I was recently reminded of the impact of this quote on a flight home from New Orleans. I was one of the first to board the plane and was sitting in the VERY front seat of the plane – big comfy seat, lots of leg room. The flight attendant was directly in front of me energetically and comically greeting all of the boarding guests. Behind him I could see about 4 full water bottles….and I wanted one – badly….
It was around 8pm and I had spent most of the very hot afternoon walking around the French Quarter with friends, site seeing & exploring. We had food and drinks and kept on walking. ( two dirty martinis to be exact) We had coffee and kept on walking and sweating. Probably the one thing I didn’t have, was enough water.
I was SO thirsty and I don’t think I’ve ever had dry-mouth that bad – and that’s saying a lot. The water bottles behind the flight attendant were definitely calling my name. I was trying to decide if I should ask him for a water bottle. I really wanted it, but I kept second guessing whether I should ask or not. My manners said I should wait until we take off and they actually come around with the drink cart. I had already been sitting on the plane for 20 minutes and it would probably be another 30 before they served and I was SO thirsty…..
There were reasons that justified not asking for the water.
I didn’t want to disturb the flow of guests boarding the plane.
The fact that this was Spirit Airlines and the water wasn’t free – so he would have to charge my card while trying to greet passengers.
Generally just feeling like it may be rude to ask, or that it would start a trend of others asking too.
It had now been about 30 minutes of me sitting there thinking about water. Water water water. WATER. I was at the apex of arguing with myself about asking for it when a funny thing happened…
A couple boarding the plane asked the flight attendant if I could move so that they could sit next to each other. I was in the very front seat of the plane ( happily) with only one seat next to me. They wanted it. I paid extra for this seat and didn’t really wan to move, plus they looked like they were kind of asking him, not me. I was sort of “overhearing” it. A moment later the flight attendant looks at me and asked:
“Would that be ok with you?”
I said “Where would I be moving to?”
He answered with “Just one seat behind you”.
I looked behind me and it was also a large comfy seat with plenty of leg room. I nodded, got up and moved back one seat and the couple took their seats. As I was buckling my seat belt, the flight attendant takes a step toward me, leans over and whispers “Thank you” …..and hands me a bottle of water.
Taking action, especially if it’s with a kind gesture can be the catalyst for results.
My action of giving, was the catalyst for receiving the very thing that I wanted for myself.
Boom.
Get Iconic.