Monday, January 15, 2007

Behavioral oddities...

Frequent travelers either disappear inward to find inner peace, or turn their attention outward to observe humanity thrown together. I tend to prefer the latter...perhaps an unintended result of the need for pithy stories for this blog?

Take for example the odd young woman (pictured) who approached me at the rear of an orderly line to board my flight home to SF. She asked me politely whether I knew which zone was boarding, I said I did not, so she proceeded to walk four passengers ahead and cut into the line. Not that anyone cares, but it was an odd action, wouldn't you agree?

I'm most fascinated how people lose all sense of their surroundings in airports. In Charlotte, I overheard a man standing across the terminal speaking loudly regarding a medication prescription. I could clearly hear him shout that HE could hear just fine on his end.

But my favorite overheard conversation was from the man who stood in the middle of a crowded Charlotte gate area and held an animated 10+ minute argument with his daughter regarding whether it was fair for him to ask the daughter's boyfriend to move out and get a job. As I neared the end of the boarding ramp, I could still make out "Life is tough..." as the conversation continued unabated.

People are strange...but they do fill space nicely :)

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