10. “It doesn’t pay to be nice”

Flying from MSP to Denver. Winter storm, I would be late. Fine. I called the shuttle ahead of time and they could pick me up and bring me to my hotel even though it was going to be really late at night. Great!

Well, since I really wasn’t in a hurry, I let everyone go in line before me at the airline desk so they could correct their connecting flights.

I mean, I was at my destination. What could go wrong?

It sucks pretty badly when you miss your connection, so I was being totally empathetic to their urgency. It was more important than mine because I already had my travel connection in place. Right?

Well, by the time I got to the front of the line, the airline baggage handlers shift ended.

My skis were locked in holding and there was NO ONE, NO WAY, NO HOW, I could get them out.

By the time I begged and moaned and did everything I could to get my skis, I was still empty-handed and I missed my shuttle.

So I had to spend the night in the airport.

What I learned: It doesn’t pay to be nice. Airports specifically put arm rests on chairs to prevent people from sleeping laying across the chairs, and Denver airport does a hell of a lot of floor cleaning over night.