Category Archives: Gripin’

Thanks for a whole lot of nothing.

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Thank you, everyone at work, for making today go as smoothly as possible.

I know I sent out countless emails last week letting you know that certain parts of the System would be down today and that there was nothing I, or anyone in the building could do about it.

And still you called. You called me all day. You asked me questions that had already been answered time and again. You assumed that I had some super secret special access that did not exist and acted lilke petulent children when I told you that, like the laws of physics, some things can not be changed.

Some of you pouted, some of you got angry, some of you were merely confused.

All of your questions were already answered. Answered on Thursday or Friday. But you didn’t read those emails. You admitted as much in exactly those words. And you laughed about it, as if I write informational emails simply because I have nothing better to do.

So thanks, coworkers for making today a finely coreographed waltz of….  naahhh, fuck it…

It was a mosh pit of ignorance, a conniption fit of I-want-it-my-way now.

Even when your way simply wasn’t possible.

And you should have known that.

My bag travelled more than I did.

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In what I’m sure will come as no surprise, the flights out and back went absolutely fine.

I travelled extremely light, as far as carry-ons go. Normally, I have my shoulder bag filled with all manner of magazines, books, my shaving kit, and whatever-else. This time though, for efficiency’s and simplicity’s sake, I packed it all in the checked bag and walked on the plane with my nerdy book about Rome. That was it.

Served me fine on the way out and the way back. I read some and napped some and everything went smooth as an appropriate analogy.

Until we got back to Baltimore.

And they told us our bags were in Charlotte.

Our bags. Were in Charlotte.

In fact, every bag that should have been on our plane went to Charlotte. This wasn’t a complicated flight – no crazy connections. It orginated in St. Louis and ended in Baltimore. Literally, the baggage handlers from American Airlines put our bags on a Charlotte-bound plane and their bags on our plane. Nice move.

All is well; I drove over to the airport at lunch and picked up our bags. They took a scenic detoir through Dallas, but we have them now and that’s that.

Still though, it was wierd to leave the airport last night with nothing but an 800 number and a promise that we’d see our bags soon – promise.

And now? Now it’s home to change and then over to Golden West for some half-price burgers. And beer. Lotsss of beer.

Except Not…

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Inner Monologue: Uhhh, Mike?
Me: Aww, crap, somehow I knew you’d show up. What do you want?
Inner Monologue: Have you seen the news today?
Me: The planes? The plot? The thwarting?
Inner Monologue: Yup. Planes. Plot. Thwarting.
Me: And?
Inner Monologue: AND. Aren’t you nervous?
Me: I dunno. Not really?
Inner Monologue: No? Not at all.
Me: More apprehensive really, it’s not like we’re flying overseas or anything.
Inner Monologue: But still.
Me: Nahh, but nothing. It’s a little flight from Baltimore to Saint Louis. Hardly a high-priority target. Besides, they caught the guys.
Inner Monologue: Says you. You hope they caught all the guys.
Me: Yeah, I do. I’m more worried about the mundane stuff.
Inner Monologue: Such as?
Me: How much longer to check in. How long security will take. What, if anything to carry on.
Inner Monologue: Knowing you, your only carry on will be your latest uber-nerdy historical fiction paperback. What is it this time? Dark Age Britain? American Civil War?
Me: Roman Legions in the First Century.
Inner Monologue: Nerd.
Me: True. My main point of concern right now is with the Sister and her family.
Inner Monologue: Denmark?
Me: Exactly. They come back on Sunday. I can’t imagine that’s going to be a fun trip.
Inner Monologue: And travelling with an 8-month old will only lower the stress level, right?
Me: Riiiight. I know they’ll be fine, but I know they will set foot on their plane in full are-we-there-yet mode.
Inner Monologue: So, to sum up…
Me: Not nervous. Just Apprehensive.
Inner Monologue: Because…?
Me: All of a sudden there  are a few more question marks than there were yesterday.
Inner Monologue: Good times.
Me: Something like that.