Mr. Luminous Being turned up today to get his ticket to Greece revised. He decided not to wait two weeks after all as he wanted to celebrate the solstice there. He was at my desk for nearly an hour. I had to give up my lunch slot to someone else just to finish his stuff.
He was jittery, occasionally incoherent, and insanely cheerful. We all figured he was either on something or permanently fried from having been on something in the past. He told me all about his uncle Leonard Cohen. Uh huh. He sang the Jets song from West Side Story to our receptionist when he found out she was from New York. I thought Virginia was going to burst something from trying not to laugh. Then he gave me two bottles of wine for being "real." In fact, he was giving away all his possessions in preparation for his trip to the homeland.
"It's where we all come from, man! Greece, Israel, it's where humanity started!" he said excitedly.
"Actually, humanity started in Africa," I murmured in response as I rebooked his flight.
"Okay, sure, Africa, okay, but Greece is pretty close to there, man!"
He pulled out CDs, a book, and even attempted to give me his cell phone. I told him the wine was a really nice gift, but I couldn't accept his cell phone. He seemed disappointed, but only for about two seconds.
By the time I pushed him out the door I was dying of hunger, dying of thirst, and tired of herding my client through the ticket exchange process ("Mr. Being, you've just dropped your passport on the floor. Don't crumple that, it's your invoice. No, don't throw that away, that's the piece of paper with your hotel information on it. No, I don't need any DVDs, thanks."). I waited a short time to make sure he was gone, and then finally headed out for a well deserved ice cold Diet Coke.
The front desk position is the first line of defense. I think I should get combat pay.
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