Many American adults have no sense of what it means to dress for stepping out in public, and have even less sense of how to conduct themselves. I work in a middle school and have grown accustomed to seeing young people dress in sweatpants and pajamas. It's the style of their age group.
It set me back to see adults in their 40s and older dressed in a similar style, at an airport. Many looked as though they had just left their bedrooms for a short walk to their kitchens and then back again. I saw adult men and women dressed in pajamas and sleepers, others were dressed in torn and tattered bottoms, and a few walked about the terminal clutching bedroom pillows.
It might explain why Sean Duffy, the U.S. secretary of transportation, recently urged Americans to follow some basic standards when dressing for air travel during the holiday season. Apparently, few paid any attention to him.
I saw this attire both at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, not some back-water, stopover locations. When I mentioned my thoughts about the attire to another frequent air traveler, he shrugged and noted it's part of today's culture. He told me he and his wife recently attended a symphony performance in a major city and observed another couple in attendance wearing bedroom slippers.
"We live in a Tik-Tok culture and everyone thinks they're at home, even when in public," he said.
It's behavior, not just attire:
It's a familiar story and each of us has a story - people behaving poorly in public, everything from ignoring simple courtesies to poor parenting, and flat-out rude conduct. It's all on display at an airport. On this trip I saw a mother play with her under-dressed child in an open doorway, while 30-degree air rushed in and hit others waiting for car rides. I saw a young woman consume a foul-smelling fish dish in-flight, and saw a man peel off his dirty white sox and leave them on his seat. Who does this sort of thing?
Pay the extra fee:
My wife and I paid an extra $40 for additional leg room (I'm 6'2"), and it was worth it, in my opinion. Yes, I know the commercial air industry once gave us that extra space for no charge, but those days are gone. If you're tall and need the extra space, pay for it. You'll be glad you did. I saw how many of the others were packed in, and I was grateful my wife urged me to spend the extra money.
But here's the main point:
My wife and flew roughly 2,000 miles (roundtrip), spent several days with her sister and her family, enjoyed a wonderful time together, including a delicious holiday meal, and did it all in relative comfort and safety. Yes, there is a lot I could complain about. There was much that I found unusual and disappointing. However, I must note and applaud the air industry for getting my wife and I to our destination and home again safely and on time.
-- Thanks for reading. Your comments are always welcome. Post them here or send an email to kbotterman@gmail.com.
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