Thursday 30 December 2010

airport experiences

I flew back to eDmonton for the holidays. I surprised my family, which was fun, but here are some reflections of my recent airport experiences.

1) nobody wants to work on christmas eve and I was fortunate enough to not be at work but I saw many people who were working. this got me to thinking what is the worst job in the airport? security isn't all that fun and I'm sure the airline reps aren't always having a blast. I thought I figured out the worst job when I thought about the guys who have to deal with luggage complaints but then my luggage was lost and I think their job is actually pretty cushy. Then it hit me. The worst job at the airport is those people who sit inside the security gates at the kiosks. They are either selling cheap junk, regional trinkets, postcards OR the worst job of them all..... the credit card sales people. Everyone is annoyed at "the credit card people" and pretend to be busy when walking buy and they just sit there all day pestering strangers. there kiosk isn't even nice or entertaining. I wouldn't want to do this job. I especially wouldn't want it on christmas.

2) Sometimes I feel like an ant in an ant farm and if someone were to look at a city as if it were one of those clear ant farms or bee hives that are used to teach children they would have to agree that we are ants. Grocery shopping is usually when I get this feeling. we all walk into the building and come out with a cart of food. going in and out of the aisles, through the checkout, returning the cart. We are all just little working ants/bees going through the motions and doing the exact same thing as everyone around us. The airport definitely replicates the ant farm feeling for me. dropped off at terminal, through line, through security line, wait, wait more, through boarding line, onto plane, wait, line up to get off plane, line up for luggage, leave. we are small.

3) as I was waiting for my flight back to where I live and was waiting for boarding (this was before the flight was delayed and eventually canceled and my luggage was lost) I noticed the energy in the room was much happier. I am under the assumption that most people were returning to their homes after christmas with friends/family. The happy vibe kind of surprised me. I was happy to be going back home, not because I hated my visit or anything like that but rather was simply ready to go back to my own home with my own bed. maybe people were feeling the same thing as me, maybe people had been fed well, were rested, got the gifts they wanted, were now going on a vacation, didn't have holiday stress to deal with, felt the love from those friends/family? whatever the reason a lot of people seemed much happier after christmas then before. interesting.

so there are some more of my perceptions and opinions.

1 comment:

laurieg said...

This makes me think of "Indian Marcus" telling me he "sat back and observed" (like he always does) at an airport and watched people go through those stupid maze like ribboned off aisles to the front desk even when there was no line. He thought it was "fascinating" that no one challenged the maze and just walked right up.
Another point of your likeness