Original post: march 18, 2008
I think the DVR is an amazing thing. It allows me to have a life outside of tv and not have to miss ’must see’ tv. When I have insomnia in the wee hours of the morning, it’s nice to have the option of watching the infomercial on the Bedazzler or an episode of Rock of Love (c’mon, you know you LOVE to watch 80’s hair rock band guys try to find true love).
I had fallen behind on my Dr. Phil episodes (yes, I dig him---don’t judge me) and had several of them queued up. I chose to watch the one about the girls that claimed they were banned from Southwest Airlines for being "too pretty".
At first, I find this mildly amusing. I’m thinking, "oh, how cute, a couple of 20 year old girls trying to get some media attention".
However, as the story comes more to light, you realize that they have missed a couple of facts. Like, the one that Southwest has never ’banned’ anyone from ever flying them. Or, how about the passenger that sat near them---she stated in the report that one of the girls was cursing and getting belligerent. And, of course, there is the fact that one of them outright lied to Dr. Phil. She stated that she had never said anything to the media about getting banned for being too pretty. (This is my favorite part) Dr. Phil then whips out a piece of paper and says that it’s an email from her to one of the media affiliates he’s associated with. Of course, in the email she states they were banned from Southwest...yada, yada, yada, she’s a liar.
It’s infuriating that after everything that’s happened in our country since 2001, people still choose to act like a fool on an airplane.
By this time, it’s about 2 am and I am literally talking to the tv and saying insane things like, "Are you freakin’ kidding me?" My dog, George, is now used to this so he’s sleeping peacefully on the couch next to me.
I travel quite a bit for business and pleasure. I get on a lot of airplanes (as do some of YOU that are reading this) and here’s where I realized I had moved to another generation. Out loud, to the tv, I said:
"You stupid kids. Who the h&*( do you think you are? Your job when you travel on an airplane is to sit down and shut up."
I’m fairly certain that is something similar to what my mother might say (right Mom?).
Dammit.
I am now officially part of the next generation. Not that I am entirely disappointed by this. I just find it interesting.
As I thought about it more and more (since I wasn’t doing anything else at 2 am), my emotions went from rage to thinking about their behavior to an almost sense of relief that SW decided to hold them accountable for their behavior and have them escorted off the plane by law enforcement.
It gives me hope that someone was not afraid to hold them accountable. We have gotten to this place in our society where everyone feels they should be able to say and do whatever they want, whenever they want and it just makes me crazy.
I don’t understand how it’s remotely possible that you get to be in your 20’s and you’ve not learned when it’s appropriate to escalate a situation. For the record, the time is NOT when you have to pee on an airplane and someone is taking longer than you think they should in the lavatory.
When did being polite go out of style? Someone forgot to cc me on the memo.
No comments:
Post a Comment