2006-02-17
There's no place like home...
I meant to start this �writing while traveling� epic with a few quick observations. It turns out that the observations are all that got written. Damn middle seats!
- Since the advent of wireless earpieces for cell phones, people walk around seemingly talking with no one in particular� and at times having rather animated conversations. I kind of miss knowing that whenever I saw this in the past, someone had quit taking their meds� now I simply wonder. It�s the certainty of the knowledge that I miss, I suppose.
- I never cease to be amazed at how something as small as a smile can make life easier, and how so many either don�t realize it or simply decide they would rather argue than smile. I travel a lot, and spend a lot of time in line somewhere� airline check-in counters, rental car counters, security checkpoints, etc. I see this scenario so often � someone in line determines, even before they get to the front of the line, that they aren�t going to be pleased� either they know their flight is cancelled, or they have decided they don�t want to take their shoes off.. .whatever the reason-du-jour is their shitty mood that day. And they start off their conversation with the person there to help them in a defensive, or worse, aggressive attitude. And I have NO problem predicting that they will leave, muttering under their breath, at how unfair he/she/life is.
Now I do things quite different. For one, I don�t let anything I have no control over upset me� what�s the point? So, I start every interaction with a smile� and almost never fail to get one in return. I joke� flirt when I think I can get away with it (ok, sometimes even when it isn�t clear that I can� ya gotta try!)� I strive to be friendly with them. When I do ask for something like an upgrade, I�ll immediately offer something outrageous as an enticement to grant my request� like my first-born (shush.. don�t tell my kids!) They know I�m joking, and that makes it OK for them to say �no� without feeling that pressure� and they seem to genuinely appreciate that. And as a result, I can no longer count the times when I�ve gotten the upgrade the other person was denied, make it through security without any more than a cursory glance, etc.
In short� smiles are powerful� smiles work� every time. When traveling� smile a lot and you�ll have a great trip.
And that�s as far as I got, even though I�ve got a ton more� it was like I was seeing things today that I look at every week, but don�t really notice.
But now I�m home, and I�m beat� it�s time to post and go to bed. A bed that doesn�t have a row of pillows neatly arrange on it, and one I don�t have to pull the sheets out from under the foot of the mattress simply so I can have somewhere for my feet to rest.
It�s nice being home.
t85225 at 12:34 a.m.
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