Last month I was on an AA flight in First Class, seat 4A, in the window. After being seated, I got the sense that my seatmate on the aisle was somewhat important. As the rest of the plane boarded, I noted more than a handful of people acknowledge him as they boarded.
Being that I have been real busy and have not had a moment to really edit any photos, I took advantage of the flight time and decided to edit my aviation photos on the flight.
10 minutes after take off, I begin my work. Another 10 minutes later, the guy sitting next to me stops his AVOD movie and asks, verbatim and in a sort of obnoxious harried way:
"Look, what are you? What is it you do? You a pilot, an aviator, a photographer? What's with the pictures of the planes, man"
What initially annoyed me off was how rude this guy was. Not even an "excuse me or pardon me", just a complete lack of thought before speech. I got the sense he just had to stop what he was doing so that he could find out about me.
(To tell you how obnoxious this guy was.....I'd lowered my shades to do some editing. An hour later, I raised it to take a peek outside. And then he throws up his hands into the air. Why? He's watching a movie and gets pissed that I raised the shade. A normal person would have said, "excuse me, would you mind, I'm watching a movie." This man was not normal. Realizing in an instant that my shade was a bother, I draw it back closed. I mean, I'm a considerate person and I didn't realize it'd bother him. So I say simply, "my apologies" and he then stops the movie, takes out his ear plugs and says, "what? Whatdyou say?" as if he wanted a verbal encounter and again, I simply look at him and say, "my apologies."
back to the story at hand.
I tell him my trade and simply that all I am doing is taking photos of what I enjoy.
I then said, "Why do you need to know? Because of the times?" And he nods yes. Satisfied, he was quiet the rest of the flight.
I then ask him, after having seen him perusing some MajorLeagueBaseball documents, “Well, you have some interest in baseball, no?” He tells me its just a job. Later I find out his name, Jimmy Lee Solomon, the VP of operations for Major League Baseball.
Well, firstly, it's a shame that MLB has such an arrogant fool representing their organization.
Secondly, in retrospect, when he abruptly asked me "What are you, yada yada yada," My evil, direct persona was jumping at the bit to say, "Listen, I'm not an al Quaeda terrorist, so simmer down and relax." I mean seriously, if you cut through the bull****, that's all he really wanted to know. You could take that whole sentenceand instead insert,Look, what are you? What is it you do? You a pilot, an aviator, a photographer? What's with the pictures of the planes, manThis guy was rude, arrogant and just felt the world revolved around him. After the shade 'incident' I was compleeled to tell him, "listen, if its a probem, charter your own jet next time.Dude, I'm an arrogant coward. By the way, are you going to blow us up?
Now, I can understand anyone's interest in what I do and I can even extend them the right to know why I do it. In fact, on the flight back home, in First, the gentleman next to me looked over and asked, "Whoa, are you a photographer? Have any photos of that new plane?"
But can you see the difference in how I was approached?
How would you have handled this clown?
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Originally Posted by Phil D.
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