Spying on our own citizens-the urban legends series
Last spring 05 semester, I took a class at SCUMSL with this lady who was at some administrative level at a community college. I think the school was near Rolla, Mo. This lady was a very conservative looking woman maybe in her late forties or early fifties. You know the type, she kinda of looked like Alice from the Brady Bunch or a nun.
On our last day of class, she told us a scary story about a trip she had just gotten back from. Her college sent her down to Texas for some sort of conference. Education people are always going to conferences and having meetings. For some reason, she was able to fly there but had to take the train back to Missouri. I had drifted during this part of the story so I can't remember why this arrangement happened. I tuned back in when she said she was boarding the train when she noticed some men in suits looking at her. She thought they were security and found her seat. Soon one of the men in suits appeared in the seat next to her. The man said, "You weren't what we were expecting." She was confused and rather startled by this statement. She didn't know if the guy was crazy or what was going on. The man proceeded to tell her everything and everywhere she had been in the last several days. He told her how she had boarded flight such and such for Dallas, stayed and such and such hotel, right up to her finding her seat on the train. She was, of course, very disturbed that the man knew everything about her whereabouts. She explained about the education conference that she had attended and the circumstances by which she came to take the plane, then the train and her explanation seemed to lighten the guy's mood. He went on to say that due to the type travel she had taken (first a plane, then a train) she had been profiled as a drug smuggler. Oh, what a good laugh all the men in suits had! "You don't look like a typical drug dealer, silly us," they joked as they left her on the train.
It could have been worse if she had looked differently she might have had some trouble. I suppose the moral of the story is when you travel dress like Alice from the Brady Bunch and you'll be fine.
On our last day of class, she told us a scary story about a trip she had just gotten back from. Her college sent her down to Texas for some sort of conference. Education people are always going to conferences and having meetings. For some reason, she was able to fly there but had to take the train back to Missouri. I had drifted during this part of the story so I can't remember why this arrangement happened. I tuned back in when she said she was boarding the train when she noticed some men in suits looking at her. She thought they were security and found her seat. Soon one of the men in suits appeared in the seat next to her. The man said, "You weren't what we were expecting." She was confused and rather startled by this statement. She didn't know if the guy was crazy or what was going on. The man proceeded to tell her everything and everywhere she had been in the last several days. He told her how she had boarded flight such and such for Dallas, stayed and such and such hotel, right up to her finding her seat on the train. She was, of course, very disturbed that the man knew everything about her whereabouts. She explained about the education conference that she had attended and the circumstances by which she came to take the plane, then the train and her explanation seemed to lighten the guy's mood. He went on to say that due to the type travel she had taken (first a plane, then a train) she had been profiled as a drug smuggler. Oh, what a good laugh all the men in suits had! "You don't look like a typical drug dealer, silly us," they joked as they left her on the train.
It could have been worse if she had looked differently she might have had some trouble. I suppose the moral of the story is when you travel dress like Alice from the Brady Bunch and you'll be fine.
posted by Lisa at 3:18 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home