Saturday, December 08, 2007

Try not to die on the way home!

I've been doing a lot of traveling lately, so I've been saying a lot of hellos and goodbyes lately. One thing that I've noticed is that it totally freaks me out when, just before I head to the airport, people say, "Have a safe trip home!"

It's like, "Really? You really think my plane is going to crash on that one-hour commercial flight? I would never have thought so, until you raised the issue of safety right before I was about to board my plane." I also get paranoid that they've jinxed me. And that I totally would have had a safe trip home had they not said, essentially, "Try not to get burned alive on the way home!"

I mean, if one had driven there, and were about to take a very long road trip home, then, yes, it would be appropriate to raise the issue of safety and wish someone a safe drive. People die in car accidents all the time, and they totally die on road trips all the time. But on a one-hour Southwest flight? I think the odds are comparable to winning the lotto. It's like telling your friend, "Have a safe trip to the checkout stand!" or "Have a safe trip to the bathroom in your own home!" It's like, yeah, you COULD theoretically die doing one of those things, but it's not like there's this huge chance. It's just a ridiculous thing to say. And it causes undue stress. For me, anyway.

I'm taking an early morning flight out to Phoenix tomorrow for a five-day work seminar. Wish me a comfortable flight there!

3 comments:

Randi@SowderingAbout said...

Anytime that anyone says drive safely to me, I usually end up in a car accident, so I am with you, don't jinx

Anonymous said...

I prefer to think that the only thing that gets planes in the air and keeps them from crashing is someone, somewhere, told at least one passenger on any given plane to have a safe flight. To me it's like a harry Potter flight spell. The planes that crash are simply ones where nobody wished anybody a safe flight. Magic is the only explanation, lord knows how those big ass things stay in the air.

yournamehere said...

When I lived in Las Vegas I used to have work seminars in Phoenix, too. Makes sense, since Vegas doesn't have any hotels or meeting space to speak of.