Happy Tuesday. I have a short post for you today about a very minor thing that happened at the airport that made me wonder - am I the outlier when it comes to having a sense of humor? Or typical?
Scene: waiting at the gate
Situation: after getting to my gate, I have to go to the bathroom (not atypical; I always go to the bathroom before boarding a flight, even a short one). Usually I schlepp all of my bags with me to the bathroom. But there was a kind-looking older woman that I had made eye contact with. So I asked if she would watch my bags while I went to the bathroom. (Side note: while I rarely do this, it’s not uncommon. I’ve watched many people’s bags for the same reason).
What happened: when I got back, I sat down and a younger woman (around my age - the bag watcher was in her upper 70s) said that she had suggested to the bag watcher that they move my bags and then move to a different area as a joke.
…
Um I couldn’t even muster up a laugh. I suppose it was supposed to be funny and I should have forced a ‘ha ha.’ Instead I said I would have completely panicked if that happened. (My heart races just thinking about this scenario.) I would never and could never see the humor of that. It didn’t happen so it’s neither here nor there but are there people who think this is funny?
But here’s the thing - I hate pranks. I loathe April Fool’s day. My husband jokes that if I was a super hero, my super hero name would be ‘literal Lisa’.
The senior citizen that watched my bags made it clear she would never do that and did not think it was funny. But the girl who joked about doing this prank seemed to think it was very funny.
And now I will never ask someone to watch my bags again.
Your turn - would you come up with a prank like this? Would you find this funny? Or, like me, would you be appalled that someone would even consider doing that?
21 comments:
Haha! First of all, I would never ask someone to watch my bags. I have watched other people's bags and am very reliable, but the trust only goes one way. Even if I have a lot of bags (which is pretty much never) I would carry them all into the bathroom with me and deal with that rather than ask someone to watch for me. Secondly, I would NEVER joke about moving someone's bag and definitely would not do it or condone it if someone else did it.
Not only am I not really a jokester, but I find it mean a lot of the time to make someone else's embarrassment, shame or anxiety into a joke. I only ever did one April Fools joke where I told my Mom I had been suspended from school (to her credit, she did not even blink, just said she would come and get me and to sit tight) but I don't want to be embarrassed or uncomfortable, so I would not do that to someone else.
Oh, I really don't like pranks either, and I hate even the idea of doing that! How is that supposed to be funny?
I don't like pranks and agree with Kyria that it's meant to make fun of someone's (even temporary) stress/anxiety.
With some members of my family, we occasionally pull minor pranks, but I would never, ever prank a stranger.
I'm a literal person, too. That said, my husband is the funniest person I've ever met, so he injects a lot of levity into daily life. I laugh A LOT, despite being a relatively serious/Type-A/high-stress sort of person.
I would not appreciate that type of comment in an airport. I can’t imagine someone making that type of joke and me laughing. However, I do have a similar kind of humor but only with family. At the same time I’m not huge on pranking people so I probably wouldn’t say or do this.
Also, first time I’m ever hearing that people leave their luggage with strangers while they use the restroom. Living in the nyc metropolitan area I don’t see this ever happening in a New York airport nor would I leave my bags with strangers. I’ll be flying this summer and will keep an eye out for it.
@ anonymous - it might be a regional thing. I'm in the Midwest (Minneapolis) and have seen it happen multiples and have been asked to keep an eye on a person's bags. I don't know that I've ever asked someone to do this, but I was at the end of the terminal at a quiet gate and the bathroom was really close so I figured I'd give it a try. But I'll never do it again!
Clearly I haven’t flown in a while -
When I did fly, the announcement would state, ad nauseam, that you should never agree to watch someone’s luggage.
But I am with you not funny - at all and absolutely hate pranks. If they pulled a prank and your luggage was found by authorities, chaos might ensue and airplanes might be delayed. Years ago, there was unattended luggage found and that part of the airport had to be shut down.
No. No, no, no. Why would anybody ever think this is funny! I totally agree with everyone here that causing someone anxiety/stress in a public place is not the way to make people laugh. I would be majorly stressed out (I haven't asked anyone to watch my bags either, although I've seen people do it.)
I feel that minor pranks with family or people you know very well (and where you know how a prank might be received) is ok, but I would never prank a stranger!
Well, I would not personally have ever asked someone to watch my stuff, just because they always used to make those announcements about never doing that. I have asked someone to watch my stuff like at a busy coffee shop while I run to the bathroom or something. I have a pretty light and easy sense of humor so I do not actually think this would have bothered me. I mean, I would have probably freaked out for a second for sure if someone actually did that to me, but I probably for sure would have at least laughed at the idea of it if the girl had said that to me.
We actually pranked my mom good on the way home from Costa Rica. She had her carryon suitcase next to her but was all engrossed in her phone, posting pictures or emailing someone or something. During the whole trip we kept telling her in general to be aware of her stuff because she is known to be a little scatterbrained/ oblivious sometimes, lol, and petty crime/ theft is a concern in CR! Of course she always would deny that she wasn't paying attention to her things.
