This past weekend I flew out to San An for a much needed weekend with the Viper Pilot. I hadn’t seen him in 5 weeks and I was starting to forget what he looked like. Ha, not really.
The weekend had an interesting beginning. After the two and a half hour drive to the airport, I opened up my purse at the gas pump before going to the airport and – no wallet. No ID, either. {Insert angry face here.} I might have panicked. A bit. I had less than a quarter tank of gas, no money, no way of identifying myself and I was 150 miles from home with a plane to catch in approximately two hours. I mean really, it could be worse…
I left the gas station and went to the airport because at least that was a place where I could spend the night if I needed to and tried to change my flight. My friend was bringing my wallet, but wouldn’t get to me in time for my original flight. As it turned out, I wouldn’t be able to leave until the next morning, cutting my trip to Texas by 12+ hours. This lovely information was also came with a price. Changing my flight was going to cost anywhere from $150-$700 because they apparently have no sympathy for forgetful people. Rude.
Then I found my student ID in my pocket. It has my name and picture on it.
Thank God for kind and considerate people at TSA and Delta airlines (though I still prefer Southwest). They spoke with me a bit and (since I obviously am who I am) they saw no reason to be suspicious of me (because I am not suspicious) and told me to go to security and if they gave me any trouble there to come back and let them know. So, I went to security. With as much grace and confidence I could muster up, though still a bit nervous because I really wanted to make this flight, I explained my situation, showed the agent my student ID, told him my age, birthday, address, where I have lived, what I am studying, the kind of car my neighbors drive…I offered up just about any and all information they could possibly need and asked him to call TSOC (Transportation Security Operations Center) which I was told to mention in an anonymous tip. The guy laughed at me, made some funny joke about socks (I still don’t know what TSOC actually does) and said those two glorious words,
“Go on.”
Source |
I nearly hugged the guy. But thought better of it since I still had to get through the security checkpoint and I didn’t want them to think I was attacking him. I skipped along through security with no problems and called my friend and asked him to hang on to my wallet until I got back. They didn’t even make me go through the body scanner or be searched. Which is rare even when you have your ID.
By this point, I was mentally exhausted. My brain had been in overdrive for the past hour. I initially thought my wallet had been stolen. PANIC. As it turned out, I put it in my teaching bag while I was at the high school that morning and simply forgot to put it back in my purse. My neighbor has a key to my house and found the wallet in my bag in my kitchen. RELIEF. I still didn’t have my wallet. STRESS. But I was going to make my flight and I would get to see the Viper Pilot in a few hours. HECK YES.
The folks at the SA airport on my way home were not quite so cooperative. This guy was more concerned about the fact that the address on my two checkbooks didn’t match. One was from Colorado and one was from Mississippi. I explained where I went to school. (He wanted to see anything and everything I had with my name on it, including the luggage tag on my suitcase…) I pointed to guy wearing the AF shirt and said I’m marrying that guy in June. Would you like to talk to him? He told me that wouldn’t help. Um…yes, it would. Did you not hear me? HE KNOWS ME.
All they needed to do was talk to me for a bit and realize that I’m a legit person with nothing to hide. This guy didn’t really want to talk. He also really needed a haircut, and that annoyed me. I got a huge lecture about why it is important to fly with an ID and how his job was on the line for this but he was going to let me go. BUT JUST THIS TIME. I smiled, thanked him, called him ‘sir’ and said IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. Out of all fifteen people in line, I was the only one who didn’t have to pass through the body scan. Talk about organization.
He had every right to be annoyed with me – but I personally don’t think he handled it properly. He was just looking for a little excitement and I think he really wanted to bust me. He must not know how to judge a person’s character. All you have to do is talk to a person a bit and you can get a pretty good idea of who they are – unless they are a professional liar, which I am not. But, who am I to critique the TSA guy?
Needless to say, I made it there and back. And, like the TSA guy said, it will never happen again. My future father-in-law suggested I get one of those wallets that you can chain to your pants, and I laughed about it at the time, but the more I think about it…………
The Viper Pilot and I spent the weekend doing nothing. We made dinner at home every night and vegged out on the couch with munchies and NCIS on DVD. We couldn’t have asked for a more relaxing, stress free weekend. Just what the doctor ordered.
Have you ever looked at the directions on the bag of monkey wave popcorn? It is hysterical. We had a little fun with it…
Yes, we are adults.
Yes, we burnt the popcorn even though we followed the directions to a tee.
The weekend also involved an airshow. However, the clock is telling me that I have a meeting to attend in two hours and I still have some stuff to get done before that so, it will have to be a post for another day. I got lots of awesome pictures, trust me, you’re gonna want to check back for this one.
Hope the rest of your Wednesday is wonderful!
PS, am I the only one who mentally says Wed-nes-day when I write the word? Just wonderin’….
Alison says
OMG0sh…mom told me about your airport adventures! Jeepers! Those pics are huh-larious with the popcorn…my personal fav is Alex with a turned ear to the microwave! Bahaha! Oh…and YES…I sound out Wed-nes-day too….