[tokyojoe]

Just got this from an American site.

Why this country is in trouble.......

Why is this country in trouble? Perhaps this will
help explain it.

A Washington , DC, airport ticket agent offers some
examples of why our country is in trouble!

1) I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an
aisle seat so that her hair wouldn't get messed up by
being near the window.

2) I got a call from a candidate's staffer, who
wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the
length of the flight and the passport information
when she interrupted me with, "I'm not trying to make
you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts."
Without trying to make her look stupid, I calmly explained,
"Cape Cod is in Massachusetts; Capetown is in Africa ".

Her response - click.

3) A senior Vermont Congressman called, furious
about a Florida package we did. I asked what was
wrong with the vacation in Orlando.

He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to
explain that's not possible, since Orlando is in the middle
of the state.

He replied, "Don't lie to me, I looked on the map and Florida is
a very thin state!"

4) I got a call from a lawmaker's wife who asked,
"Is it possible to see England from Canada ?"

I said, "No."

She said, "But they look so close on the map."

5) An aide for a cabinet member once called and
asked if he could rent a car in Dallas . When I pulled
Up the reservation, I noticed he had only a 1-hour
layover in Dallas . When I asked him why he
wanted to rent a car, he said, "I heard Dallas was a
big airport, and we will need a car to drive between
gates to save time."

6) An Illinois Congresswoman called last week She
needed to know how it was possible that her flight from
Detroit left at 8:30 am and got to Chicago at 8:33 am.

I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of
Illinois , but she couldn't understand the concept
of time zones.

Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she
bought that.

7) A New York lawmaker called and asked, "Do
airlines put your physical description on your bag
so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?"
I said, "No, why do you ask?" She replied, "Well, when
I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage
that said (FAT), and I'm overweight. I think that's very rude!"

After putting her on hold for a minute while I looked into it
(I was laughing) I came back and explained the city code for
Fresno , CA is (FAT),and the airline was just putting
a destination tag on her luggage.


A Senator's aide called to inquire about a trip
package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, she asked,
"Would it be cheaper to fly to California , and then take the train
to Hawaii ?"

9) I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who
asked, "How do I know which plane to get on?" I asked him
What exactly he meant, to which he replied, "I was told my flight
number is 823, but none of these planes have numbers on them."

10) A lady Senator called and said, "I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola ,
Florida . Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?"
I asked if she meant fly to Pensacola , FL on a commuter plane.
She said, "Yeah, whatever, smarty!"

11) A Senior Senator called and had a question about
the documents he needed in order to fly to China . After a lengthy
discussion about passports, I reminded him that he needed a visa.

"Oh, no I don't. I've been to China many times and never had to
have one of those."

I double-checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa.
When I told him this he said, "Look, I've been to China four times
and every time they have accepted my American Express!"

12) A New Mexico Congresswoman called to make
reservations, "I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York."

I was at a loss for words. Finally, I said, "Are you sure that's
the name of the town?"

"Yes, what flights do you have?" replied the lady.

After some searching, I came back with, "I'm sorry, ma'am,
I've looked up every airport code in the country and
can't find a Rhino anywhere."

The lady retorted, "Oh, don't be silly! Everyone knows where
it is. Check your map!"

So I scoured a map of the State of New York and finally offered,
"You don't mean Buffalo , do you?"

The reply? "Whatever! I knew it was a big animal".