Very entertaining story, although I take it with a huge grain of salt!

Italian Americans are a very different culture than Italians (of the various different regions), though I think Joe certainly shows a very "Italian" gift for embellishing and decorating a story.....

I'm not exactly offended by the pigeonholing -- I guess irritated is more like it. I grew up with several people on the Irish-American side of my family who were totally stuck on seeing behavior as "typically Irish" and thought it was a big chuckle, wink wink, nudge nudge, to explain the world that way. I think it make people feel "knowing."

I read the (overwritten) story and learned that the reason this guy didn't get back to the States for 22 hours was because of Air France and policies at the Amsterdam Airport.

I don't for a minute think that there is embellishment going on here. Have seen variations on this theme with my own eyes. The personal telefonino call in the middle of transactions, the hysteerics of the Italians if something goes awry with plans.

I was once in an airplane waiting to take off from FCO going to Catania. A garbled (to my ears)announcement was made in the cabin by the captain. Hysteria ensued, Screaming, crying, yelling etc. I thought that we were under attack. Find out that we were to be delayed 30 minutes.

Yes, High Drama!! I love it.Keep going back for more.

I believed the phonecall to some extent, but found his claim that people "jumped over the counter and began typing into the computer" to be, well, unbelievable to say the least. Though the thought is entertaining....

I have never heard of an American claiming to be English.
Are we likely to see a St. George's Day parade in New York with girls in mini beefeater costumes?

That is funny you should say that Josser. After I posted I was thinking about this one lady I knew who was American who "said I'm English and I don't pronounce it like that" when people were talking about pronunciations of certain words (American v. British). So I said, "I mean people from England" to which she replied "well, if you are going to get technical."

You are right though, you won't usually hear an American say they are English. As far as European countries go, it is usually German, Italian, Irish and maybe Polish.

Oh my goodness.

Just to clarify, Joe doesn't refer to himself as Italian, *I* do, after years of friendship, of stories about his Italian grandparents, of being served fabulous Italian meals by him since he loves to cook.

He rattled off this email to we who knew he'd been held up. I shared it here because it made me laugh, and it mirrored many experiences of my own in Italy. We both love and are entertained by the drama of Italian culture. He wasn't submitting this for a creative writing class, for petes sakes.

Joe's a good Catholic Jesuit guy who doesn't lie ;^) Who cares if a person leaped over a counter or walked around it to take over the computer? I've seen the same type of thing many times--especially service folk taking personal phone calls while people wait in line. It's not about being critical of Italians; it's about sharing the 'movies' we're provided so often as life goes by when we're in other places.

I guess one person's funny is another's bone of contention. Oh well, vive la difference!

Karen
http://www.pbase.com/karenmickleson

Wonderful story. Thanks for sharing.

The story is entertaining, it's just that in the many times I've passed through airports in Italy, in all sorts of situations, (don't get me wrong, I love the dramas of Italian culture too, I've never seen anyone jump over, or step behind a check counter to grab keyboards and begin entering data, much less "leap over" one, so I found that sort of thing rather hard to believe. I'm sure was writing for an audience of friends, though..just trying to entertain. I'll take it as a "story" and be entertained by his writing style. no problem!

I still thing that Joe has a great flair for writings and a BIG Imagination..
I had flights cancelled, delayed, spent more than 8 hours at the airport and never acted or saw my fellow Italians acting that way..

>At one point, a couple of them jumped over the counter and grab a couple of computer keyboards and start typing and looking at the computer screen as if they were going to fix the problem themselves (because in their minds it was just someone typing the wrong thing into the computer and they were going to do it correctly.)>

Now give me a BREAK!!!Your friend is pulling your leg..
AnnaMaria

In the interests of MORE of this sort of thing, i.e. decent stories, well presented with a travel orientation, I would like to defend this story from Joe before anybody else decides not to send their little gem.

It was a STORY, not eye-witnesss reporting. It was funny. Isn't that enough? Do we really have to subject it to literary criticism at a grad student level and a scrutiny worthy of the Pulitzer?

