The First Fish Up

I’m not sure whether this is a side effect of the retrograde period we’ve entered, but since misery is known to have a fondness for company, I wanted to share something recent that could have been a real struggle, and how I avoided it. My hope with these posts is to show you that I’m not wasting your time.

I went to L.A. and had to extend my stay to help take care of my father. On a prior trip, after American Airlines lost my bags on the tarmac at LAX, a ticketing agent reprimanded me for not asking for a receipt when I checked them in—even though I had the bag ticket, which is supposed to serve as the receipt.

That same day, an airport employee told me they refer to LAX as “The Jungle,” and recommended flying out of Long Beach instead.

I swore I’d never fly American again. Unfortunately, this trip was last-minute, and American was the only viable nonstop option.

I called American to change my return flight, provided my credit card information, and even selected a seat. I was sure the staff member who helped me had taken care of everything.

He asked me to complete a survey, which I almost never do. This time, though, something felt a little off. I had a thought: “If I don’t complete this survey, he might take it personally.” But I was picking up my pets and didn’t have time, so I skipped it.

A few weeks later, I checked the app to confirm my flight time—and there was no flight.

To make a long story short, American said the agent had “dropped the ball” and never completed my booking. I had no flight booked, despite spending at least an hour and a half on the call and providing my payment information.

The first person I spoke with was based outside the U.S. There were communication issues that affected the reservation; key words like “will” and “won’t” were omitted when discussing whether I’d get a flight. It was astonishing.

How did I go from barely being able to assemble a sentence to communicating clearly and resolving the issue efficiently, while still treating everyone with humanity and humility?

I told myself: This is not who I am. This is not the experience I incarnated to have.

Then a voice in my head said, “Hang up and call back.” I only needed to hang up once.

The next call reached an American Airlines agent in North Carolina, and she was the one who resolved it. When I told her about the first agent, the one I could barely understand, she confirmed, “I wouldn’t trust them to book my flight.” And when I asked about upgrading my seat, she agreed: “Comfort is everything!”

The first fish up

This is the world we live in now: you have to listen to that little voice in your head the first time you hear it, not the second.

My grandmother used to say, “The first fish up… that’s the one to catch!” She meant that when the first idea, voice, or urge comes to you, you should follow it. Otherwise, you may be left waiting for the next one—which may never come, or may be the wrong one.

This is a time for definiteness over confidence, knowing over hoping.

Don’t hope, expect, desire, need, or feel. Those verbs will only bring you more of the same, not the results you want.