A rant about my fellow airline passengers

[lindseyv]

This is getting heated!

I too come from the days of non-rev on NWA where women were required to wear dress slacks or skirts with nylons (they would not let you on with out the nylons if you wore a skirt). Anyway, at the time I always felt like that was a bit over kill. I can see looking "respectable" as you are a rep. for the company, but some of the requirements were a little much.

What’s acceptable in society now is very different from what was acceptable 30 yrs. ago. One thing that I am getting tired of (I had to do it again yesterday) is having to pull students out of class (I work in a college) and tell them that they must go home and take a shower because they are making other students and faculty sick. And believe me...these people have the money to take care of themselves! Or when I have to 'counsel' a student that was just caught yelling totally inappropriate things to the women across the street. These people are all over the age of 20!!!

I guess all I'm saying is no matter what you look like (because I don't care what you wear) I just wish people were more respectful of their fellow human beings in general.

[jtrain609]

Again, sorry for coming off so strongly but I take this fight to everyone that I run into (if we meet you'll probably realize it real quickly) that says anything about how someone dresses shows how they have respect for themselves or not.

I'm not talking about hygine, I'm talking about clothes and whatnot (add with that piercings, tattoo's, hair, or whatever other things people get judged by). You're right that people do it, I'm telling you that it's wrong. I'm not telling you that it happens or dosen't, it obviously does and I think we've all been on the recieving end of it in one way or another before. I'm just telling you that it's flat out wrong and in a lot of ways inaccurate. I'm talking about ethics and judgement and whether it is warrented in a universal sense. I.E. You shouldn't make judgements about people, at all, about how they dress. Again, not saying that you don't; I'm saying that you shouldn't.

[naunga]

No problem, dude.

And there is a huge difference between using one's judgement, and judging someone. If people use judgement then we'd have VFR pilots flying in IFR conditions everywhere, we'd talk to every single person we had the urge to talk to, we'd tell our wives that, "yes that dress does make you look fat". We'd run up to gang bangers (as white guys) and say, "yo my n***er what's up?".

IMHO judging people is saying, "I'm too good to deal with them" or "Ugh, I'd never be friends with a redneck like him" based only on a superficial impression. I understand what you're saying, you're talking to a guy who'd still have a pierced eye-brow had it not gotten infected etc. I got judged. I got the dirty looks, the stares from children (sometimes terrified looks from children...those were too much fun). My wife too (we got 'em on our honeymoon...awwww, what a couple of saps we were / are).

But it's fine line to walk, because at best we use our judgement to say, "that homeless guy may be a really neat person, but I'm not gonna talk to him, he stinks", and at worst we use our judgement to say, "I don't like blondes".

The Zen thing to do is realize that every time we look at a person we judge them on some level, acknowledge the judgement, and then let it go so that it does no influence us further.

We should also realize that judgements in and of themselves are not good or bad, they just are. It is how we react to them that matters. Even having a strong negative reaction against people who judge isn't healthy.

And just to be a pain in the ass: isn't judging people who judge as being negative hypocritical? Man logic is a bitch ain't it.

The reality is that we all judge, and some of those judgements are made for good reason. We choose which political party to support based on how we judge the fit between their platform and our values. Men judge women based on our own personal criteria (leg man, breast man), women judge men on their criteria (tall, short, good job, well dressed). It's a fact of life for anyone who has eyes. Even if we were all blind and had to have an actual conversation with someone to know what they "looked like", and of course since everyone is blind we'd have to describe ourselves in terms of things like I'm a man, I like to listen to jazz, I like to eat chocolate, I'm a Jew, etc.. So the understanding of someone's personality would be much deeper since we wouldn't focus on physical appearance. The thing is, however, what do you reveal about yourself on the first date? Just like most people don't drop their pants on the first date (I said most people), most people in blind world aren't going to tell you their heart's desires on the first date. Do you tell your date that you spent time in a mental hospital? That you had gay sex? That you are missing an arm? Do you go into religious philosiphy? And so on. Even after dating for months, most people probably have had sex with their partner, before they knew them on a truly intimate level. We so closely guard our personalities that it may take years, before we're comfortable enough to tell our partners about the time we got our hearts broken in high school, or how we used to have a huge crush on the TV weather man.

In the end the initial impression would still be as superficial, and we'd still judge people based on this superfiscial information. We'd say things like, "I could never be with someone who hates John Coltrain" or "Man she'd be great, except she has an annoying voice."

We, and I must say mostly young(er) people get very hung up on the fact that people judge other people based on superficial information, but it's a fact of life and we'll never be rid of it. I've never met anyone who didn't judge people about something. You'll always drive too fast for someone's tastes, not be neat enough, be too neat, wear colors someone doesn't like, and you'll always judge someone else about something. Always.

The only way to be completely free of judgement is to never have an opinion about anything, because that's where our judgements arise from. If you value neatness, then you'll judge slobs. Even if it's an innoculous judgement like, "Well that's cool if he likes living that way, but it's not for me." How do you know that you would be unhappy as a slob? How do you know he'd be unhappy living in a neat house? To use the venacular, where do you get off judging that being a slob isn't for you? Have you ever been a slob? Man you're so narrow. If you can be completely ambivalent then maybe you'll come close to being a truely non-judgemental person, but that's tough. Jesus, Buddha, Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and even Mother Theresa had opinions about things, and therefore made judgements about people.

