This Airline Worker Looks Defeated By Life – He’ll Rise Up Like The Hero We Need

An airline passenger captured the moment when an employee out on the ramp took a moment, sat himself down, and appears defeated – or at least contemplating life – likely before rising up again to face the challenges of the airport. The worker’s solemn look is everything.

What a contrast to those times when they’re having fun out on the ramp.

If you were a teenager in the mid-1960s you might have shut the door to your room and blasted Simon and Garfunkel’s I Am A Rock. Growing up in the 90s it may have been the angst-laden grunge of the Seattle sound. Now all grown up, an office worker might just shut the door like they’re in a meeting, binge watch The Last Of Us on their computer, while ChatGPT 4 completes their assignments.

However if you’re working out on the ramp you still suffer the same ennui about life. You just have nowhere to go, and no music to blast. But the existential angst remains.

Management might not like it, and it might not support efforts for an exact on time departure, but sometimes you have to pause, and contemplate what does it all mean? Before heading back to work. And if you’re doing a unionized job that can’t be replaced by AI, well, you feel pretty good about your ability to do that.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Aw, I feel for him. I’ve been on that lonely island with a local volcano ready to blow into an approaching hurricane. It’s not fun.
    I pray things get better for him…..

  2. You could speculate. Praying? High on drugs? Hungover? Just resting for a minute? Regardless, we should appreciate the hard work those ramp folks do at all sorts of hours in all kinds of weather. Thanks ramp workers !

  3. @ Gary — What? The guy looks like a guy sitting on a cart. Why would anyone assume anything about his mood?

  4. The music says it all! Call in the crisis counselors for our unsung hero
    Except for the last one that mangled my luggage 😉

  5. Being a ramp worker or baggage handler doesn’t pay much, and they have to be out there day or night, rain or shine, in sweltering heat or freezing cold. Wish him the best.

  6. I’ll pray for him. I’ve been there before, I just know how horrible it feels…

  7. Congratulations, the most inane post any blogger has ever done. And that’s saying something. I mean, a guy is sitting on a cart and you want to wax harmonious about generational life and sad songs? Are you drinking? This is not “thought leader” stuff. More like “I am bored and feeling sad about my own life” stuff.

  8. Wow! The vitriol and hate and anger is unbelievable. A simple photograph you could look at it 1 million different ways. I thought it was kind of an interesting article.
    Unfortunately, too many angry people in the world needed to comment. “Fire him, you are clearly bored with your own life, call in the crisis counselor.” Seriously look at your own life, stare at the mirror, and wonder why you’re so freaking angry and have to be a keyboard warrior.

  9. @Dublin +1

    Rampers work very hard. The job also goes from high intensity to lulls in between aircraft. The man is taking a break and catching his breath. I know, I did that job back in the 1980s. The job is the same as back then, but there are way more flights now, than there were in the past.

    So give the guy a break!

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