Dear Rude Traveler...

I know that traveling isn’t always so much fun these days. Everyone seems to be in a bad mood – the ticketing agents, TSA agents, the travelers and the flight attendants (as we know from the Jet Blue turd who’s now making mad cash telling his story – which, is so ridiculous). Last weekend, Joe and I were flying back home to Hawaii from NH and had to connect through Boston, which is where I encountered one of those not-so-elusive "it's all about me" traveler.

And on this note – to the man who cut in front of Joe and then, not only, proceeded to cut in front of me but SLAM his backpack into me, I have this to say. YOU are an a-hole. You’re a 100%, probably corn-hole, fed jerk. You better count your lucky stars that I didn’t go up one side of you and down the other for how you so carelessly slammed your body and your backpack into other (calm and patient) passengers waiting in line for boarding group 1. It was completely unacceptable to me when you cut in front of my boyfriend to hurry yourself to the front of the line. Seriously dude? You were in boarding group 1 – it doesn’t get much better than that.

Then when you cut in front of me, AND slammed into me with your huge bag, it caused a reaction in me that nothing else ever has. It was like a matador waiving a huge red flag in front of bull’s eyes. When you rudely slammed into me and kept on walking, I only saw rage and fury. I didn’t even know what I was doing when I bolted off Joe’s side and ran up to you, grabbing your arm and confronting you. I don’t remember anything going through my mind at all – it was just a flash of red and then me grabbing your arm. Be thankful I grabbed you in front of two gate agents & realized in an instant they had the power to keep me from boarding the plane, should I get too loud in confronting you.

In fact, I’m sure that I moved so fast, Joe was probably wondering what happened to me. You should be especially thankful that I had enough self-control and did not unleash the tirade of a decade that would have made Mel Gibson blush. And believe me, I could have, and wanted to. You better be thankful that I desperately wanted to get back to 86 degrees weather, sunshine and beaches; otherwise you’d still be in Mass General recuperating from a torn rectum.

So, next time you think it’s a good idea to go around pushing people out of your way like a bull in a china shop without so much as an “excuse me” you should really think twice, because next time the person might not let your rude self go with just a terse “Jerk”. Next time, you might actually get yanked back by your geek pack and given a talking to by a man, and not some 5’3” woman who feels pity for your sorry self. And by the way – we were also in Boarding Group 1, but we weren’t pushing people out of the way to get on the plane. If you’re at the gate and paying attention, you’re going to get on the plane. There is no reason to be and no excuse for being….a jerk.