I was in St. Louis last week and this midwestern town has completely forgotten how to deal with snow. They got twelve inches on Sunday so I figured that by Monday afternoon most things would be clear and I would have no problems during my stay. The flight was delayed for a number of reasons but by the time I got into town it was dark and it looked like no plowing had been done except on the actual highways. Seriously, the side roads were bumpy and frozen because nary a plow blade had scraped the surface and salt is just a mineral used at meal time.
By Thursday evening as I was flying out it hadn’t gotten much better. Another couple inches were due to hit the next day so the tiny airport was filled with folks trying hard to not get trapped. This meant assholeattitudes had reached the highest threat level. Trouble began at the TSA when not one but two scanner belts went down. The people behind me who didn’t plan any extra time were coming unglued as the more frequent flyers just took the troubles in stride.
A very entitled woman tried pushing her way past everyone else claiming that her flight was boarding but luckily the already annoyed TSA dude asked to see her ticket. Turns out she was on my flight and we had more than an hour until boarding even began let alone the plane leaving. He bounced her to the back of the line and there was a mild smattering of applause which really pissed her off.
I forgot to mention that I had trouble getting normal meals all week as their UberEats was pickup only due to the weather. Holy Hell I just wanted some food… Anyway I needed to grab dinner before my flight so I sat and ordered a burger. The same woman stormed into the restaurant and claimed she needed her food FAST because her flight blah blah blah and the poor little girl trying to take her order was intimidated by the attitude. Sitting close I said loud enough for all to hear “Don’t worry, you’re on my flight to Chicago and we board in 45 minutes for the short flight.”
She glared at me but I had no more shits to give and she got her food to go probably to prove me wrong. I got bumped to the front of the bus which doesn’t really have the same impact for an up and down flight but I’ll take what I can get. As I was getting ready to board the same annoyance tried to cut in front of group one because she was too stupid to stand in the right spot and felt that the confusion was United’s fault and therefor front of the line… nope. She got bounced to the back once again.
And I’ll give one guess as to my seat mate for the ride… As soon as she sat down I got the glare. Luckily, I was already settled, noise cancelling headphones on, and I had mentally engaged the shunning process. This is basically the art of declaring someone nonexistent in your mind and acting accordingly. When reaching for my Diet Coke facial region personal space was invaded by my arm and repeated upon cabin cleanup. By the end of the flight she did not disappoint by asking for someone else to get her bag down as well as pushing her way to the front.
I normally could have let all of that go except once I moseyed my way over to the Ride Share pickup area there she was. I noticed her after I ordered my car and recognition/distaste must have been evident on my face as she looked me dead in the peepers and asked WHAT?! At this point I kind of wanted to know more about her and what created this creature before me and those thoughts delayed my normal quick response which she took as weakness. DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM?!
“I am trying to figure out who hurt you or what could possibly explain your behavior over the last couple hours. I hope this isn’t your normal operating mode because if it is you are an awful human being.”
I actually felt bad for quite a while after that. She had no snappy retort and just moved down to the next set of doors to wait for her ride. The woman next to her was giving me a look like I was the garbage individual and I guess from her perspective I was. I hate it when assholes beat me and this woman won even if she didn’t feel that way.