Another end-of-vacation disaster

Why is it that disasters always seem to happen to me on the way home from a vacation? Either a severely delayed flight, or the car breaks down, or, the only time I ever had to use an airsickness bag on a plane -- the bag leaked all over my white corduroys! And, of course, there's the infamous cupcake incident.

It's annoying, because you always best remember the last thing that happened, so if it's a disaster, it tends to taint my whole vacation.

Sadly, I had yet another disaster at the end of my Philadelphia trip.

We had a direct flight home, which meant the snack cart came around twice. The first time, I ordered milk, which they gave me in a carton. The second time, I asked for tomato juice. I get it a lot on flights 'cause... well, even though I like it a lot I don't drink it very often.

It's always been obnoxious to me that if I order a Sprite, they pour it from a 12 oz. can into a 6 oz. plastic cup that's already full of ice, so, really, I'm getting about 3 oz of Sprite. Now, I guess I understand that planes have limited storage room, so they want their supplies to go a long way (they are always so annoyed when I ask for the can). Then again, if they gave me the whole can, maybe I wouldn't need them to come around a second time.

Anyway, I asked for tomato juice, and the flight attendant opened up a new bag of tiny cups and fresh can of juice, and poured some out for me (no ice -- thanks!). As she handed me the cup, the juice spilled all over the arm of my hoodie.

There was a huge slit in the side of the cup. The cup she had just pulled from the new bag.

The attendant was horrified and immediately tossed out the cup, and poured some club soda on a napkin for me to "pat, not rub" on my sleeve. Then she threw out several more obviously-slitted cups from the stack, and poured me a fresh glass of tomato juice. This one, thankfully, did not dump all over my sleeve.

The second cup waited until I had put it down on the tray table, eaten a few peanuts, and picked it up again. Then the previously unnoticed slit ripped open and spilled the juice all over my lap. 

I immediately called for the attendant who had only moved about two feet away. She was on the wrong side of the drink cart, but her associate tossed my second cup into the garbage, and -- since the back restroom was blocked by her cart -- led me to the front of the plane so I could use the first class bathroom (which was sadly just as small as the regular ones). However, since someone was already waiting for the bathroom and they only let one non-first-class person in first class to wait at a time, I stood at the front of the regular-class people... trying to surreptitiously dab at my lap and praying that nobody was looking at me (especially those people whose heads were on the same level as my spill) and also very aware that all of the seats behind me were facing my direction.

Finally I got to move to the other side of the curtain and wait at the back of first class... and that's when the guy sitting in the back looked to the side and saw the huge spot on the front of my jeans. Now, this was one of those guys who thinks it's funny to make an awkward situation worse, and somehow didn't get that I didn't think this was all funny yet. He asked what had happened, and when I told him, he joked, "Oh, that's a good story -- slitted cup!" indicating that he fully believed I had wet my pants. At least the stain wasn't red. That would have been much, much worse!

I cleaned up as well as I could in the bathroom, and would you believe that guy felt the need to tell me the stain "looked better" as I walked back to my seat?! Um, dude, stop looking at my crotch! It was bad enough before, but then I really felt like everyone was staring at me. *Note to all men -- it's never okay to comment in a situation like that. EVER. A little silence goes a looooong way!* Apparently, first-class passengers aren't required to be classy.

I finally made it back to my seat, and soon after the second attendant came by to ask if I still wanted anything to drink.

I asked for water.

The first attendant came back later to apologize profusely and tell me she had to throw away the entire sleeve of cups. If I were a more assertive person I might have demanded some kind of compensation, like extra frequent flier miles, or even just some plastic wings, but I just wanted to sip my water, read my book, and forget this whole thing.

My parents were on my flight but sat in a different row, so they missed this whole debacle. When we debarked the plane, Mom asked how the flight was, and I started crying and said "I want to go home!" They dropped me off at home, I left my luggage in the front room, and went to check my mailbox... managing to lock my keys and phone into my house.

Not. My. Day!

So I introduced myself to one of my neighbors, borrowed her phone, and left a message asking my mom to come back and bring her spare key (since she had not had time to get home and I don't have her cell phone memorized). You have no idea how happy I was to finally get inside my house, eat, and take a nap. Sooo good to be home!

Like I said, disasters seem to follow me. I don't know why they can't happen at the beginning of the trip so that I can enjoy the rest, and give the good memories a chance to shine brighter. Then again, if it happened at the beginning they might haunt me and spoil the rest of the trip...*shrug*

Next time I travel, no crazy mishaps, okay? Thanks!