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October 16, 2005

On the behaviour of fellow travelers

As you know if you have read me for more that a week or so, I travel a lot. A whole lot.

The more I travel, the less patient I become with .. other travelers. American businessmen are becoming pushy, rude, noisy and conceited jerks when they travel. They seem to think that their time is more valuable than anyone else's time.

I have been pushed, I have had business men butt in front of me, I have had them try to convince me that they deserve *my* aisle seat because they are wearing an expensive suit that might get wrinkled. (I'm not nearly that stupid, dear readers).

When I flew back from the U.K. a couple of Sundays ago, there was a line at US Immigration at the Newark, NJ airport. The man behind me was absolutely beside himself, fuming about the length of time it was taking the Immigration Man to check people through. After all, he had things to do, places to go.

I got rather tired of his tirade and offered him my place in line - after all, my connecting flight didn't leave for another 2 1/2 hour - I was in no hurry.

Oddly enough, my offer embarrassed him (and his wife) - he said, no, no - I'm home now. I guess I can wait a little while.

I have learned that I can diffuse the nastiness of some (not all) business travelers by being so nice that they start feeling bad about their behaviour.

I get my own satisfaction out of doing this - the bastards ought to feel guilty the way they push who they believe are the 'little people' around!!

Posted by Beth at October 16, 2005 02:46 PM