One of my favorite managers used to insist on upgrading me for business trips for ergonomic health reasons. She was this tiny little thing and I just really appreciated her big galoot empathy.
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Last summer I got a chance to repay some of the kindness/patience others (but not all others!) had shown to me when I used to travel with 4 kids. My daughter and I were flying from Phoenix to BWI on Southwest with priority boarding and took an aisle and a window seat fairly close to the front. We figured we would strategically choose a solo traveler from one of the later boarding groups and offer up the aisle seat while I moved to the middle. We knew what we had to do though when a young mother with a weeks old baby approached, despite our having planned to sleep most of the way to Baltimore. It turned out fine, as the baby really wasn’t much trouble and we were able to help the mom as she prepared to feed her, ate her own dinner, and went to the restroom without having to juggle the baby. I figure that ought to be worth enough good karma to save me from a kicking child behind me for a while.
I was once seated right by the restrooms and I offered to hold every single baby that came by so that moms could use the restroom alone. Score!!! I got snuggle time with 3 different babies. One screamed in my face while I just cooed and snuggled and told her that her mommy was going to be right back. She finally blinked, settled, and put her head on my shoulder just as mommy came back.
Beer time!
I once flew to Clearwater form Atlanta to have a meeting with the manager of the Florida district to discuss the transfer of Georgia from his district to my district of Va, NC, , and SC.
A young mother and her 1 year old were seated beside me. We had a nice conversation while in the air. Upon landing, she pulled a large carry-on bag out of the overhead bin. I offered to help her with the burden of having a baby and a bag, thinking she would hand me the carry on bag. Nope. She handed me the carry-on BABY. The look on the Florida manager’s face as he met me at the gate was pure shock as I walked toward him carrying a baby. (He knew I was a bachelor at that time.)
Whispering vindaloo in my ear will get you everywhere.
In 1985, I got put in first class flying from Tokyo to Manila. Big plane with first class consisting of 3 pairs of seats with two aisles.
Smoking section was divided down the middle of the plane. I was in seat 2C. Guy next to me was in seat 2D, in the smoking section. Like most asians at that time, he was a human chimney.
Almost as bad as the time I got stuck in traffic on the way to the Atlanta airport and barely made my flight to Seattle. I got there in time to make the flight, but after they had given away my original seat. Got stuck in the smoking section 3 rows from the back. I got stuck next to a chain smoking old lady who told me her tales of how her health was messed up from when she used carbon tetrachloride as a household cleaning solution. This was when they would feed you a dinner on long flights. They started from the front of the plane with the cart, until they got to my row. At that point they went back to the kitchen in the back and hand carried the trays from there. I was the last person to get a meal, whihc meant that not only did I not get to choose from the main two choices, I got a meal that was a special order for someone that missed the plane. I'm guessing they missed the plane because they died, because what they gave me was the most tasteless food I have ever had.
Another two win night.
I've got 32 actors signed up to audition for 11 roles and there are still 2 weeks until auditions. Ugh - telling people no is the worst part of casting a show. Have I already posted about my latest idea - the Walking Shadows?