As we sat at the gate at the airport, I muttered to my Dad and Ivan, who were sitting right by me, "She is totally unaware of her bag just sitting over there. It's practically behind her. Someone could just walk off with it and she'd never even notice." Earlier I had commented to her to keep her bag close to her and she was annoyed at me, saying something like, Oh it's right here!! I AM watching it." (uh huh...). So Ivan got up and casually walked up on her side, while she continued scrolling on her phone, and quickly wheeled her suitcase away- and she never even looked up or noticed! He slid it around the side of our seats where she couldn't see it. (She continued looking at her phone.) Not long later they called for us to start boarding, so we were like, ok, let's go, everyone grab your stuff! And then she puts her phone away and starts looking around like, omg where is my bag?! Finally we rolled it out and were like, Looking for this?!?! See how easy it was for Ivan to swipe it!!??? She just laughed and was like, oh my gosh, I was scared for a minute!! Hopefully she learned her lesson. ;) And we now have proof/evidence that she is NOT always "watching her stuff", as she claimed.... hahahaha.
I love pranks but this one isn’t funny. I guess maybe I’m a bit neurotic when I travel but I don’t want to lose my stuff or miss a flight or even panic that my stuff is gone right before I’m about to board a flight. Traveling can be stressful and chaotic enough
I agree with everyone else here - I would definitely not find this funny. I honestly don't enjoy humor at other people's expense, though. If the joke will embarrass someone (or cause them panic!), it's not funny to me!
Also, I'm from the Midwest and have flown out of/into Chicago/Minneapolis/Detroit many times (albeit pre-pandemic) and the rule was that you had to be in control of your luggage all the time. Don't ask strangers to watch it! It's curious that it seems like they've eased up on the restrictions recently.
I think that what the other person thought would be funny is the *idea* of the prank. As in, not actually doing it, but sketching out the prank as something that you could all laugh at. I don't really find it funny at all and don't really get into pranks, but I feel like I recognize that kind of humor. Anyone else?
I would have probably laughed because I doubt anyone would actually DO that, but if someone did actually did that, it would not be funny. I don't do pranks and I don't like having them done on me, but I like TALKING about pranks, if that makes sense. But I don't like those shows where people get pranked or punked, I think laughing at other people's expense is not funny. Like, if someone falls or trips I will never ever ever find that funny. But if someone talked about falling, I might? I am not sure if this comment made any sense. I'm sure that young woman would never actually do any such thing, because yikes. I mean, I HOPE she wouldn't! Touching someone's bag at an airport, aieeeee.
There's a small chance I would do this to my husband if he didn't double check with me or let me know he was going to the bathroom, but I would never do this to a stranger! When my coworkers and I travel together we usually take turns watching bags to run to the bathroom.
I'm also not a huge fan of pranks, and especially not pranks from STRANGERS. You never know how someone is going to react! This is something I would joke with to my mom, but we've established a rapport and she knows I would be kidding. What an odd exchange!
Oh jeez, I would NOT find that funny either. I would probably have laughed politely because that is my default -- sometimes I laugh at things that I then kick myself for, but it's really sometimes a reaction of discomfort.
Sometimes I have watched bags for people when they had to dash off to the bathroom, but I ALWAYS stress about it, way out of proportion to the situation. Like, what if they never come back? What if my seat is boarding and they haven't returned? What if they DID have something bad in their bags and the bomb sniffing dog comes over and barks at them while I'm ostensibly responsible for them?
Also, I have never left my bags with someone else, even though I am sure it would be fine. (I have similar worries about doing that -- what if they board before I get back? What if they decided to just go get coffee? What if the TSA staff comes by and confiscates them?)
No, that's not funny. And mean. And pranks from a stranger are uncalled for. (But then I would have NEVER left my bags with a stranger.
not funny at all! this is so irrespecutful! sometimes I don't like the young people because they are so irresponsible. I hope you made it clear to her that it was not funny!
Totally, totally not funny. I think the younger one was way out of line to even joke about that- she sounds strange.
I also don't like pranks. I don't even like things like, pretending to forget someone's birthday when there's really a big surprise party planned. I wouldn't want someone to think I forgot their birthday for one minute! As you can imagine, I'm not big on April Fools pranks either.
I would have been pissed!!! And would have been honest about it, too.
Ok, as a fellow midwesterner, yes, I have also asked someone to watch my bags. No one, though, has pulled something like this on me. Not. A. Joke. Not even CLOSE?!?!? Who would think this was funny???? Sorry you had to deal with this on your travel - that would have made my heart rate sky high the whole plane ride!
I would never ask someone and I'd be the mean one to say no I won't watch your bag to strangers because I'd assume they were a criminal and I would then be in their criminal plot. :) But I'd totally say something like that to my husband and our best friend only because they'd think it was funny. NO ONE ELSE EVER.
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