“Are you serious right now?” I asked, mostly to myself, still hoping this was some kind of bizarre joke.
He just shrugged, totally unfazed.
“Relax, it’s just airplane food.”
Feeling a mix of anger and disbelief, I hit the call button and asked the flight attendant if there were any meals left. She gave me an apologetic smile and said, “I’m so sorry, but we’ve run out of meals. Would you like some pretzels instead?”
Pretzels?
That wasn’t exactly going to cut it, but what could I do? I took the tiny bag of pretzels, feeling defeated and increasingly annoyed at my seatmate’s sheer audacity.
Meanwhile, Mr. Important finished off both meals, leaned back in his seat, and promptly fell asleep, looking as satisfied as a cat that had just caught a mouse.
I tried to focus on my work, nibbling on the pretzels and glaring at the man, now softly snoring beside me.
My stomach growled in protest, but I forced myself to concentrate on my notes.
I reminded myself that I had a tight connection to worry about and couldn’t afford to let this jerk ruin my day. I kept checking my watch, counting down the minutes until we landed.
As we started our descent into LA, the flight attendants made the usual announcements about landing and connecting flights. The reminder about tight connections snapped me out of my frustration and back into work mode.
I glanced over at my seatmate. He was still out cold, completely oblivious to the world.
The plane touched down, and as soon as it did, I grabbed my bag, ready to dash to my next gate. But just as I stood up, I heard a flight attendant make an important announcement: “Attention, passengers connecting to San Diego.
There’s been a last-minute gate change. You’ll need to head to Terminal 4, Gate 45, as quickly as possible.”
Great, I thought. Just what I needed—a gate change.
I turned to leave when I glanced at Mr. Important, still snoring away. I actually debated whether to wake him up.
I mean, sure, he’d eaten my meal and been a complete jerk, but did that mean I should just leave him to miss his connection?
As I reached for my bag in the overhead bin, I decided to give him a light nudge. “Hey, we’ve landed,” I said quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone else.
Nothing. He didn’t even stir.
I nudged him a bit harder.
“You might want to wake up; we’ve landed, and there’s a gate change.”
This time, he mumbled something unintelligible in his sleep and turned his head the other way, clearly not ready to wake up. I figured the commotion of people getting off the plane would eventually wake him up, and besides, I had to get to my next gate.
I couldn’t afford to miss my flight. So, I left him there, still fast asleep, and hurried off the plane.
The terminal was packed with people, and I had to weave through the crowd to reach my new gate.
By the time I got there, they were already boarding. I made it just in time, and as I settled into my seat, I finally felt a wave of relief. I was on my way to San Diego, and for the first time that day, I had a moment to breathe.
It wasn’t until I arrived in San Diego and met up with my colleagues that I got the full story.
As we were chatting about our flights, one of my coworkers, Lisa, mentioned that she had seen someone who sounded very familiar.
“I swear, there was this guy at LAX who looked like he’d just woken up from a coma,” Lisa said, laughing. “He was stumbling off the plane, looking completely disoriented. I overheard him arguing with a gate agent because he missed his connection.
Apparently, he was asleep when they announced the gate change, and by the time he woke up, it was too late.”
I couldn’t help but grin. “What did he look like?”
Lisa described him — a man in his early 40s, wearing a slightly wrinkled button-down shirt, slacks, and polished shoes, with an expensive watch that he kept checking as he argued with the gate agent. His hair was a mess, and he looked both frazzled and furious.
There was no doubt in my mind — it was him.
“Oh, that guy!” I said, unable to hide the satisfaction in my voice.
“Yeah, he was sitting next to me. Can you believe he ate my meal while I was in the restroom and then fell asleep? I tried to wake him up, but he didn’t budge.”
Lisa’s eyes widened.
“No way! That’s karma in action right there.”
I couldn’t agree more. As much as I’d been frustrated by the whole ordeal, there was something deeply satisfying about knowing that karma had stepped in.
While I made it to my meeting on time, Mr. Important was stuck in LA, missing his connections and probably regretting his decision to indulge in both meals.
Sometimes, what goes around really does come around. And in this case, karma didn’t let it slide.
