"But I've gotta be on that plane!"
The Copywriter Column #181
I’m traveling for work this week, and what I witnessed in the Atlanta airport was a scene straight out of the movies.
The gate agent is closing the door to the jet bridge. The plane’s slowly pushing away from the gate and a woman enters the left frame of the scene, shuffling as fast as her feet will carry both her and her baggage.
“Please, please,” she gasps in between deep breaths for air reaching toward the gate agent, her face filling with distraught as she begins to take in the scene.
“I’ve gotta be on that plane. I’ve gotta get home.”
“Ma’am, legally I —“
“You don’t understand,” she snapped, “I even RAN all the way here!”
She wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
But the way he handled what happened next was a class act…
The gate agent reached his hands toward her in a cautious, surrendering posture. He took a deep breath - she mirrored him without realizing it - and then spoke softly.
“I’m sorry this happened to you, ma’am, but our team will get you on the next flight to Memphis. In order to make that happen quickly, you’re going to need to walk to our service desk right over there. Someone will help you right away.”
Sensing his sincerity, she sighed, resigned to her fate.
“Okay. I guess I’ll do that.”
—
We can all learn a lot from that situation.
Whether you missed a flight, missed an enrollment date, missed a deadline or simply feel like your “plane” has left without you – just pause.
Take a deep breath.
Recognize some things are outside your control, but your situation is still figureoutable.
Your reaction, your response, your next move — that’s up to you.
And it’s going to make or break what happens next.
(h/t to the Delta gate agent and the crazy-winded lady for the blog fodder)
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