The Business Class

3/17/11

It’s been at least five years since I had to travel for work, so I either had forgotten or never noticed this: when you wear a suit or even just a suit jacket, people treat you completely differently.

Not the people I was actually traveling to meet with; they could have cared less. But the airport employees, the TSA, hotel employees, the guy at the rental place; their attitude ranged from noticeably more polite than usual to borderline obsequious. Even the TSA. Especially the TSA. I don’t think I’ve ever had a TSA agent call me “sir” before this trip, except sarcastically.

It’s a bit disconcerting. I have a little more understanding now of the… you know the guys, the ones shouting at the gate agent that their seat assignment isn’t good enough, or complaining on their cell phones about the fact that they have to stand in line with everyone else. Those guys. Not that they’re right, of course, just that if they’re always traveling around in this little cosseted bubble of people treating them with extra politeness that they’d start to feel like they’re entitled to that sort of treatment from everyone all the time. It’d be easy to start to believe that you deserve it.

Turns out it’s just the suit. Who knew?