Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes I wonder what smart people are doing. They must have something happening behind the scenes because smart people can’t be this stupid.

I recently sat in an airliner for about 20 hours during a couple days time. In my past, I did this frequently, but not so much lately. A couple of things I noticed:

1. The seats are smaller
2. The people are bigger

Hmmmm, this doesn’t work. I had the misfortune of sitting next to large people. They spill over into “my space.” Uncomfortable? Yes. Excuse my greed for wanting to keep the space designated to me.

(1) People who design airplanes are pretty smart. I mean, airplanes are not falling out of the sky on an hourly basis. They seem to fly pretty well. Good, smart people are designing and building these things.

(2) People who design airplanes are making the seats smaller and seeing that larger people are boarding the planes. They know what they are designing. They notice the seats are smaller. A N D they notice the people who are boarding the planes and sitting in those smaller seats.

What gives? This is just plain stupid, and smart people don’t often engage in just plain stupid. Some possibilities:

• Market surveys show low price trumps all.
• Market surveys indicate that people will endure anything just to reach a destination quickly.
• No one complains about large people on airplanes.
• Short-term profits over-rule everything.

Perhaps there are more guesses. I don’t know. Please help.