My flight to HCMC was at 12pm. I am so excited that I wake up at 5am to get ready and leave. I reach the airport by 9.30ish and I am beaming with joy. After doing all the check in formalities, I proceed to my gate to board...only to hear from Jetstar that the plane is delayed - indefinitely. Aah crap! Apparently there are some engineering difficulties. Upon probing their staff, they tell me, a part has gone missing on the plane and they are trying to fix it. WHAT?! Geez! We are informed 2 hours later that it would take atleast another couple of hours for the plane to take off - they try to pacify us by giving us $10 vouchers. Yay! Later they inform me that I would miss my connecting flight from Singapore due to the delay. Ok this is getting crappier. They then tell me I'll have to board the first flight to HCMC next morning as the one I was supposed to be on was the last for the day. Oh god. So I write an email to my hostel in HCMC and inform them that I dont need a pick up from HCMC airport. I am trying to be all positive and take a couple of deep breaths - *sigh* hmmm doesnt work! Anyway I try to sit patiently and we finally board at 5 pm.
I eagerly wait to see who is going to be sitting next to me - I am so nervous. I brush my hair with my fingers and pat my face to freshen up and then..... a nosy Indian guy comes and sits next to me - OOO.K - I quickly wear my eye mask and I am off to bed even before the safety briefings.
We are about to land in Singapore and we are given the immigration cards to fill. I dont have a pen so I ask one of the crew members and one of the crew guys gives me his pen. It is a really cool pen - every time you write something, there is a small bulb on the cap and the light glows - Ahh cute! So I fill the details and wait to return the pen but we are about to descend so the flight attendant does'nt come. We land in Singapore and I leave his pen on my seat. I see him while exiting the plane and I tell him his pen is on my seat.
Those of us who have missed our connecting flights are gathered just outside the gate for information from Jetstar. There are about 70-80 people going to different destinations. I wait with the crowd for instructions for my flights to HCMC. The gay crew guy comes and tells me he cant find his pen. So I tell him to wait a couple of seconds till I get my information. He goes "Sorry, that's not my problem. I need my pen NOW. You stole my pen". WHAT? Did he just say I stole his pen?? So I politely tell him I dont steal pens and tell him to look harder near my seat. He is not prepared to listen and asks me to go with him immediately. I tell him I need to hear my flight instructions and ask him to give me 2 mins. He says "NO. Come now, I dont care". Quickly this turns into a big scene and everyone is looking at us. Oh god this is embarrassing. One of the passengers sticks up for me and says the crew member cant talk to me like that -Thanks bro! But that guy wont budge. I am fuming and I ask if someone can take down instructions for HCMC. A couple of guys also going to HCMC say they'll take down all the information for me. So I go back to the plane with the crew member and unfortunately I cannot find the pen. It has probably fallen when people were getting off. He is clenching his teeth and says the pen means a lot to him. I apologize profusely and tell the cleaners on the plane to look for the pen while I am looking under every seat. The crew member gets all angry and started walking away. I feel really bad but I am really helpless. I offer him money - that's really all I can do. So as we are approaching the gate, the guy starts sobbing.....uncontrollably! Oh crap. I feel so bad. Everyone in the airport is looking at me thinking what I've done to him. His crew friends comfort him but he wont stop crying. He throws dirty stares at me, wipes his tears and walks away. The guys going to HCMC wait for me and we head off to take the bus to go the hotel booked for us by Jetstar.
We are having dinner and we are still talking about how weird the whole thing was and I cannot believe I just made a guy cry.
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