Dear Short-But-Broad Dude in the Middle Seat,
I completely understand that it's no fun to fly in the middle seat. I'm in the window and have comparatively more room from left to right, so I'm willing to concede the entire armrest that we share to you. But the second that your elbow touches my waist, all bets are off. I'm not a small woman, but I have small waist, and when you're touching it, it means that you have overstepped your boundaries by quite a lot. Either fork over $100 or stay in your space. And please, please, please, for the love of Mike, cut back on the garlic consumption.
Love you, mean it,
Catherine
Showing posts with label plane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plane. Show all posts
Monday, September 29, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Skirmish
On my flight back from DC last week, there was a skirmish. With the charge for baggage these days, there's even more competition than ever to get bags in the overhead compartment. It means that it's even more of a douchebag move than ever to put all of your bags in the overhead when you have a seat in front of you.
I was in the second row of coach, and a woman sitting across the aisle in the first row (we'll call her Lady A) started freaking out. Apparently, the woman sitting in the aisle seat of my half row (we'll call her Lady B) took Lady A's bag out, because she felt like it belonged under the seat in front of its owner. (In Catherineland, sitting in the bulkhead row is the only excuse for putting everything in the overhead). Lady A started yelling about it and how expensive her bag was and asked to talk to a flight attendant, who offered to find her a customer service representative. Lady B continued to act as if she'd done nothing wrong, and then started complaining of back pain. The customer service agent took Lady A out to the jetway, and Lady B started whining that she hadn't done anything wrong and that there wasn't enough room for her bag.
The sour-faced lady who sat in front of Lady B apparently had had enough, because she turned around and said, "What you did was EXCEPTIONALLY rude. EXCEPTIONALLY." And then she stormed out to the jetway as well. Lady B mocked the "exceptionally" so the guy across the aisle from her also started to rebuke her. And then Lady B started with the, "I'm tired and don't feel well, and I'm just trying to make room for my bag."
The guy sitting between us tried to reason with her. And that's when I put my earplugs in.
I consider putting all of your bags in the overhead to be a cardinal sin (it's only the 1,349th time I've written about it here), but holy moly, MOVING someone's bag OUT of the overhead compartment to make room for yours, and then WHINING when you get called out on it? That takes some serious moxie. Where do these people come from???
I was in the second row of coach, and a woman sitting across the aisle in the first row (we'll call her Lady A) started freaking out. Apparently, the woman sitting in the aisle seat of my half row (we'll call her Lady B) took Lady A's bag out, because she felt like it belonged under the seat in front of its owner. (In Catherineland, sitting in the bulkhead row is the only excuse for putting everything in the overhead). Lady A started yelling about it and how expensive her bag was and asked to talk to a flight attendant, who offered to find her a customer service representative. Lady B continued to act as if she'd done nothing wrong, and then started complaining of back pain. The customer service agent took Lady A out to the jetway, and Lady B started whining that she hadn't done anything wrong and that there wasn't enough room for her bag.
The sour-faced lady who sat in front of Lady B apparently had had enough, because she turned around and said, "What you did was EXCEPTIONALLY rude. EXCEPTIONALLY." And then she stormed out to the jetway as well. Lady B mocked the "exceptionally" so the guy across the aisle from her also started to rebuke her. And then Lady B started with the, "I'm tired and don't feel well, and I'm just trying to make room for my bag."
The guy sitting between us tried to reason with her. And that's when I put my earplugs in.
I consider putting all of your bags in the overhead to be a cardinal sin (it's only the 1,349th time I've written about it here), but holy moly, MOVING someone's bag OUT of the overhead compartment to make room for yours, and then WHINING when you get called out on it? That takes some serious moxie. Where do these people come from???
Friday, June 13, 2008
Random, Barely Related Hodgepodge
Sorry it's been so long!!! I worked every single day during my 3-week stint in DC. So, so, so painful, but it paid off -- my meeting in Chicago scored a 3.91 out of 4, and everyone is happy.
I'm kind of irritated that my boss's boss still needs some sort of reassurance that I'm relatively good at my job. She forwarded me an e-mail that he forwarded to her and the head of the other team that I work with that contained the 3.91 and some personal scores. She was congratulating me, but I haven't trusted her for a long time. Back in August, she told me that there was no point in trying to take control of my career, and that not being anyone's priority is just a fact of corporate life. And that's fine, except that the company I work for has done research that shows that the high performing employees are the ones who should be getting the most attention and development both in terms of performance and career. I may be difficult to work with, I may have really high standards that are tough for the people around me to accept, and I may question your competency to do your job sometimes, but you know what? I'm definitely a high performing employee. This woman is a mediocre manager who absolutely does not tolerate anyone disagreeing with her. She's the reason people like C will always have jobs. C makes her look good in comparison.
