Ok, true confession. I might be the kind of person that has quite a few pet peeves. It’s not that everybody else is wrong, it’s just that my way is usually better. I’m kidding. Kind of. But out of all of my many pet peeves, there is one that stands out above the rest.
Baggage claim. I fly kind of a lot. I have finally reached Delta Medallion status, which I should have reached a lot sooner, but actually, don’t get me started on that. You’ll thank me. Anyway, I spend a decent amount of time waiting for bags. And if you fly internationally into the Atlanta airport, you’ll know that you actually have to wait for your bags twice there. Yep, get off the plane, wait a ridiculously long time to retrieve your luggage, make your way through customs, RECHECK recently retrieved bags, go upstairs to normal baggage claim and wait to get them one more time. It’s kind of ridiculous–and yet, not the most frustrating part.
If you’re smart* like me, you know exactly the right place to stand on the train to put you closest to the exit so that you can be the first person on the escalator and avoid the bottleneck of the rest of the people trying to get on. You know which of the 3 escalators to take to the top putting you closest to the side your bags will be on. And you’re probably able to check the carousel number while continuing to walk. All of these skills make you (well, me) one of the first to arrive at the final baggage claim.
Now, here’s where the real pet peeviness begins. There are about to be hundreds of people crammed around this one small carousel waiting for their giant suitcases to appear. As one of the first to arrive, you could place yourself directly in front of the mouth, knees pressed up against the metal to ensure the shortest possible wait time for your bag. However, we all know that doing that just leads to everyone cramming as close to the belt as possible, squeezing in minuscule cracks and claiming every square inch of prime real estate. And then, all the poor schmucks who don’t know all those time-saving tricks end up stuck outside the circle peering between heads, fighting their way through when their bag arrives, and knocking over small children in their attempt to get it off the belt and through the crowd.
Here’s an idea people.
How about everybody takes one giant step backward. Mother, may I? Yes, you may. And then, magically, more people fit around the carousel. More people can see the bags as they arrive. And then, you simply step forward when you see your suitcase, take it off the belt without bruising the knees of 5 people around you, and easily roll your way through the crowd.
We can make this happen folks. We can change the baggage claim culture. And if you see me standing on top of it with a megaphone sometime soon, well, now you’ll know why.
What are some of your pet peeves?
(*And if you’re now wondering if I’m aware of how OCD I seem to be, yes, yes I am.)
