Slow Motion People

Have you ever woken up in the morning, feeling like it's gonna be a good day, everything's gonna be alright, and then BAM! you got hit by slow-motion people, and then it's pretty much f*cked-up for the rest of the day?

Well, if you haven't, effin' lucky you, because I have.  Several days ago, for example.

4:15 am: woke up, surprisingly cheerful considering I've got to catch a red-eye flight at 7:25am later that day.

5:05 am: checked-out of the hotel, luggage set inside the trunk, rental car waiting in front of the lobby.  Right on schedule.

5:28 am: arrived at the airport.  Now looking for the spot designated for rental car returns.

5:37 am: circled the departure entry twice, got lost once, but finally found the spot.  No biggie.

5:42 am: on my way to claim the tax refund, luggage on the cart.

5:55 am: tax refund took longer than expected, but luckily there was no queue.  Silently blamed the slight delay on the officer who handled my forms, and now on my way to the ticket counter.

6:00 am: jeez, of course the counter had to be at the end of the terminal of all places.

6:02 am: arrived at the ticket counter.  3 counters open, 8 people in front of me including children.  Cool.  This wouldn't take long.

6:10 am: why the line's still not moving?  I counted, still 8 people in front of me including children.  Hmm...

6:13 am: hadn't moved an inch.  8 slightly miffed (or was it just me?) people including whiny (again, could be just me) children in front of me.

6:13 am - 6:40 am: busy glaring, fuming, and (mentally) reciting all kinds of expletives found in the Sweaty's Very Own Dictionary at the staff behind the counters as the result of the following observation:

Staff A: in which she stared at the computer screen for a few minutes without typing.

Staff B: in which she won the award for the slowest-writing-ever September 2011 award.

Staff C: in which she seemed more engrossed talking on the phone than printing the already printed boarding passes (they were sticking out, all ready to be ripped off the dang machine).

Staff A: in which she had just started typing with her two pointer fingers.

Staff B: in which she took her time chatting with Staff A in between writing veeery slowly.

Staff C: in which she finally took the gawddang boarding pass out of the machine.

Staff A: in which she gently peeled the stickers one minute at a time, and applied it carefully on the four luggage that were on the belt.

Staff B: in which she momentarily closed her counter to do a bathroom check.

Staff C: in which she chatted up her client of the moment.

Staff A: in which she tried to move the luggage off her belt manually (did the machine break or somethin'?)

Staff B: in which she had just returned to the counter and now just staring at Staff A trying to move the luggage off the belt.

Staff C: in which she was tearing some boarding passes and throwing them into the trash bin.

Staff A: in which she was back to chatting up with Staff B while working on something in the computer.

Staff B: in which she giggled at something Staff A was saying.

Staff C: in which she left her counter to check with her supervisor.

Daggggggg Nabb Itt!  Seriously, could they be anymore s-l-o-w-e-r???

6:48 am: boarding pass finally in hand.  Fast-walking to the immigration counter.

6:54 am: (huffin' and puffin') passport stamped, now walking to my designated gate.

7:01 am: (half-runnin') still on the way to my designated gate.

7:05 am: (sweat drippin') what the f*ck?!?  Still 5 more gates to go???

7:09 am: (armpits wet) f*ck, f*ck, f*ck...

7:13 am: (armpits flooding) F*CCCCCCKKKK

7:20 am: (definitely not a pretty sight) finally seated inside the plane.

Needless to say, by then I was no longer feelin' like it was gonna be a good day.  Kill-maim-destroy was more like it. 

Now, back to the slow-motion people working at the check-in counter.  What in Sam Hill was wrong with these slow-motion people?!?  And why were they even employed IN AN AIRPORT of all places???  Helloooo??? Anybody working at the HRD there?

How could it be not part of their training, to be aware that whenever there was a long queue, it's an indication that either you're short of manpower, or you're just too slow.  And when you're slow, please, don't even think about chatting with your colleagues while you're working.  Trust me, you couldn't afford to!  And there's really no need to spend one minute for every sticker you peeled.  It's a luggage, for gawd sakes. Not a bloody scrapbook. 

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