The Terminal: Life is Waiting.

It's been MONTHS since I last posted anything here. And so many things have happened. What triggers this post is a 4 hours-delay at Terminal 3, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport... so, there's always a bright side of everything, after all. Had my flight been on-time, this blog post wouldn't have existed. So there.

What I'm trying to do is to get to Bengkulu, today. Never been there before. Some people say the beach is fabulous. We'll see (if I ever manage to get there, anyway... what is up with this Mandala airlines?%&#@!!!).

So far, this is what I've done:

1) ate donuts and drank latte at J.Co... which is always good. No electrical outlet whatsoever, though... a good strategy to prevent people like me from hogging the tables with their laptops plugged in

2) walked around Terminal 3... which is surprisingly nice. The building, I mean. Maybe because it's still brand new. I hope this place stays bright and clean for... ever? Dare I hope so? Building is easier than maintaining, at least that's how it is in this country. 

3) observed people's reaction at Mandala boarding counter... upon learning that their flights were delayed. The reactions vary from anger (as seen from their bulging eyes and scrunched-up faces), amusement (as seen from their expression, and thought bubbles above their heads reading, "Delay... again... how many days this time?"), frustration (as seen from their silent but miserable expression), and apathy (as seen from their stone-like, expressionless faces). My own reaction was a mix of amusement and frustration, because I have to reschedule all my appointments for 2 days. 

4) read the claim form... which would entitle me to Rp.200.000/2 hours delay compensation, which is good. That would cover my donut and coffee expenses. But wait... they're not gonna pay me immediately. So maybe I would get the compensation in a few months, if I'm lucky. We'll see about that. If they screw up my compensation, I'd write a complaint letter about it... but wait... I might get sued by Mandala and sent to prison because of it. So I'll just chill and wait and see what happens. So much for customer-centeredness, customer-orientation, customer delight, customer satisfaction, customer blah blah. 

5) called people.

I still have 3,5 hours to kill. I start to feel like that guy Viktor Navorski in The Terminal... only I still have my nationality because my country is still intact. Maybe I would find the love of my life here (0,01% chance of happening) or maybe I'd just arrive in Bengkulu completely exhausted and cranky and utterly not in the mood for conducting in-depth interviews (99,99% chance of happening).