When a woman got on her plane, she thought it would be another normal trip, but the person next to her had other ideas. What happened next changed how the flight ended for both of them in a big way.
As I got on yet another flight from New York to Los Angeles, I hoped the trip would go smoothly. I’m a 35-year-old marketing expert who has to travel a lot for work. I’ve grown used to the airport and flights by now.
This time, I was going to a big conference in Los Angeles, and I had a meeting in San Diego before the conference. I had everything planned out to the minute, and I really couldn’t afford any delays.
I had everything perfectly worked out. For a quick getaway, I even chose an aisle seat. I saw that the guy in the window seat was already sitting down when I got to my row.
He seemed to be in his early 40s, and he gave off an air of self-importance that was hard to miss. He wore nice pants, a button-down shirt that was ironed, and shoes that were shining. It looked like he had something more important to do because he kept looking at his expensive watch. When I sat down, he barely looked up.
I thought it wasn’t a big deal. I just wanted a calm trip and maybe some time to review my meeting notes for San Diego. I had no idea that this guy would make my trip not so fun into a little nightmare.
The flight attendants started serving dinner around the middle of the trip. I hadn’t eaten all day because I was so busy getting ready for the meeting. I was so hungry by the time the food service started.
I knew I was hungry because my stomach growled as soon as I smelled the food. Before we got to land, I couldn’t wait to eat, go over my notes, and maybe even take a short nap.
But then the outdoors called. The food cart was still a few rows away, so I looked down the hallway. It was, so I thought I had just enough time to go to the bathroom quickly. I said goodbye so as not to bother Mr. Important too much and went to the back of the plane.
I saw a line when I got to the bathroom. That’s great, just what I needed! I kept looking at my watch to see how much time had passed, but the line hadn’t moved much. When it was finally my turn, I was so impatient that I could hardly tap my foot. I didn’t want to miss the meal service, which I knew had already begun.
I was shocked to see that my meal tray was gone when I finally got back to my spot. The person sitting next to me was enjoying his second meal.
“Did they bring my food while I was away?” I asked even though I knew the answer was clear as day.
He raised his tray and looked up with a smug grin on his face. “Oh, okay.” I thought you didn’t want it because you were taking too long. “Didn’t want it to fail.”
I was dumbfounded as I stared at him. “You ate my food?”
He still chewed and said, “Yeah.” “I wasn’t here with you, and I was still hungry after mine.” When we land, you can just get something at the airport.
What I heard made no sense to me. I had dealt with spoiled brats before, but this was a whole new level. I just stood there for a moment, stunned. Who does that?
“Are you sure about this?” I asked, mostly to myself, because I still thought this was some kind of strange joke.
He just shrugged it off, not even a little. “Don’t worry, it’s just airplane food.”
I pressed the call button and asked the flight attendant if there were any food left. I was angry and shocked at the same time. “I’m so sorry, but we’ve run out of meals,” she said with a sorry smile. Would you rather have pretzels?”
What are pretzels? That wasn’t quite good enough, but what else could I do? I took the small bag of peanuts because I was losing and getting more and more mad at my seatmate for being so rude.
While this was going on, Mr. Important finished both meals, leaned back in his chair, and immediately fell asleep, looking as happy as a cat that had just caught a mouse.
As I ate the pretzels and glared at the man who was now softly snoring next to me, I tried to concentrate on my work. I didn’t want to pay attention to my notes, but my stomach growled in protest.
I told myself that I had to pay attention to my link and that I couldn’t let this jerk ruin my day. I kept looking at my watch to see how many minutes were left until we arrived.
As we began to fall toward Los Angeles, the flight attendants made the normal announcements about landing and connecting flights. When I was getting angry, the reminder about tight links made me stop and get back to work. I took a quick look at my seatmate. He was still out in the cold and had no idea what was going on around him.
As soon as the plane landed, I grabbed my bag and ran to the next gate. I got up, though, just as the flight attendant said something important: “Pay attention, passengers connecting to San Diego.” The gate changed at the last minute. You need to get to Terminal 4, Gate 45, right away.
I thought that was great. A gate change was just what I needed. As I got ready to leave, I caught a glimpse of Mr. Important, who was still snoring. I wasn’t sure if I should wake him up. Certainly, he had eaten my food and been a jerk, but did that mean I should just leave him to miss his flight?
I chose to give him a light push as I grabbed for my bag in the overhead bin. I said quietly, “Hey, we landed,” because I didn’t want to wake anyone up.
Nothing. He didn’t even move.
I pushed him a little more. “You might want to wake up; we landed and the gate changed.”
He mumbled something that I couldn’t understand and turned his head the other way, making it clear that he wasn’t ready to wake up. He would finally wake up from all the noise of people getting off the plane, and I had to get to my next gate anyway.
I had to make sure I didn’t miss my flight. I quickly got off the plane and left him there, still sound asleep.
There were a lot of people in the airport, and I had to fight my way to my new gate. They were already getting on when I got there. When I finally got to my spot, I felt a wave of relief. I had made it just in time. On my way to San Diego, I had a moment to breathe for the first time that day.
I didn’t know the whole story until I got to San Diego and met up with my coworkers. As Lisa, one of my coworkers, and I talked about our trips, she said she had seen someone who sounded very familiar.
Lisa laughed and said, “I swear, there was this guy at LAX who looked like he had just woken up from a coma.” “He looked completely lost as he stumbled off the plane.” He was arguing with a gate agent because he missed his link, and I heard them. He wasn’t awake when they told him about the change in gates, and it was too late when he woke up.
I just couldn’t help but smile. “What did he look like?”
Lisa said he was a man in his early 40s who wore a slightly wrinkled button-down shirt, slacks, and clean shoes. He also had an expensive watch on that he kept checking while he argued with the gate worker. His hair was a mess, and he looked stressed out and angry at the same time.
I had no doubt that it was him.
“That guy!” I said, and I couldn’t hide the happiness in my voice. “Yes, he was sitting next to me.” Really, he ate my food while I was in the bathroom and then fell asleep? I tried to wake him up, but he wouldn’t move.
Lisa’s eyes got bigger. “No way!” “That’s just good karma at work.”
