One of my bosses many years ago took a trip up to South Dakota for a meeting. For the trip back home, he was scheduled to board a tiny 17-seater turboprop plane. Since it was storming a bit in the area, the flight was delayed getting in. People were at the airport bar drinking it up somewhat heavily, since those prop planes aren't exactly the most pleasant to fly. Oh, and did I mention this plane doesn't have any restrooms? I think that's a key point here.
So, the plane finally arrives and everyone boards. It's a full flight, except for the last row of the flight, which consists of 3 seats across. Everything else on the flight is tiny and jam packed, with no room for carry-on luggage. The flight was going to be two hours long in bumpy weather - so everyone settles in for a rough ride.
They take off. My boss was seated in the next-to-last row in the back of the plane. Across from him, barely 2-3 feet away, was a woman who looked very uncomfortable to be flying. The plane gets cruising and things are relatively smooth for the first hour.
Something odd happens. Getting up near the front of the plane, a man starts walking down the aisle to the back of the plane. He looks like he's had a bit to drink. He reaches my boss and the woman in that row. He's making the universal sign for wanting to go to the bathroom. I guess when you've got to go, you've got to go! He asks them "do you mind if I use the airsickness bag behind you?" Both my boss and the woman are astounded by this guy's audacity. But before they can do something, the man sits behind the woman and starts doing his business with the bag. My boss just lets it slide and pretends to ignore the whole thing, while the woman is clearly freaking out. When the guy's done, he leaves the used bag on one of the back seats. Ugh.
It didn't end there though. The guy returns to his seat. About another half hour later, a woman from the same row starts coming down the aisle. My boss is slow to put the pieces together, but the woman next to him apparently gets it faster than he does. She lets out screams when she figures out it's the girlfriend of the man who just used the airsickness bag behind her. This woman apparently also has no shame and lets loose into one of the remaining airsickness bags. The woman on the same row as my boss gets up and runs to the seat the woman let vacant, screaming. Meanwhile that airsickness bag woman settles into the first woman's seat, leaving the filled bag in the back on the seats.
Does it end there? No, not quite! The plane lands in one piece then discover there's no stairs or entry for the passengers to disembark. All gates are being used. So the entire passenger manifest has to deal with the bags just sitting there in the far back, until a gate opens up. When that finally happened, they couldn't wait to exit! I'm sure the maintenance people were warned about what to expect coming in....
The second story will come next time!
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