Two Very American Stories

On the shuttle bus to JFK airport a few days ago, an extremely overweight orthodox Jewish man attempted to sit down next to a pretty young woman (she looked like a college student). This wouldn't have been so remarkable except for the fact that (1) there were dozens of empty seats on the bus and (2) the young woman's parents were sitting directly in front of her! Here's how the story ends: the mother got up as the man was trying to sit down and said, "Excuse me, I think I'll sit there, thank you."

At JFK, I spilled a cup of coffee all over the floor next to my seat at the gate (if you know me, you probably know that I'm a bit of a klutz!). Fortunately, at that very moment, a custodian was walking by; she was even holding a mop in her hand! So I said, "Excuse me, could I ask you or someone else to help me clean up some coffee that I spilled?" Her response? She glared at me and said, "You're going to have to ask somebody else."