Tuesday afternoon I left for a final interview with Epic Systems in Madison, WI. Getting from Terre Haute to Madison involved planes and automobiles, the planes with less desirable companions.
On the first plane of the journey - IND to ORD - I sat next to a sleeveless man traveling to Alaska. He sleeveless arms kept touching my sleeved arms, which seems just a bit more personal that the normal sleeve-on-sleeve action you get when sitting close to people... also, he wouldn't stop talking (even with my book out and open) and it seemed as though he was chewing tobacco, although he never spit. He just had a lump between his chin and his lower lip, and his lower lip stuck out a bit. During that flight we experienced the worst turbulence of any flight I have ever been on - we are talking GardenState minus the hanging oxygen masks. I just looked up and saw everyone's heads bouncing at the same time and in the same direction - like synchronized swimmers and a few times it felt like it does on those dumb amusement park rides where you free fall... hrumph.
On plane number two - ORD to MSN - I sat next to the typical 20-26 year old North Face male. He had the North Face backpack and the North Face sleeveless fleece - but with a shirt on underneath (which I appreciated). He was reading the typical snowboarder magazine with lots of pictures. He was a quiet row companion with his iPod on from the time electronic devices were allowed to the time we were required to turn off any electronic devices.
On the return trip (plane #3) - MSN to ORD - I was able to make it on to a flight two hours earlier than I expected, thus making me a big fan of the boarding-pass giver guy. He also assigned me aisle seats since my aisle seat experience on plane #1 was better than my window seat experience on plane #2. As people continued to file onto the plane, the seat next to me remained empty - oh happy day! - until, the very last person to sit down, a 6'7" obviously drunk man says to me "Yeah, you could just scoot over and make things easier." So I scoot - it's only a 45 minute flight and he's much taller. He rewards me by elbowing me into the plastic window while he is looking for his seatbelt. He's also a talker - where have you been? why? where are you going? and all sorts of job market related questions and questions about where I went to school. I'm giving the polite but short answers, again with the book open, obviously reading. He smells like Jim Beam. Finally, as the plane is landing, he tells me he is a recruiter for a search firm and gives me his card, telling me to email him for some job search tips because "not many people actually know how to get a job, I mean they send a resume, and... that's not the way..." Thanks, Dave... nice to have met you.
My 4:11pm flight from Madison put me in Chicago at about 5:00pm. I went to the next Indianapolis flight on the boards at signed up for standby. Thankfully the schmucks who were supposed to be on the plane didn't show up, and I ended up plane #4 - ORD to IND - 6:00pm instead of 8:00pm, which got me to Indy at 8:15pm (with a time change) instead of 10pmish. On plane #4 I had the window seat again, and sat by a medium height, skinny man. He was a lawyer. He made notes on a stack of papers about questions to ask in a deposition, listened to his iPod, and maintained his silence.
From now on when the boarding-pass giving people ask 'Would you prefer a window seat or an aisle?' I will respond - A lawyer, please.
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