Monday, January 10, 2011

Awkwardness on the plane

My team flew to Buffalo again this morning.  We got delayed on the tarmac, though, so I got a chance to chat up the nice flight attendant lady about the weather and whatnot.  After 30 minutes sitting on the plane, though, I start to get hungry, so I ask her if she is allowed to serve any of the snacks yet.  She says she doesn't know if she has enough for everyone, but she will look into it.

I'm literally sitting across the aisle from her little kitchenette, so I see her start shuffling through all these drawers trying to scrounge up bags of snacks.  She's ripping open cardboard boxes of various food items, packing and re-packing individual snack bags into all the shelves of her cart.  I start to feel bad.  I though that she had some peanuts easily available, but instead she is actually spending a significant amount of time looking for some snacks.  Her level of effort is not trivial.

Finally, she finds a small bag of trail mix and offers it to me.  I take the bag and thank her.

End of the story?  Unfortunately not.

As soon as she hands me the bag, I realize something.  The bag of trail mix is not kosher!  It is some sort of mixture of berries and nuts roasted in oil and whatnot, and it's not a mainstream brand that is typically kosher. So I can't eat it....

...but she just spent 10 minutes getting it for me!  And she is standing in her kitchenette about 2 feet away from me!  I can't hide!  What do I do?!!

All I can think of is to stare distractedly out the window, as if I've forgotten about the trail mix that I'm holding.  My mind is racing about what to do.  Do I let her see me put the trail mix in my backpack "for later"?  That wouldn't make sense because I had admitted to being hungry now.  Do I hide the bag when she isn't looking, pretending like I've already eaten it?  (For some reason, one idea that entered my mind for a brief moment was to reach over the seat in front of me, and drop the trail mix bag behind the back of the guy sitting there.  I don't know what that would have accomplished other than pissing off the guy in front of me and clearly bringing unwanted attention to me and my trail mix.)

I honestly did not know what to do.

After a few more tense minutes of internal dialogue, I suddenly discover a solution.  I notice that the flight attendant lady has pulled out another type of snack....and it's kosher!  (Nature Valley Granola Bars for the win!)  As she walks by me, I quickly put the trail mix back and take a granola bar.  The most satisfying granola bar of my life.

Success.

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