Samuel Adams was traveling first class for an important meeting, but the flight attendant sat a woman with a baby next to him, and he couldn’t help but complain. However, he had no idea what would happen by the end of the flight and what it would cost him.
With his head held high, Samuel sat on his first-class seat on an American Airlines flight. He had just received a promotion, becoming the assistant of a prominent businessman in his state. That’s why he decided to spring for first-class and relax before one of the most vital networking experiences of his life.
The plane took off quicker than he expected, and he realized no one was sitting beside him. It was the perfect scenario. He grabbed his bag to read over some reports and spread them all over the seats. The quiet roar of the engine was soothing and peaceful.
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But something terrible intruded into his reading time, disrupting his concentration. Samuel turned toward the back of the plane and noticed a flight attendant ushering a woman with a wailing baby in her arms.
His boss’s bellow interrupted his sentence rapidly.
“What THE HELL were you thinking?” he yelled, and Samuel had no idea what he was talking about.
“Excuse me, sir. Can you please pick up your papers? This lady is going to sit here for the rest of the flight,” the stewardess informed him with a gentle smile that he couldn’t return.
“What? No! That’s not fair! Why do I have to put up with a crying baby? I paid a ton of money for this seat, and I deserve to be comfortable,” Samuel contested, frowning at the flight attendant.
The woman with the crying baby had yet to sit down, and she stared wide-eyed at the stewardess.
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“Sir, please cooperate,” the flight attendant requested, trying to remain calm. But Samuel could tell that she was nervous or almost angry at him.
“No. I will not! Give her someone else’s seat or let her stay in the back like her ticket suggests. Or hey, why didn’t she take a bus if her baby cries on planes? Why do the rest of us have to suffer?” he continued, his voice rising as he spoke.
Other passengers had turned around to look at the commotion, mainly because the baby kept wailing at the top of his lungs.
“Sir, the baby will be more comfortable in this seat, and he will calm down quicker,” the flight attendant almost begged Samuel to calm down and let them take a seat.
“Again, no! This is preposterous! You can’t just upgrade seats like this without a dire reason! A crying baby is hardly an emergency. If she can’t control her own child, she doesn’t deserve to be flying with the rest of us!” Samuel continued, sneering at the young woman who looked mortified while rocking her child.
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A male flight attendant approached them and tried to convince Samuel that letting the mother and baby sit was better for everyone on the plane, but Samuel was relentless. “Absolutely not! Find another solution! Please, this woman doesn’t deserve to be in this seat anyway. She could never afford it. Where’s her husband? Why isn’t he helping with the baby? Do you know who I work for? I won’t accept this! I’ll report you as soon as I get off this flight!” Samuel added, mocking the woman and scolding the flight attendants.
Finally, an older man a few rows behind offered to sit next to Samuel so the woman could take his seat. Samuel had to shut his mouth because the man was dressed in the best suit he had ever seen and looked like an important gentleman.
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Samuel picked up his papers reluctantly and rubbed his forehead as he had to listen to the baby crying only a few rows behind him. He shook his head and wet his lips in frustration. “Get me a glass of any expensive liquor you have. Now!” he barked at the flight attendant, who nodded kindly but rolled her eyes as soon as he wasn’t looking.
Luckily, the baby stopped crying after a few minutes, and Samuel calmed down after taking a few sips of his drink. The man next to him didn’t speak for the entire flight, and Samuel didn’t care. He was already planning an intense email to American Airlines and hoped the stewardess would get fired for her ridiculous actions.
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After a few hours, the flight landed, and Samuel was eager to be one of the first passengers to get off the plane. He sneered at the flight attendant on his way out. As grabbed his phone to check for incoming messages, his ringtone went off. It was his boss.
Samuel stopped outside the gate, fixed his tie, and took a deep breath before answering. While his boss couldn’t see him, he wanted to seem as professional as possible, and that flight had not been pleasant for him.
“Hello, sir. We’ve just touched down at Reagan. Is there anything—”
His boss’s bellow interrupted his sentence. “What THE HELL were you thinking?” he yelled, and Samuel had no idea what he was talking about.
“Sir, what is—”
“What is going on? HAVE YOU SEEN THE INTERNET? You’re everywhere, and people found out you worked for me!” The screams kept coming, and Samuel was shaking his head, still clueless.
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He put his boss on speaker and pulled up Twitter, only to discover that someone had recorded his encounter with the stewardess and the young mother on the plane. The video had gone viral in only a few hours. Furthermore, his boss was right. Someone had discovered who Samuel was and where he worked.
“Sir, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know—”
“Didn’t know you were being recorded? Are you an idiot? YOU’RE FIRED, SAMUEL! EFFECTIVE NOW!” his boss shouted and hung up on him.
Samuel’s hand fell from his ear, and he closed his eyes as the rest of the world disappeared. People were walking from one place to another, grabbing their bags and getting to their destinations. But Samuel didn’t have anywhere to go anymore. He was fired, and he was viral in a negative way. This might be the end of his political career.
He grabbed his stuff and walked to a bench near the food court and sat down. What was he going to do now?
He decided to buy a return ticket home, this time in economy class. He began sending resumes all over to try to get a new job.
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A few days after the incident, Samuel saw his boss on the news with the young mother he had mocked on the plane. His boss had released a statement, telling the world that he fired Samuel from his position and reached a deal with American Airlines to get the woman lifetime first-class tickets.
Samuel couldn’t believe it, and he regretted his actions for many months as no one would hire him.
What can we learn from this story?
- Karma has a way of punishing people who deserve it. Samuel got hit by karma as soon as the plane landed in Washington D.C., and he regretted his actions for months to come.
- Being polite and kind is easier than making a scene. It might be a considerable inconvenience, but it would’ve been better if Samuel had let the woman sit down and waited for her baby to calm down. He ruined his own life by causing a scene.