Even Though No One Reminded Me .....

..... I shall now tell you the story about the old harpie woman with whom we "hung out".
(Yes, Mom, I know that you asked me about her, which is kind of like reminding .... so I guess you win.)
:)

So, we are now back in the setting of the Charlotte airport.  The rain is pouring, the stale food has been mostly eaten and we've been waiting for our plane for over an hour now.

When the USless Air guy first announced that our plane would be delayed,  it was only to be delayed 20 minutes or so.  But then he added, "We'll be coming out every 20 minutes or so to give you an update."
Hmmmmmm ..... one would think that this man thinks all who fly on his airline are complete dorks, wouldn't one? (and evidently he was right)
Because if you're planning on coming out (over and over again) every 20 minutes .... you ain't expecting that plane to touch down for quite a while now ..... are you?!

Well, after about 2 hours they made an announcement that our plane had just landed and was now heading towards our gate.
The room was less than thrilled.

After that announcement a man who seemed to be in his late 70's or even older, got up and went to the desk.  He waved his tickets in front of the face of the lady who had just made the announcement and said, "Are these two tickets going to get us seats on the plane?"  She looked a little puzzled, and I felt a little puzzled as I was eavesdropping.  She said, "Excuse me?"  So he repeated his question.  Only his voice got a little higher and sounded like it had a bit of a ..... oh, how should I describe it? ....... it had a tone that indicated, to ME anyway, that he was irritated.
OK, that was putting it nicely.  He was p***ed off ..... WAY p***ed.
She didn't seem to pick up on that tiny hint of his mood.
Bless her little heart.
She works for a bad airline, thus she must deal with irate people every day, yet she can't seem to read emotions.
Come to think of it, maybe that's exactly the type of employee USAir wants to have!

Anyway .... she said something like, "Are those tickets for the Pensacola flight?" ..... and oh boy, but did she use the magic words or what.  Cuz his mouth opened wide and all his feelings and some spittle poured forth.
"YES, these are tickets to this Pensacola flight!  They were also tickets to the last Pensacola flight AND THE FLIGHT BEFORE THAT ONE!  But you guys keep delaying the flights and then putting everyone on ahead of us so that we get bumped.  We've been in this airport for 5 (I think) hours, going from one gate to the next!  Will THESE TICKETS get us on THAT plane?!!!" .... and there was much waving of the tickets.
Wow .... I didn't know who to feel sorrier for ..... the crotchety old man who been stuck here far longer than I had, or the clueless, hopeless USA employee.
He won.

She told them that yes, of course they would get him on this flight and she was very sorry for all of the trouble.
I think he may have huffed and puffed a couple of times and then went to sit back down.

The time came for us all to board the plane and from somewhere behind me I hear someone yelling in a high pitched voice that was getting higher and higher.
"Where's our other bag?!!!" a woman was shrieking.  "Don't tell me you left our other bag in the last terminal!!!!"  I didn't see who she was, nor to whom she was shrieking, but I was thinking, "Dang, I wouldn't tell her that I'd left it!".
I looked behind me and it was that man's wife.
What a great day those two were having!

She kept yelling at him about the bag, and he kept saying, "What bag?" which was hilarious ... to everyone but her.  I'm not sure she ever convinced him that there had been another bag and that he had left it at the last place they sat, but she sure tried.  She said it in line, she said it boarding the plane .... thankfully she boarded ahead of me.  I never saw him board.
As I trudged towards what I knew would be the last row I was focused on hoping that were would be a row 18.
I sat down and then D sat down and got her bag underneath her seat.  We started to talk and then I heard a woman ask, of her seat mate, "Would you mind trading seats with someone up there so that I can sit with my husband?"
OK, first ..... don't you just hate that????!!!!!  I mean, really.  I always choose my seats because they're the seats I want  (yes, much like I pack a carry on bag to carry on) .... not to think that I'll be able to trade up --HAAA!!! --- or trade down.
But this kind woman stammered a bit and then said ok.  The first woman indicated that her husband was sitting further up in the plane where there were several Navy guys sitting.  Then told the other woman that maybe she'd be lucky and get a nice Navy guy.
I will refrain from adding anything here.

I looked over there and saw that the woman asking was the shrieking woman at the gate (I will henceforth refer to her as SW -- shrieking woman).  SW, who .... last I saw, loathed her husband with every fiber of her being.  She wanted to sit with him?  Sure.  I'm thinking she just didn't want to sit on the last row.
The entire time SW was asking her seat mate to switch I was silently saying, "Yes!  Yes!  PLEASE say yes!!!" And then I silently did a little victory dance ... in my head .... when the lady agreed to trade.

I have no idea what happened next, but suddenly I felt like I was in "The Twilight Zone".  Because SW  had left her seat and then stood next to the woman sitting in front of D, and .... was asking if she'd trade seats with her!  What the what???

SW's seat mate looked a bit puzzled, but she asked the next woman again if she'd trade .... so that she could sit next to her husband.  I looked in front of me .... tried to peer between the seats ..... and there he was .... her husband .... in the row in front of us .... far from any Navy guy.  I must've turned into one of my other personalities while that whole thing went down, cuz I was surprised and a little dazed.

So the 2nd woman agreed and moved to the seat across from D, while the SW said, "Thank you.  I really don't know why I want to sit with him.  He lost our bag."  which is just what I was saying to D at that moment.
Then, having remembered said bag, she lit into him again.  He kept saying it wasn't his fault and just basically tried to ignore her.  Mother Teresa could not have ignored her.
Finally, about 30 minutes into the flight I heard him say, "Shut up!  Would you just shut up about that bag?!"
And she did.
Twenty minutes later she was cuddling with him, putting her head on his shoulder, kissing him on the cheek.

Ummmmm .... and I think I have alternate personalities??!

After that the love birds were quiet.
Until they realized that their bag had been lost, too.

Yee-haw!!!!  Never a dull moment.
Never!!!

Happy Sunday, Peeps.
:)