Complaints, complaints, complaints

On the flight from Xian back to Hong Kong, I sat in the aisle seat, next to a man and a woman in the window seat. The man didn’t say much, but what he said lodged in my mind.

Just before the plane’s door closed, he complained angrily to a hostess and demanded to know why the plane was delayed for the sake of a passenger. The hostess explained, politely and apologetically, that the passenger in question was probably delayed because of a problem with documents. But the man wasn’t satisfied and kept on grumbling. At that point, actually, it was still a few minutes before the scheduled departure time of 7:45 pm; and the plane started to move around 7:50 pm.

The second time the man spoke was when dinner was served. The man complained audibly but seemingly no one in particular, that the salad was hard to eat because there were no salad dressing.

The third time, he did not actually spoke. But he made a lot of annoying noises because he ate with his mouth open. I have to confess that I did that a lot before; and my family complained. Since I started trying to eat more quietly I have become more aware how annoying it is to eat noisily.

When dinner was finished, he started complaining that the hostesses did not take the trays away quickly enough - even though he wondered aloud himself that some people may not have finished dinner! We were seating in the front, and it could take a while for the whole plane to be served dinner.

Then he complained that he had to fill in the health form for his companion.

It was about two hours into the flight at that time, but the two of them had not yet talked to each other. Neither did the man look at the woman.

The episode reminded me, rather vividly, how annoying it is to be in the close proximity of someone with such a negative attitude to life. I renewed my resolution to try not to live my life that way. I may or may not succeed but I will try. Perhaps my friends (and family) can remind me of my resolution when I fail (but gently, please :-).

Note: In the photo, sunlight was reflected brilliantly from the river, washing out all other colors. The white spot to the right of center was not dirt on the camera lens. It was actually the sun reflected by a thinning cloud below the airplane. The reflection was dying as I took the photo; seconds later it disappeared completely. Life itself is fleeting; I am learning to grab the opportunity as it presents itself.