Image Credit: Google

Manvi Dhingra

I booked an Uber Pool to reach my destination yesterday. I was the first passenger and the other one was picked within 10 mins of my pick up. Let us call him ‘X’.

So X (who was on the call) enters the cab and starts criticising his ‘baby’ (Girl friend) for her driving. Apparently she escaped an accident. But that wasn’t all. He started ranting how girls are such bad drivers and that they have absolutely no sense of direction, speed, acceleration etc. and perhaps it would have been a better world had the girls not driven.

I was listening to the conversation all the time while keeping my calm. When he disconnected the call, we exchanged glances and then :

X : Oh! But you see it’s true that girls are bad drivers. I am sure you accept that.

Me : Well that’s not true at all. In fact I……. (he interupts)

X : C’mon! It’s good to accept things, young woman. Infact, I hope next time you learn to drive instead of taking a cab to go to work. (Gives a witty smile). So where do you work?

Me : Indigo Airlines.

X : Oh! Customer services?

Me : No. I keep a track of time, distance, speed, acceleration, direction etc. of a different mode of transport.

X : (Confused) What do you do?

Me : I am a pilot. Captain Manvi Dhingra! I am a girl and we can fly planes as well :)

Sheer silence throughout the journey :D

Yogi Srivastava

I was traveling from New York to India and it was an exceptionally busy flight.

I was seated next to an elderly Indian lady. As I was getting comfortable, a couple came up to our seats (a three seat confit) and told the old lady that she was in their seat. I could see that the Indian lady was having troubles responding in English. So, I verified the boarding passes and told the couple to wait and a crew member would sort it out.

The wife started to get abusive and saying things like, “we are Americans and will have priority.” “Foreigners always book tickets last minute and because they cannot speak English, so all this mess is happening.” Etc.

I offered to stand up and give the lady my seat and she said she wanted “her seat”.

Luckily, a crew member came over and I explained her the situation and he noticed the couple still ranting.

He asked me to escort the Indian lady and grabbed our bags.

As we were walking away, the wife was still making comments on how we created so much discomfort to them.

I honestly did not think of it much as it was not a big deal for me to get seated elsewhere.

We start walking. We cross two sections of economy seating and end up in business class!

I told the crew member that I was fine going back to my seat and he said, “You can keep this lady company. I am sure she does not want to be here by herself.”

I had to go back to my seat to collect my reading glasses that I left in the seat pocket.

And what do I see, the wife is arguing with the crew members that because we were already seated they should go to business class. Obviously, she saw what had happened.

I wished them a safe flight and took a good look at their disdain-filled loser faces.

At the end of the day, the older Indian lady reaching across the arm rest and holding my hand saying thank you was the highlight of that trip.

Via Quora