|
On our past vacation to Disneyland, Dawn and I took turns sitting in the middle/window seats on the airplanes. Our flights went from Philly to Chicago to LA and back.
Between LA and Chicago, I found myself next to some salesman from Samsung. I knew he worked for Samsung when he first got on the plane and talked to the guy who was sitting in front of him.
"Hey, man. Can I ask you a favor?" said the salesman.
"Umm, sure."
"I've got a lot of work to do for my company, Samsung. I've got to write up some reports on a sales presentation I just did. If you lean back your chair all the way, I can't see my laptop. I mean, you can lean back a little, but if you go all the way back, I won't be able to keep my laptop open enough for me to work effectively."
"Oh, no problem. I'll keep my chair up."
"Great. Thanks a lot, man. It sucks that I gotta work on a Friday night, but what are you gonna do?" This earned the salesman a courtesy laugh.
I pondered for a moment as to why the salesman gave such a long sales pitch on the guy's chair, but I guess this is a way of life for these guys.
I fell asleep.
The salesman at work
I wasn't sure how long I was sleeping, but I remember getting woken up with an elbow to the rib from my new favorite Samsung employee.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Just trying to get my laptop out."
"No worries," I pardoned the dreaded sin.
As I attempted the impossible feat of falling back asleep in the middle seat of a coach, I saw something peculiar with the laptop: A Blockbuster DVD.
"Looks like this guy is going to be working really hard," I thought to myself.
Samsung's Employee of the Year started season three of The Sopranos. I watched out of the corner of my eye, but eventually moved on to the in-flight movie.
After a while, I felt something creeping on my left side that I ignored at first. I realized it was the arm of the salesman slowly taking over the armrest. I let him have it and leaned on my wife. The arm kept moving. I wondered when it would stop and got my answer as the dude's arm was a clear two inches into my zone.
This was bad.
Not scared of confrontation I tapped the man, "Excuse me, you're arm is getting real close to me there."
"Oh, I'm sorry." He quickly pulled his arm back to his side.
It only took a few minutes, but the arm was back. I explained the drastic situation to Dawn. Her solution was simple, "Trade me places." I argued with her briefly, but switched seats with her when she said, "Trust me."
Now it would be war. If Samsung's salesman put his elbow into my wife's zone, then I'd have to help the company downsize.
Surprisingly, the elbow tamed itself. It never moved passed the armrest. Dawn leaned towards my ear, "Guys tend to behave themselves when a lady is present."
Yes they do. I guess all I wanted was for the Samsung salesman to treat me like a... lady?
|
