From Chaos to a Compliment

Airports require lots of flexibility.

Last week, the first leg of our flight was cancelled a full day before we were scheduled to leave Sacramento, due to the weather in Denver. 

And yesterday the second leg of our flight was delayed because a dog went to the bathroom all over the back of the plane and they had to have the carpets cleaned before we could board. The flight attendants said the dog's owners just made it worse by trying to clean it up on their own.

But that was a minor disturbance compared to what nearly happened when we finally found ourselves ready to board.

There were lots of children, of all ages, on our flight, and many of them had grown restless waiting. While in the narrow hallway of the jet bridge, a man who happened to be standing right behind us chose to tell the father of a couple of these children that "it's called parenting."

A verbal exchange ensued between the men, who were ready to take their "conversation" to the next level. Several other passengers became involved, adding their own opinions about how to keep the kids quiet and the appropriateness (or inappropriateness) of smacking your kids across the mouth.

The rest of us stood uncomfortably nearby.

Up to this point the commotion was all directly behind us, but I could sense that the people in front of us were considering weighing in on the disruption, which would have put Randy and I right in the middle of it all.

Before that could happen I awkwardly said to the woman directly in front of us, "I like your ring."

She looked down at her empty right hand and looked back up at me. I pointed to her left hand and she looked down again.

"My friend, she spoils me," the woman said hesitantly, seemingly having trouble transitioning from the chaos to a compliment. And then she continued, "We live next door to each other. Our husbands knew each other in high school. Isn't that wild? I guess it makes sense though. My town is so small that all you have to do is put my first name on an envelope and I'll get it. Bonnie. Just write Bonnie and my town and they will deliver it to me. But make sure you write the town. Otherwise it will go to a Bonnie somewhere else."

She became more animated as she talked. And one by one the people around us stopped arguing, stopped gawking at those arguing, and slowly made their way peacefully on to the plane. Miraculously there were no other disturbances on the 3 hour flight home, not from the children, their parents, or those interested in "parenting".

Sometimes the best way to serve in a situation like this is to offer up a distraction. A compliment, a question, just something to give people a moment or a breath, a chance to redirect.