Airline travel seems to bring out the absolute worst in some people. Several unfortunate globetrotters at LAX experienced this firsthand when a dog mom refused to pick up her pup’s doo-doo. Steve Hofstetter is a professional comedian who understands the stress of traveling with dogs, but even he was shocked and appalled by the behavior of this particular airline patron.
**Note: None of the photos in this post are of the “actual” dog!
https://www.facebook.com/stevehofstetter/photos/a.10159444248600604/10161641297690604/?type=3&theater
Now dogs will be dogs, so we certainly can’t blame the woman’s pooch for answering the call of nature. The problem is “the call” was answered in a crowded seating area rather than the courtesy Pet Relief Area that Los Angeles International Airport so graciously provides for just such occasions.
Hofstetter and several other folks watched in horror as the atrocious woman continued to Face-Time loudly as her pup left a steaming pile of poop for all to see – and smell. According to Hofstetter’s lengthy Facebook account of the event she rudely ignored those who confronted her about the offensive pile:
“‘Excuse me, miss?’ he said, in a polite tone. The woman glared at him. ‘Your dog,’ he sheepishly continued, pointing to the mid-poop pup.
The woman rolled her eyes and went back to face time as the man slinked away, seemingly embarrassed.
‘Some people,’ she bellowed to her face-time companion with no hint of irony, ‘are just so damned rude.’
When her dog finished, the woman started walking away, leaving everything right on the airport floor. Another woman tried to stop her.
‘You’re not going to clean that up?’ she asked, as shocked as the rest of us were.
‘They have people for that,’ the offender replied, disappearing into the crowd, as much as someone yelling into their phone can disappear into a crowd.”
Hofstetter acted as a human shield to protect others from unsuspectingly trampling through the doggy doo while another traveler located a maintenance worker. A few minutes later he arrived at his gate and was dismayed to find the World’s Rudest Passenger sitting amidst the other Tokyo-bound travelers. She was blasting music with no headphones.
While everyone else avoided her like the plague, Hofstetter sauntered over and delivered the following prank in a way only a professional comedian could – straight-faced and without remorse:
“I sat down right next to the horrible woman. ‘Are you going to London on business?’ I said.
‘I’m going to Tokyo,’ she responded gruffly, annoyed that I interrupted her DJing.
‘Oh, I said. Then you better hurry. That flight got moved to gate 53C. This is the flight to London.’
I figured I could give her a little moment of panic as payback for how terribly she was treating everyone. I didn’t predict what would happen next. She grabbed her bags and her dog in a huff, and stormed out of the gate without even checking. She was so self-involved, she didn’t notice that the monitor at our gate still said Tokyo and almost everyone at the gate was Japanese.
https://www.facebook.com/stevehofstetter/posts/10158283515470604:0
As the plane boarded, Hofstetter noted that the Poop Princess appeared to be a no-show. Delta only offers one flight per day to Tokyo, but in a final jab the comedian recommended she try re-booking with another airline. “I hear ‘they have people for that,'” he said via Facebook.
What do you think of Hofstetter’s stunt? Did he go too far or teach a rude traveler an important lesson?
Featured Image via Flickr/Lovro Rumiha
