Un-Distressed

On a recent layover, I volunteered to give up my seat on the second flight. It meant that I spent an entire extra day in Milwaukee. The airline gave me a voucher for a free flight, three meal tickets and a night in a hotel. When I called the hotel to arrange for their shuttle to pick me up, the front desk manager asked, "Do you have a reservation or are you distressed?"

Well, neither, really.

Apparently when a passenger has to be housed overnight they are called a distressed passenger. As an experienced Urban Nomad, I was anything but distressed. I had all of my things because I rarely check luggage. I was able to do all of my work from the hotel, catch a flight at the end of the day and still make it to dinner with a friend in my destination city. I bonded with the gate agent, who I look forward to seeing on my next layover. I even made a short video, which you can see here.

I realize that had I not volunteered, someone else may not have been able to board who desperately needed to get somewhere. He or she may have been distressed. I find it curious, though, that the default name of a displaced passenger is "distressed." Everyone from the gate agent to the shuttle driver to the hotel staff commented on how I seemed to have such a good attitude for being distressed. Apparently it is so rare that they do not expect it. Even those who volunteer to give up their seat are not necessarily pleasant, according to the service staff. Volunteers are caught in some in-between limbo and may not enjoy the reality of it.


Learn to be OK in the in-between times. Life goes so much more smoothly. Step one: prepare for the unexpected.

To learn to be OK in the in-between times, contact me to set up a life coaching session.