Well after a few weeks days here and there and plenty of plane travel, I’m back firmly on LA soil.
One of the joys of business travel is interacting with your colleagues (and bosses) in ways you never would around the office. Ever wonder if your co-worker is as terrible a driver as you imagined? Now you can find out. Like to see your bosses help you navigate through Google Maps and get extremely frustrated? Here’s the chance. Work relationships are usually very controlled by your work environment, and the joy of work travel is blowing that whole paradigm up and forcing you to chit chat for hours of car/plane/and security line time. It’s really a grand experiment.
There was a great moment in my former job when I was traveling with my boss at the time along with another colleague. I was pretty caught up on work, and didn’t have anything to do at the time. We get on the plane, all 3 of us in a row, and my boss immediately breaks out his computer and starts working. My colleague and I, hesitate, wondering what the protocol is, and then firmly settle and breakout a laptop and begin watching the pilot episode of “The OC.” It was really a glorious career moment. He ended up catching the episode out of the corner of his eye and was soon inquiring why Ryan had to go back to Chino after all. It really brought us together, as only “The OC” can.
Other smaller interactions can be just as rewarding. There’s a grand history and system to armrest politics. On one flight, my fellow passenger was taking up my entire armrest. I checked his other side and he was doing the same to the window seat. Big No No. At least do the half armrest share for 1. Luckily, I was able to firmly reverse the situation and when he raised his arms briefly to stretch, and with cat-like reflexes I snuck my arms in. It was a tremendously satisfying moment when his arm came crashing down expecting to have his arm rest and I casually gave him an annoyed look when it instead rudely landed on his arm. Very satisfying to see him recoil and hold his arms in defeat, close to his side, as uncomfortable as I was moments earlier.
This is really why plane travel is so much better than car travel. So many more opportunities for fun little interactions with strangers (another favorite is the amorphous gate line once they’ve announced a new section to board — always fun to see people eyeing each other suspiciously as they wonder who is going to form a side line and effectively cut”). It forces us to get up close and personal with some humanity. More important than ever here in LA, where you could be in your car for days. Perhaps you should take your Sunday and fly to Oakland and back just for the experience. I’ll be in bed.
Photo by SC Fiasco
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