. I think the jury is out on if that's justifiable or not.

Right? It did take all the fun out of it. It's a really valid point, I admit, I had not considered in that frame of reference before. Definitely worth bearing in mind. Which makes @Paul D the real winner of this thread, by forcing folks to think about things different. Even a thread of trivial things generates value on P-F. Or you know...maybe it's, "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile."