Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.
You can never exhaust the litany of inflight stories.
After all, planes are just microcosms of human life, unfortunately administered by airline management.
So on a Delta flight from Atlanta to Florida on Friday, there was Tom McCullough sitting in his seat.
And there was water pouring from the ceiling right down onto him.
As video posted to Twitter by his son Tommy shows, dad tried to shield himself from the shower by using two magazines.
They were inflight magazines, so this was surely the best use these have been put to in history.
Still, Dad’s shorts were dripping wet.
Oddly, he maintained his good humor when less patient sorts might have, say, ululated the “Rain, Rain, Go Away” nursery rhyme at the top of their voices.
Tommy added these words to his video: “Hey @Delta, be glad my father is such a good sport about sitting in water for a whole flight. Water falling from ceiling onto passengers.”
Yes, it seems that Tommy’s dad wasn’t the only one whose parade in coach was being rained on.
Tommy said that at least half a dozen other passengers were leaked upon.
Did Delta investigate the source of the leak, as all good American organizations usually do?
Well, Tommy told NBC New York: “They eventually realized how stupid the situation was and just stuffed napkins into the ceiling.”
He added that the water kept on dripping for most of the flight.
Delta offered me this explanation: “We apologize for the less than ideal situation our customers experienced due to an air conditioning condensation issue and we’ve reached out to compensate them for impacting their travel.”
Less than ideal.
One day, an airline might use this as inspiration for a new, honest tagline: “Less Than A Deal.”
The airline reportedly offered dad a $100 travel voucher. This, presumably, would have been a $100 inducement to fly Delta again. (Dad says he paid $1,800 for the tickets.)
Airlines do have a dry sense of humor.
As too often with such stories, it’s the, um, less than ideal attention the cabin crew seems to have paid to this watery unpleasantness that is most painful.
Should you fly First Class on Emirates, you get the chance to have a shower all to yourself.
It isn’t, though, quite as public as Delta’s version.
Hey @Delta, be glad my father is such a good sport about sitting in water for a whole flight. Water falling from ceiling onto passengers. pic.twitter.com/u3904IYKWc
— Tommy (@TomassoLP) June 30, 2017
Delta flight 801. I have another video too pic.twitter.com/u6ifaTNSJT
— Tommy (@TomassoLP) June 30, 2017