My meeting earlier this week was in Chicago, and I got to eat at one of my favorite places. It's called FoodLife, and it's in the Water Tower mall. It's basically a food court, but the food is extremely fresh and totally delicious. AND you can buy 99-cent bags of Bit O'Honey by the cashier. It seriously just doesn't get any better than that!!
Anyone who tells you that Chicago isn't hot is full of it. We had four people plus a driver crammed into a Chicago taxi, and the A/C was on, but was not reaching us in the back seat. We all roasted for an hour. I'd forgotten what it's like to be so hot that even being in air-conditioning for several hours doesn't cool you down. I had the option to come home 2 hours earlier, but only if I flew in a middle seat. I was too hot to fly in a middle seat. I normally freeze on planes, but on my flight from Chicago, I had the air blasting on me and only turned it down about an hour into the flight. And I didn't put my sweater on at all.
It's so nice to be home, but I don't understand how my apartment can get so messy so quickly. I'm just one person. Where did all of this STUFF come from??? And why do I not have any place to put it all in this enormous apartment??? More evidence that I'm not a responsible adult and probably won't be one for a while.
I tried a new drink today that was horribly disappointing: Vitamin Water Energy. I like Vitamin Water, although it's a little too sweet (and yes, I understand that the different formulations are just clever marketing), and I like caffeine (can't live without it, really), so I thought that Vitamin Water Energy would be magical. First of all, it's fizzy. Now, that's ok, because I like sparkling water, but plain old Vitamin Water isn't fizzy, so that was unexpected. And then I tasted it, and it was bad. I took two sips and dumped the rest in the sink. I don't know where they get off pretending that thing is healthy. It's like a fully-sugared soda that's had a Flintstones vitamin dissolved in it. Luckily, the can I had was free.
DirecTV is doing a special promotion this weekend where ALL of the premium movie channels are free. I went through all of them and only found 4 things to Tivo. FOUR. You'd think that some effort would be made to bring the A-game during a weekend when they're trying to hook new customers. Apparently not.
I'm going to take this whole weekend off -- luxury!! I'm going to see Sex and the City on Saturday and the Astros vs. the Yankees on Sunday. And hopefully I'm going to get my stupid apartment cleaned up. Maybe this week I'll actually cook myself some real dinner!! My friend Lindy cooks most nights, and she and her husband both work, and they have an 18-month-old son. I invited myself over to their house for dinner earlier this week (I was getting my hair cut and nails painted in her neighborhood), and she had dinner on the table in no time flat, and it was delicious and nutritious. On the one hand, I felt completely incompetent, but on the other hand, it was inspirational. I'm a little scared that I've forgotten how to cook.
That's it for now. Enough randomness. Here's the travel update through the end of August:
June 23-26: DC
July 2-5: Chicago (more on this in a later entry)
July 8-11: DC
July 21-25: DC
August 4-5: NYC
August 7-18: Australia (that's right -- Australia)
August 18-21: DC
Peace out, dudes.
I'm kind of irritated that my boss's boss still needs some sort of reassurance that I'm relatively good at my job. She forwarded me an e-mail that he forwarded to her and the head of the other team that I work with that contained the 3.91 and some personal scores. She was congratulating me, but I haven't trusted her for a long time. Back in August, she told me that there was no point in trying to take control of my career, and that not being anyone's priority is just a fact of corporate life. And that's fine, except that the company I work for has done research that shows that the high performing employees are the ones who should be getting the most attention and development both in terms of performance and career. I may be difficult to work with, I may have really high standards that are tough for the people around me to accept, and I may question your competency to do your job sometimes, but you know what? I'm definitely a high performing employee. This woman is a mediocre manager who absolutely does not tolerate anyone disagreeing with her. She's the reason people like C will always have jobs. C makes her look good in comparison.
My meeting earlier this week was in Chicago, and I got to eat at one of my favorite places. It's called FoodLife, and it's in the Water Tower mall. It's basically a food court, but the food is extremely fresh and totally delicious. AND you can buy 99-cent bags of Bit O'Honey by the cashier. It seriously just doesn't get any better than that!!
