WHAT I LEARNED NOT TO DO

Tuesday, April 14th 2026

Paris/Toronto

It was a long flight, thirteen hours, from Mauritius to Paris though I did a bit of strolling about at the Charles de Gaulle Airport. I sometimes pick up a nice sandwich to address hunger. I went to a food stall (forgot the name) and simply wanted to ask about veg sandwich options, no eggs, meat etc. The young male attendant whom I approached to ask that easy question and saying “bonjour.” All he said was, “just wait two minutes!” He was busy. I thought two minutes is too much. I waited those 2 min. Well it became 4 and I had raised my eyebrows to indicate I’m still here. He kept busy. I left and went to another canteen where there were sandwiches. One on display looked appropriate. I asked the cashier if there might be eggs in the bread, after I said “bonjour” and her abrupt response was, “I don’t know”. There was dead silence. I thought a good inflection and maybe “I’m sorry,” could have helped.

As usual in an airport at the gate for departure the message audibly isn’t that clear (an acoustical issue), so there was an announcement calling the zone number and then the big mob emerged. There’s no beginning and no end to the line up, so passengers, as usual, get confused. I blame that mistake on the airlines.

Once getting to my seat I could not find room in the overhead bin. Passengers, in general, do not economize on space. For example, a backpack can be sprawled out, like it was across from me. I asked the flight attendant if she could assist or at least give permission for me to juggle things around to make room for my small luggage. Instead of coming forward to assist she told me to find something in the back bins,

What I learned from today’s responses of the maitre d’s of the day is “Don’t do like that!” in the context of how I serve others. 

Two pigeons l left behind in Mauritius , Balaram and Krishna.

MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU

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