In defense of Joe, not that he needs it, as a traveler I ended up behind the counter at an airline at LAX. I wrote about it in a trip report. I even had a line of customers waiting for me to get off of my personal phone call.

I would hate to be telling someone of my escapades and have them pick it to pieces with mundane details and questions. How boring.

What I don't get is the people who think if they have never seen such a thing, it didn't happen. Nobody's experience is that all-encompassing. If they didn't get pickpocketed in Rome, (A) it doesn't happen or (B) they're too street-smart. Probably they were just lucky.

One person's experience -- necessarily limited experience -- does not define the whole truth. And one person's recommendation does not make me want to stay at a specific hotel or eat at a specific restaurant. Unless I know that person and/or have calibrated his taste relative to my own.

Well, the idea of someone jumping over the ticket counter sounds farfetched to many but I have seen THAT happen with my own eyes! It was a French train station and when a nice lady who had waited her turn in line finally stepped up to the ticket window the ticket agent jumped over the counter and started screaming at her and beating on her with his fists. I swear to God this happened. My daughter and husband were with me. We were too far away to hear the exact thing she said that ticked off the agent, but we joked that she asked a question that he had heard all day and he snapped. After he screamed at her and smacked her and as the authorities arrived he jumped back over the counter and slammed the ticket window closed with all his might. They were walking him away when we left and there were people comforting the poor women who had the misfortune to ask when the next train was to Rennes, or some such. We were speechless and glad it hadn't been us.

Hi, this is Joe.

I grew up in an Italian-American house in Chicago that spoke three Italian dialects and English. I like Italy so much because I feel comfortable there. Not because the infrastructure is sometimes third-world or because the bureaucracy moves at a snail's pace and is so over weighted that it seems that it will crush the individual most of the time but because of the helter-skelter mess of the society and thought process from which emerges gorgeous music, and art and science and literature and wonderful things to eat and a humanity and love and patience for the base, simple, elemental parts of us. There is a balance and rhythm that exists because the Italians are comfortable with themselves. I like that. I grew up with that but I assimilated into the sterile, anxiety producing, over working uncomfortable ways of Americans. I like the way they look. They look like me and my family and I like to think when I'm there that I'm a part of that bigger family. Dio ti ama, and so do I.

I do remember Seaurchin's story about a phone call but I don't remember it as leaping over the counter and grabbing a phone, but my memory isn't perfect anyway.

Nice post Joe. Your writing is lots of fun to read, and you can write about travel very well, without any added decorative details, your story would be even better!

Joe, please don't feel as though you need to defend yourself! It was a great story, and I love your attitude. These things happen, and you just go on with your trip. When I was in Rome last Christmas, I was without my luggage for the first five days of my trip. I know this would have made a lot of people go nuts, but I preferred to look on it as a reason to shop in Rome!

Joe (and Karen)...I say "excellent mini-trip report!)

How skeptical our world today. People don't believe me when I tell them that I saw a woman once leap onto the desk of a bank vice-president and lunge for her throat. Seems the woman had been carjacked and robbed and gunpoint a week before. She promptly reported her stolen purse/checkbook to the bank. The bank proceeded to make a series of errors in cashing 2 of the 4 stolen checks, cleaning out the woman's account in the process; then bouncing the other 2 checks that came through instead of holding them; returning the money to her account...only to turn around and cash the 2 stolen "bounced" checks and cleaning out her account again. I believe the desk-jumping, throat-lunging event was immediately preceded by a phone call the woman received from the Sheriff's office telling her that a warrant had been issued for her arrest for writing bad checks!!!!

I know THAT story is true, because it happened 25 years ago...and that woman was me!!!

PS Karen, sorry to "hijack" your posting. It just irritates me that people don't believe something just because it sounds unlikely.

No problem, Sarge. Your story is amazing.

I marvel at how the infinite array of personality types here respond to what they read. I guess that's what makes the world go 'round.

Karen
http://www.pbase.com/karenmickleson