Hermit - my new aspiration

I see a lot of posts here by people wanting to fit in, make friends etc. and in theory, that’s fine, each to their own. Me, I’m thinking that I’m becoming increasingly okay with who I am. I recently had the misfortune of taking a necessary flight from Amsterdam to Boston, and what I experienced during that day was more than enough to reassert my feelings of wanting to give society as a whole the finger. Let me take you through the day in a not-so-brief documentation of what happened:

I get to the security line at the airplane around noon, where a gross, balding lady with armpit stains proceeds to interrogate me with questions that are intended to weed me, a potential terrorist, from regular travelers. She then groans in frustration as I tell her I don’t have my “e-ticket” on me. Finally I pull something resembling an itinerary from my bag whereupon she snatches it from me and goes “that’s what I wanted all along!” Yes, because I woke up that morning with the express intention of making your life miserable that day, you crotchety old hag. Give me a break.

Finally I get to my seat and am instantly overwhelmed by the nauseating fumes of those seated around me. It smells like a combination of diarrhea and dried-up menstrual blood. How people can not properly wash themselves before stepping onto a plane absolutely baffles me. It was like being in a cattle barn. Just as I’m getting used to the smell, this odorous old lady seats herself next to me and places her carry-on bag underneath the seat in front of me. Now I’m a tall guy, and already very cramped and anxious, and she has no qualms about blithely dumping her shit into what little foot-room I initially had. It’s like, you’ve been on this earth for probably seventy years and are constantly bitching about youngsters and their lack of manners, now you’re suddenly okay with being so rude yourself? Never mind that she’s around three foot eight and has all the space in the world to stretch out in while I'm sitting there like a fucking sardine for the next eight hours.

Upon settling at cruising altitude I begin to think the worst of it is probably all over. Not so. The cart that whizzes up and down the miniature airplane aisle catches me squarely in the shoulder during a particularly speedy round of drinks. How can those irritating stewardesses conjure up fake smile after fake smile, ingratiating pleasantry after ingratiating pleasantry, and then not notice when they’ve pretty much dislocated a passenger’s shoulder? No, I don’t want your stupid coffee after you’ve practically booked me into the chiropractor. Save your dumb spiel for someone who’s uninjured. The rest of the flight was characterized by me gritting my teeth in agitation at people who do things like point at their little headrest screens and go “oh look, we’re flying over Halifax, Canada, at a speed of approximately 570 miles per hour” to their equally goofy neighbors.

Man, I know this account makes me sound like a major whiner, but I had to get this off my chest. I don’t even know for sure what’s normal and what’s me being intolerant anymore. In any case, people are the worst, and I think I’ll be content to lock myself away again for the forseeable future after this experience.

Kinetic,
It does indeed sound like quite an unpleasant ordeal. But - I truly believe that airline travel brings out the worst in people. If nothing else - the cramped quarters - we know animals exhibit stress, hostility etc. when overcrowded in cages so we - create airlines to put people in cramped overcrowded cages. I hope you will not take this worst case scenario (stuck on a flight like that) as an indicator of whether you want to be among people. Besides the emergency room in a hospital - I can't think of a more umpleasant place to be among stressed people who don't want to be there.
On a flight to a small island off the coast of Alaska, we took an airliner that apparently was cargo converted for human use. There was no forward aisle...nothing...absolutely nothing in front just a painted wall (bulkhead) between the passengers and the cockpit. No tv, no art nothing - just a blank wall that we all dutifully watched out of sheer habit. I kept thinking that THIS is how animals travel.
San Francisco also has an inhuman terminal located out on the runway somewhere. You are taken by tram and herded into a small building just like cattle. Then they don't let you leave this small, stuffy, hot, overcrowded room with glass showing the tarmack all around. You can see that you can't walk outside because you are an island on a runway. As flight after flight got cancelled, person after person became irate and a few women experimented with hysteria in order to be allowed to board (I say that because they became calm when the ticket agent looked away and then raving again the momment he looked at them again. I think they were hoping that they would be allowed to board just to get them out of the terminal before causing a riot. ). I felt like raving too - but I didn't. Travel in general, and especially air travel, is especially hard for people who have SA or are shy, claustrophobic or just plain human. C'mon Kinetic - don't give up on socializing based on the worst case settings and people.

Thanks for your input, what you say does make sense. It's hard not to feel irritated at everyone in general during times like that though. It's frustrating because it makes me feel like I'd have to swallow my pride and take people's crap in order to just get along, you know? Given that, I feel as if I should just keep my dignity. I make it a point to not be rude to someone no matter my circumstances, and I tend to expect those standards in others. Maybe it is just the perils of airline travel, like you say. It brings out the worst in people, that's for sure.

Man, I know this account makes me sound like a major whiner, but I had to get this off my chest. I don’t even know for sure what’s normal and what’s me being intolerant anymore

Click to expand...

Sure you want me to comment on that ? :lol:

Look dude, yes, you are whinging for no reason. That sounds like a normal international flight.

The girls arnt faking thier smiles, they are happy and love what they do.

The old bag at customs is one of tens of thousands of cranky old bastards at every airport in the world.

The stinky people are complained about by everyone, its cramped and i gather you werent flying first class.

Dont kid yourself, i have tried it, it dosnt work. People need people, its nature, dont accept not bieng part of that because your body will never stop yearning for social relationships, argue with god or mother nature its thier fault !

But see that's the whole problem - if someone comes along and tells me that's normal, I think "no it isn't." How can people be so rude? I just don't understand it. I guess I'm having a hard time with the standard of acceptable behaviour. Not sure if that's anxiety-related or what, but me nitpicking other people has been a problem for quite a while. That's why I realize it sounds whiney to others, but to me it's a justified argument. Shit I don't know.

I'm with you Kinetik. People irritate me at the best of times, but combine that with air travel and it just makes me wanna explode.

In my experience

"In my experience "no man is an island"... "

I like that newleaf nice one.

Consider this aswell, kinetik. Your from belgium right ? i dont know much about that place, but i think its a first world country, with very high standards of behaviour. Same as australia.

On an interntional flight, just as an example, your going to have all sorts of people from all kinds of countries.

Most people in first world countries have been raised to be very sensitive believe it or not. We have a hard time accepting pushing and shoving, bipping horns, shouting, spitting, and disorder. We find that behaviour "rude".

to them, its normal. I can tell you for instance, athens, OMG. Those peoples mentality is very different, and an australian who lacks patience and takes everything personally will not last long.

point is, people are different, people from rich countries are soft, and we need to loosen up a bit and accept others more.