Optimist Under Siege

It’s funny to me how people have such different relationships with airports. This occured to me as my husband and I were traveling to the airport this morning to fly to Pennsylvania to visit with his parents. We just have such different attitudes toward airplane travel.

My dad used to travel semi-regularly at one of his old jobs and so he had a working relationship with airports. To him airports were essentially part of a particularly long commute to work. They could be useful, but also frustrating, and certainly commonplace as a part of his normal working experience. Growing up, my relationship with airports was influenced by my dad’s business travel with the wonder of frequent flyer miles. My dad, who actually didn’t like to travel anywhere for vacation (he prefered staying home and relaxing outside by our lake, rather than going to see new places), would give us (my mother and I) his miles. Using them, my Mom and I visited such places as Disney World, skiiing in Colorado on a couple of occasions, or even just extra trips to New York to visit family. As a kid, it was a thrill when I was finally old enough to travel to New York by myself (of course, I was picked up and dropped off by adults on either end!).

And my rapport with airports hasn’t really changed all that much since then. I still get a kick out of going to airports because it has always represented an exciting trip, whether to see Mickey, go skiing, or go gallivanting in New York City with a cool Aunt. Even if I’m just picking my husband up from a business trip, I can’t help feeling a bit of that excitement and anticipation just by virtue of being at the airport.

My husband does not share my particular view of airports. He has done more traveling during his lifetime than I have, goes on business trips fairly regularly, and in general just takes a more pragmatic view of the purpose of airports…to get you there, with as few inconveniences as possible. I’m sure most people who travel regularly have this relationship with airports, but personally I still can’t stiffle the thrill of going to the airport regardless of the destination. And I guess there’s no real reason I should try. I’ll just enjoy it as long as it lasts.

I went to Cold Stone Creamery today and bought some ice cream. As you may or may not know, when you order ice cream at Cold Stone they let you select a base flavor and then manually mix in hot fudge, brownie chunks, peanut butter, or whatever. Anyway, when the woman got my ice cream she made a very definite effort to thoroughly scrape up all the ice cream, resulting in an extra two bites (or one bite for my husband!).

You may argue that it’s no big deal, two measly extra bites, and it’s not, but I still appreciated it when she didn’t have to do it. My overall happiness was slightly increased by her gesture. It’s the simple things, right?

As I said, I appreciated it. So I left her a tip. I didn’t necessarily have to (since she was not in a waitress-type role which requires tips to add up to a reasonable wage), but I tipped to show my appreciation.

My husband and I have actually discussed this extensively and we both wish that this was how the American tipping system operated across the board. The very definition of a tip inherently suggests that it is a way to show gratitude for better than average service. Unfortunately, because American waiters/waitresses are not paid enough before tips to NOT tip, and thus tipping is an obligatory act. Sure, you can increase or decrease the tip, but I’m never actually going to tip less than 15 or 20 percent (barring a waiter/waitress who actually yells at me or something similarly extreme).

I just wish tipping was actually a voluntary act of appreciation and gratitude for good service. In the meantime at least I was able to show my appreciation for ice cream well done. Cheers to the ice cream server at Cold Stone Creamery on Cambride Street in Boston. I salute you!