Anyone who tells you that Chicago isn't hot is full of it. We had four people plus a driver crammed into a Chicago taxi, and the A/C was on, but was not reaching us in the back seat. We all roasted for an hour. I'd forgotten what it's like to be so hot that even being in air-conditioning for several hours doesn't cool you down. I had the option to come home 2 hours earlier, but only if I flew in a middle seat. I was too hot to fly in a middle seat. I normally freeze on planes, but on my flight from Chicago, I had the air blasting on me and only turned it down about an hour into the flight. And I didn't put my sweater on at all.
It's so nice to be home, but I don't understand how my apartment can get so messy so quickly. I'm just one person. Where did all of this STUFF come from??? And why do I not have any place to put it all in this enormous apartment??? More evidence that I'm not a responsible adult and probably won't be one for a while.
I tried a new drink today that was horribly disappointing: Vitamin Water Energy. I like Vitamin Water, although it's a little too sweet (and yes, I understand that the different formulations are just clever marketing), and I like caffeine (can't live without it, really), so I thought that Vitamin Water Energy would be magical. First of all, it's fizzy. Now, that's ok, because I like sparkling water, but plain old Vitamin Water isn't fizzy, so that was unexpected. And then I tasted it, and it was bad. I took two sips and dumped the rest in the sink. I don't know where they get off pretending that thing is healthy. It's like a fully-sugared soda that's had a Flintstones vitamin dissolved in it. Luckily, the can I had was free.
DirecTV is doing a special promotion this weekend where ALL of the premium movie channels are free. I went through all of them and only found 4 things to Tivo. FOUR. You'd think that some effort would be made to bring the A-game during a weekend when they're trying to hook new customers. Apparently not.
I'm going to take this whole weekend off -- luxury!! I'm going to see Sex and the City on Saturday and the Astros vs. the Yankees on Sunday. And hopefully I'm going to get my stupid apartment cleaned up. Maybe this week I'll actually cook myself some real dinner!! My friend Lindy cooks most nights, and she and her husband both work, and they have an 18-month-old son. I invited myself over to their house for dinner earlier this week (I was getting my hair cut and nails painted in her neighborhood), and she had dinner on the table in no time flat, and it was delicious and nutritious. On the one hand, I felt completely incompetent, but on the other hand, it was inspirational. I'm a little scared that I've forgotten how to cook.
That's it for now. Enough randomness. Here's the travel update through the end of August:
June 23-26: DC
July 2-5: Chicago (more on this in a later entry)
July 8-11: DC
July 21-25: DC
August 4-5: NYC
August 7-18: Australia (that's right -- Australia)
August 18-21: DC
Peace out, dudes.
Monday, March 3, 2008
SERIOUSLY
I know that many of you think I'm insane for this, but I won't date a man who puts his smaller bag in the overhead compartment. It demonstrates an unacceptable level of selfishness and is the death knell of courtesy and civilization.
What is the world coming to???
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Just testing
Allegedly, I can e-mail an entry to a special address, and it will magically appear on the blog. I'm just sitting on my plane to NYC, watching all the nice people go by. Well, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt on the "nice" part, which isn't like me.
I had the sad realization last week that I'm right at, if not past, that technology divide where you join your parents in the class of people who are baffled by technology. Actually, it's not so much that the how baffles me (so I can still do the modern equivalent of setting the VCR clock so that it doesn't flash 12:00 all the time) as much as the why baffles me. Why do I need my phone to play music, surf the web, watch TV, and work as a phone? I would be happy with a teeny, tiny, brick (as opposed to flip) phone that only worked as a phone and let me send and receive text messages (in which I often still type out full words -- technology divide meets grammar and spelling geek). Guess what. Nobody makes a phone like that anymore.
Ok, so I've seen many, many men put their briefcases in the overhead compartment. Annoying. You know what was kind of satisfying about boarding this plane? A guy asked the gate agent if first class was full, and of course, the answer was yes. The guy then asked if the gate agent was sure, which the gate agent was. When they boarded the flight, first class went first, and I happened to be second in line. Apparently, I don't appear to be first class material because that guy also got in line, and when the gate agent said something about first class only, he said, "SHE's in first class?" as if I had stolen his upgrade. I flew 95,000 Elite-qualifying miles last year, buddy. Shut it. Especially since I'm dressed more nicely than you are.
Ok, they're gearing up to go, so I'll stop. I love seeing people write in the comments! Melissa -- I think an oldest would be best for me, but I'd entertain the idea of a baby. :-)
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