At the Las Vegas airport, I witnessed the shocking behavior of a woman with her dog. Little did she know that her actions would set off a chain of events that would lead us both to question the nature of justice and karma.
I arrived at the Las Vegas airport at 6:30 a.m., blue-eyed and desperate for coffee. As I headed to the gate, I spotted a woman with a small dog on a leash. She was engrossed in a FaceTime call, oblivious to her surroundings.
“Oh my God, Stacey, you won’t believe what happened last night,” she screamed into her phone.
A woman making her way through an airport terminal | Source: Pexels
I rolled my eyes and was about to move on when I noticed his dog had squatted down. Right there on the airport floor.
“Excuse me, miss?” A middle-aged man standing nearby tried to get her attention. “Your dog is…”
The woman gave her a look that could have melted steel. “Some people are so rude,” she complained to her friend over the phone.
A woman looks at her phone in an airport | Source: Pexels
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The dog finished doing its business, and the woman walked away, leaving the mess behind.
“Aren’t you going to clean this up?” another passerby asked, shock evident in her voice.
The woman turned around, her face twisted in disgust. “They have people for that,” she snarled. She then spotted an airport maintenance worker standing nearby. Her voice dripped with smugness as she shouted, “Do your job! I’m not going to do it for you!”
A worker holding a vacuum cleaner | Source: Pexels
The young airport employee, a man probably in his twenties, looked stunned. His face reddened as he stammered, “Ma’am, I… this isn’t… you’re supposed to…”
But the woman had already turned around, disappearing into the crowd. The worker stood there, looking completely crestfallen. He glanced around as if hoping someone would tell him it was all a bad joke.
I couldn’t stay silent any longer. I walked up to him and said, “Hey, are you okay? This woman has crossed the line.”
A woman looks at someone in an airport | Source: Pexels
He sighed. “Thanks. It’s just… I don’t even know how to handle this. It’s not even my area of expertise.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I assured him. “We saw everything. It’s not your fault.”
He nodded gratefully and hurried away, probably to find someone who could actually take care of the mess.
My blood began to boil. Who did this woman think she was?
I approached the mess, warning people to watch their step. A kind stranger went to get a maintenance worker.
A man walking in an airport terminal | Source: Pexels
“Can you believe that?” I asked the man who had tried to alert the woman earlier.
He shook his head. “Flying with pets is a privilege, not a right. Some people don’t understand that.”
“My name is Nora,” I said, holding out my hand.
“Jasper,” he replied, hugging her. “Are you going somewhere nice?”
“London, for work. And you?
“Tokyo. Business trip.”
We chatted for a few minutes before parting ways. I couldn’t shake my anger as I walked toward my gate. And then I saw her again.
A woman and a man talking in an airport jetway | Source: Pexels
The woman who thought she could get away with anything was sitting by my gate, her dog now barking incessantly. And as if that weren’t enough, she was listening to music on her phone without headphones.
The other passengers were moving away, but I had another idea. I sat right next to her.
“Are you going to Tokyo on business?” I asked, feigning a friendly tone.
She barely glanced at me. “I’m going to London,” she replied.
I widened my eyes in mock surprise. “Oh no! Then you’d better hurry. This flight has been moved to Gate 53C. This is the flight to Tokyo.”
A woman ready to board a plane, passport in hand | Source: Pexels
Her eyes widened. Without even looking at the screen, she grabbed her bags and her dog and ran off.
I couldn’t help but smile. The gate monitor still clearly read “London,” but she was too self-absorbed to notice.
As boarding time approached, I watched for her return. Last call came through, but there was no sign of her or her barking dog.
I settled into my seat, feeling a strange mixture of satisfaction and guilt. As the plane began to taxi, I realized she must have missed her flight.
A woman looking out of an airplane window | Source: Pexels
The woman next to me smiled. “Is this your first time flying to London?”
“No, I go there quite often for work. My name is Nora.”
“Mei,” she replied. “I noticed the commotion earlier with the woman and her dog. Did you see her come up?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think she made it back in time.”
Mei’s eyebrows raised. “Really? Wow, that’s… unfortunate.”
I shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant. “Yeah, well… karma, I guess.”
