Sunday, December 21, 2014

Thanks Dude



This morning I was the first person on the parking shuttle, and since there was no one else to
inconvenience, the driver apparently decided to be chatty with me.
“So your name isn’t Sally by any chance is it?” he asked me.
“No sir, my name is Kim.”
“I was just asking because I see that you drive a Mustang. You know back in the sixties there was a super popular song called ‘Mustang Sally’ “  I had to laugh that he thought he had to tell me about the song, as if it wasn’t one of my favorites.
“Sure, I got the reference,” I told him with a laugh. “I have a thing about Mustangs so it is actually one of my favorite songs. I also have a 1967 Mustang at home.”
“No kidding?!” he replied. “I used to have a 67 Mustang myself, but that was many years ago. It was a GT and had a huge engine in it. I’ll bet it would be worth a fortune today.”
“I’ll bet that kind of irritates you huh? Wish you still had it?”
“Nah, not really. It got to the point where you couldn’t get the leaded gas for it, and its performance suffered. These days they choke a car to death with all of the emissions stuff and you just don’t get the performance that you used to get.”
“Oh I don’t know. That little red Mustang there only has a six cylinder but it still has 305 horsepower AND gets 33 MPG on the highway. I’m pretty happy with its performance and I can actually afford to drive it.”

I think I’m gonna change my name to “Grace”.  As I was entering the Austin airport, the wheels on my toolbox got caught in a joint in the sidewalk and I ended up dropping the handle. As I crouched down to pick up the toolbox, my suitcase fell over and damned near took me with it since I was crouched down and wearing platform heels. Yep – once again the very definition of grace and beauty here!

I was making my way through the long “premium” passenger line at the TSA check point when I noticed two older guys in front of me debating if they were in the right line or not. They both reminded me of my mothers last husband who had been the very definition of a macho man. Body builder, motor cycle riding, sports watching – you know the kind. Anyway, they apparently couldn’t decide on their own, and so they turned to me.
“So just what is a “premium” passenger?“, he asked me.
“When you fly a lot, you get status with the airline. Eventually you get enough points that they consider you a premium passenger and you get perks like this line.” I replied to them.
“So does this mean that we are premium or not?” He asked me, holding out his ticket and showing me where it said “Priority Boarding” on his ticket.
“No sir, that just means that you get to board the airplane before most people. This on the other hand is a really handy thing to have right now!” I told him, pointing at the “TSA Pre-Check” typed in large and bold letters on his ticket. “This means you get to use an even shorter line and you don’t have to take your shoes off, or take stuff out of your bag.”
“No way?!” he asked, not quite believing his good fortune.
“Sure. The TSA pre-check line is right over there, and if I were you, I would get out of this one and get in that one.” I told them, pointing to the other side of the security check point where there was a large sign saying “TSA Pre-check only”
“Hey that’s great – thanks!” they both told me, and then they did indeed get out of our long line to go to the empty TSA Pre-check line. Once I had made my way through security, I headed down the concourse toward my gate, and I happened to pass these two again. The one that reminded me of my mother’s last husband saw me as I was walking by.
“Hey! Thanks for helping us through the line . . .” he loudly told me.
“You’re most welcome.” I replied, but I spoke just a bit too soon, because apparently he wasn’t done speaking.
“. . . dude” he completed his sentence. Yep, no doubt about it that this asshole reminds me a lot of my mother’s husband because I never liked him either . . .

13 comments:

  1. I truly fail to see any "dude" in any of your pictures. Some people are just as you described them, in your second-to-last sentence.

    You look very pretty, hon! Wish I looked as good as you!

    Mandy

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  2. Wow Kim. Please don't let that clueless buba get you down. I really have had my eyes opened to these guys with near zero self control. I think these guys look at us as gender traitors. I saw this while I was having a MAC makeover in Nordstroms. I could see the look in the guys eyes when they recognized me as a male in a dress. Fortunately, in the SF bay area they know to keep this to themselves, but that's not the case everywhere.

    I second Mandy's sentiment, you really do fly pretty, really pretty.

    Alana

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  3. It took me years to get my boyfriend to stop calling me dude. Some guys just do that to everyone.

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  4. Some people are just insensitive, while others are completely lacking in class. From the sounds of it, this is definitely an issue of class. I'm with Mandy - there's not a glimmer of 'dude' that I can see in any of your photos. :)

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  5. .....think I would have just blown him a kiss..............Debra

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    Replies
    1. Oh yes, that would have been priceless, Debra! The nincompoop's face would definitely been ripe for a Kodak moment!

      Mandy

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  6. Kristy Meadows,

    Kim, your a riot! I so enjoy your musings on traveling "pretty" so much, but for the life of me I can't believe you manage the Austin airport! I travel through there several times a month and its tough enough managing TSA and all the regular pitfalls, but wearing 5" heels and a dress! Your my hero....
    I did drive to Austin once "pretty" but had to go through an INS / Border checkpoint outside of Sierra Blanca. Figured I looked quite passable and tried my best soft voice, but after telling him I was an American citizen, he told me "thank you sir"....... my ego deflated!

    Kristy.......

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  7. Hey Woman,
    Long time, no speak! I hope you don't mind my saying you look absolutely gorgeous in your photos and I love your style of clothing, as well. I didn't get to finish this post, so I'm going to go back to it. Wanted to check in and thank you for recommending my blog and tell you how ab fab you look :)

    Pam

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    Replies
    1. Long time no talk to Pam! I hope that all is well with you and your family. You give me hope - hope that maybe most people are "cool" and not assholes. ;-)

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  8. Hi Kim,

    I just love reading your blog because I do love traveling around the world as well. I am all the way passable including my very sexy voice which most of the airport staffs addresses me 'madam'. My only problem is my passport though 'coz I still have to change my name from male to female and it's a long process.

    Hope you'll write more as I love reading your blog. Cheers!

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  9. Amazing blog and very interesting stuff you got here! I definitely learned a lot from reading through some of your earlier posts as well and decided to drop a comment on this one!

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  10. Kim-

    Hope to see more of your travels soon.... Too bad that the snow is screwing up flights nationwide these days....

    M

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    Replies
    1. You and me both! For the most part I dont let the cold stop me. I have plenty of warm clothes and two awesome full length coats. Naw, the cold doesn't come into the picture unless, as you alluded to, it becomes so bad that it affects airline travel. There have been a whole series of things keeping me from flying pretty these days. Tight schedules where I have to see the customer as soon as my flights land, meeting our sales managers at the customers site, and God help me, I have apparently become seriously allergic to something in the Austin area - I would guess Cedar. I spend most mornings working my way through a box of tissue paper. lets just say that makeup is out of the question until this allergy stuff passes . . .

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