Reality Check

As I was riding the tram inside the airport yesterday from my gate to baggage claim, I overheard/saw a little gem of an interaction. Let me paint the picture first, knowing (sadly) that this will never be as funny in text as it was to witness the event.

The tram was pretty empty and in our car: Me, a business man sitting on one of the little benches with a bluetooth reciever in his ear,and his phone in his hand, Another man with two little girls (maybe 7 and 9 yrs. old) who both looked a little rough and rowdy, and a few other passengers 3 or 4 feet farther down the compartment.

The man with the blue tooth was talking on his phone, when all of a sudden one thing he said rang out rather clearly, "Do you want to know what I hate about flying Northwest?"

I glanced up thinking for a minute thinking that he might be addressing me or someone else in the car because the question was so clear, but then noticed his bluetooth. The 9 year old girl wasn't so observant. She stopped in the middle of playing with her little sister, took a hopeful step toward the man on the phone and with her hands clasped behind her, looked up at him at once serious and attentive and said:

"....OK. Yes."

The business man didn't even notice or ignored her, and I started laughing, because I realized I was almost as close to answering the question as she was. Meanwhile her father quickly grabbed her while she stood waiting for the story, and said, "He's talking on the phone!" (unspoken: you stupid little fool.)

It's a shame he didn't notice the little girl, because I cannot imagine that the person on the phone gave his question even half as much attention and interest as this little girl did.

The poor little girl looked so disappointed and crestfallen, but I think my laughter helped to lighten the mood, and I thought again about what a strange world we live in - talking in public places to invisible people in our ears and while staring right through and ignoring the ones right in front of us.