I've nowhere near the spiritual fortitude that these folks had, so for me to harsh someone's gig for judging is not even an option. Like they say, let he who is without sin throw the first stone.

Sucks to be human man, but last time I checked we couldn't turn into cats (which would rock, because cats have it so freakin' easy).

Peace.

Naunga

[tonyw]

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Sucks to be human man, but last time I checked we couldn't turn into cats (which would rock, because cats have it so freakin' easy).

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They do. Eat, sleep, play, poop. That's pretty much it.

But cats judge, too. They will be nice to some people and nasty to others, and there's no real reason for it other than they like someone and don't like someone else.

[Icelandair]

In portland at a store there was a very long line to pay for my food. Behind the counter there was this degenerate working, very slowly of course. So i put the stuff back and left because the degenerate was lazy and I didn't want to wait a long time. So how you look while you are working can affect a business.

portland seems to be full of these degenerate types...

[naunga]

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So how you look while you are working can affect a business.

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Well wait. I thought you left, because he was slow not because of how he looked?

So if the guy had been in a suit and as slow as the guy you dealt with would you have left or stayed in line?

Naunga

[pullup]

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So how you look while you are working can affect a business.

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Well wait. I thought you left, because he was slow not because of how he looked?

So if the guy had been in a suit and as slow as the guy you dealt with would you have left or stayed in line?

Naunga

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I think he meant the look of your speed (slow and lazy, or trying your hardest and going at a pretty good rate). That's how interpreted it, but overall I pretty much agree with you Naunga.

[CapnJim]

Icelandair-- I know exactly what you mean. I don't waste my tme or money at a place that allows that kind of behavior or personal appearance. A blind man can see it a mile away: a slovenly, slow moving employee walking aroing with thier nose wrinkled and thier eyes rolling saunters to the counter and ejaculates at the next person in line, "Kinah hepyew!?" with an inflection that leaves absolutely no doubt that they have no aspirations of giving you any help or service at all, other thatn the absolute minimum that will allow them to keep thier jobs.

It boils down to personal respect: Confident, sucsessful, happy people almost invariably maintiain a standard of personal hygene and appearance. Wastes of skin who blame everyone but themselves for thier sorry lot in life don't. And, invariably, they make themselves and everyone around them miserable. That's why people will pay more to weed them out.

NOW-- that is not to say that there is one appearance or style that is proper and just and the rest are not. Ohhh no no no no: I would much rather sit next to a clean, well groomed, cool looking biker dude than a fat, slovenly business-suit type who is sweating through his wrinkled dress shirt. Moreover, there is a world of difference in a young dude just off of spring break wearing a pair of flops, some sunglasses, a t-shirt and a hangover, and some trailer trash wandering in in a dirty wife-beater stinking of Winstons.

So yeah, I judge by appearance. Just not by style.

[Texguy]

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I can't stand the people who bother you when deadheading!!! I was on a Delta mainline flight back to Atlanta the other day, (after having worked 16 hours the day before and another 13 that day) and this passenger felt the need to ask me everything about what was happening. Normally I wouldn't mind and would answer whatever questions they had, but I was sleeping! Not just napping, but sleeping. I had a sweatshirt I was using as a pillow, blanket on, lights off, eyes closed and even had earplugs in!!!! That's when the shoulder-tap and "excuse me..." came. I couldn't believe it!

Note to passengers...if you see a pilot sleeping on an airplane, let him sleep. Trust me, he's probably exhausted and has to do it all again tomorrow or later that same day.

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I hate people.

[kellwolf]

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True enough, but then again. If you're going to the bosses retirement party at the local 5-star steak house, you don't wear cut offs and a t-shirt...unless you hate the guy and your job.

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I agree with you here. You have to dress to the occasion, however flying on an airliner is not the same as a business casual dinner. Far from it. The perception is TOTALLY different. Showering a personal hygene are definate musts, but thinking a person is part of the dregs of humanity because they get on an airplane in shorts and flip flops is a bit much. What you (and sometimes I) see as a big deal is nothing but a means to get from one place to another to them. It's like asking them to throw on slacks and a polo to go to the grocery store.

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One thing I'll just throw out: self respect also means being educated. Being literate, reading an occasional book, taking an interest in current events, etc. There's very little of that going on nowadays as well.

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For the most part, I'd say a good portion of the people who are illiterate genuinely want to improve themselves. In the realm of "being educated," there's a lot of room for perception differences there. Take a look at some families that have never had anyone even graduate high school. That first person to do so may have a HUGE amount of self respect because he did something no one else in his family had accomplished for one reason or another. Is it right for us to say "he's got no self respect" because he didn't go to college? Neither of my parents went to college and they really don't keep up on current events. However, they have a huge amount of self respect along with a sense of pride that often gets in the way. I agree that the overall education in the country is going downhill, but I think it's WAY off base to suggest that someone has little self respect because they can't carry on a high brow conversation or they're illiterate. That's a sweeping generalization, and there's also too much of that in the country as well.