Airport Delays and People's Reactions

I'm sitting at the airport waiting for my flight, which has been delayed for an hour due to bad weather. It was initially delayed for half an hour, and while I was checking in, another half hour was added on to it. At first, I was highly irritated, but then accepted the inconvenience and settled down to use the time constructively.

Delay at Airports

It is quite interesting to watch people's reactions. There are the uptight who get really angry and give the poor check in staff a hard time as if they purposely arranged the delay. They scream and perform and provide much needed entertainment for the rest of us patiently waiting in the queue. If we didn't know about the delay before this, thanks to their tantrums, the entire departures hall of the airport now knows - no need to announce it over the PA system.

There are the courteous who politely acknowledge it, shake their heads subtly, and make their way to the coffee shop to while away the time, being as little bother as possible.

There are the corporates who make annoyed sounds, snatch up their boarding pass, immediately make frantic calls on their blackberries and briskly stride to the nearest hotspot and whisk open their laptops, never to look up again until the flight is finally announced.

People Watchers Don't React Much

There are the people watchers who don't react much but find a seat with the most traffic passing by and sit and watch the passers by, making up delicious stories about perfect strangers.

I am sure that there are a still a whole lot of categories which I have not yet noticed with various reactions and idiosyncrasies. That's what makes humanity so very interesting. Despite all being thrown to the same circumstance, like a delayed flight, there are so many varied responses.

I also find it very interesting that we all want to be categorized in one way or another. How often do we fill in surveys to see what type of people we are? We read the results and agree with the parts we like and disagree with the parts we find offensive, but we do like to fit in somewhere. That's what causes so many interesting sub cultures in society.

On that note, let me close my lap top, grab a cappacinno, find a seat in a busy area and do some people watching.