Mei nodded slowly. “I guess. But it still seems a little harsh. Missing a flight is no small thing.”
Two women side by side on a plane, talking | Source: Midjourney
His words made me squirm in my seat. Had I gone too far?
“You’re right,” I admitted. “I just got angry at how she treated everyone.”
Mei patted my arm. “We all have difficult times. The important thing is to learn from them.”
As the plane took off, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I had done. Missing his flight hadn’t been my original intention, but I felt like the universe had rebalanced the scales in the face of his appalling behavior.
A woman looking out of the window of an airplane in flight | Source: Pexels
Yet Mei’s words stuck with me. Had I really taught her a lesson, or had I simply stooped to her level?
The flight attendant’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “Drinks, ladies?”
“Water, please,” Mei said.
I nodded. “Same here, thanks.”
As we sipped our drinks, Mei turned to me. “So, what brings you to London so often?”
I enjoyed the distraction. “I work for a technology company. We’re expanding our business in Europe.”
“That sounds exciting,” Mei said. “Do you have any favorite spots in the city?”
A woman having a conversation on a plane | Source: Midjourney
We spent the next hour chatting about London, our jobs, and our travel adventures. It was a pleasant distraction from the guilt that was eating away at me.
Midway through the flight, I excused myself to go to the restroom. While waiting in line, I overheard a conversation that made my stomach churn.
“Yes, a lady missed her flight because someone gave her the wrong gate number,” a man said. “She was fuming at customer service when I left.”
A man standing on board an airliner | Source: Pexels
I felt the color drain from my face. It was real now. I had caused him to miss his flight.
Back at my seat, I must have looked as bad as I felt, because Mei asked, “Are you okay? You look a little pale.”
I considered lying, but the guilt gnawed at me. “Can I tell you something? Will you promise not to judge?”
Mei nodded, her expression serious.
A woman looking worriedly at the passenger sitting next to her | Source: Midjourney
I took a deep breath and spilled it all out. The dog incident, my anger, the false information about the boarding gate. When I finished, I felt like the worst person in the world.
Mei was silent for a moment. Then she said, “Well, that was certainly… creative.”
I groaned. “I’m a terrible person, aren’t I?”
“No,” Mei said firmly. “You made a mistake, yes. But terrible people don’t feel bad about their actions.”
His words were kind, but they didn’t erase my guilt. “What should I do?”
A woman speaks to the person next to her on a plane | Source: Midjourney
Mei thought for a moment. “Well, you can’t undo what’s been done. But perhaps this can be a turning point. A reminder to think before you act, even when you’re angry.”
I nodded slowly. “You’re right. I just hope she learned something too.”
“Maybe she did,” Mei said. “Sometimes it takes a shock to make us realize that our behavior is not acceptable.”
As we began our landing in London, I made a silent promise to myself. I would use this experience as a lesson, to remind myself to be better, even when faced with difficult people.
A plane landing at an airport | Source: Pexels
The plane landed, and as we taxied to the gate, Mei turned to me one last time. “Remember, Nora, that we are all evolving beings. The important thing is to keep trying to improve.”
I smiled gratefully. “Thank you, Mei. For listening and for your wisdom.”
As we disembarked, I couldn’t help but scan the faces in the airport, half expecting to see the woman from Vegas. She wasn’t there, of course, but the memory of her actions, and my actions, remained etched in my mind for a long time.
Passengers disembarking from a plane | Source: Pexels
I didn’t know if she had returned before takeoff, but I hadn’t seen her on board and I hadn’t heard her dog. Making her miss her flight hadn’t been my primary intention, but I felt like the universe was balancing the scales for her appalling behavior.
Yet, as I walked through the airport, I realized that the scales don’t always balance so neatly. Sometimes they keep tipping, leaving us to find our balance in the chaos of human interaction.
Travelers making their way through an airport concourse | Source: Pexels
What would you have done? If you liked this story, here’s another one for you, about a woman whose routine flight turned into a moral dilemma that would change several lives forever when she discovered that the man next to her was planning to cheat on his wife.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the story. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims regarding the accuracy of events or character portrayals and are not responsible for any misinterpretations. This story is provided “as is,” and the opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
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