When the plane started descending, the steward approached me and asked me to "switch off all electronic devices". Sure, will do, but how? The iPod does not exactly have an "off" switch. The closest thing to it is the "hold" thingy that blocks the keyboard. So that was what I did - put the iPod on hold.
Now, the stock phones that come with iPod are somewhat on a crappy side and I have replaced them with the sort that is plugged inside your ear. They are great for canceling out external noise, but unfortunately, putting them on is a bit of a hassle. So had them on all the time.
Then I saw the steward approaching me again. This time, he seemed pissed off. "Sir, I asked you to switch off electronic equipment" - says he. "I did - as well as I could, man. This iPod is as 'off' as possible". "Sir please at least take the phones out of your ears?". "You ask me to do what?". "Take the phons off".
Ok, this left me speachless and stunned. Take them off why? So as to not do demoralize fellow passengers? Or maybe I am a mutant and my ears generate huge electromagnetic waves when touched by pieces of plastic? WTF?
Look airlines, this is just silly. The amount of electromagnetic field generated by FCC-approved electronic equipment is negligible. The iPhone's "EMP generators" are barely able to lift its hard disk's heads by 0.001 mm and spin its miniature motors. You have a huge-ass jet engine operating just 4 meters right of me - I am sure the amount of electricity generated by it could fulfill the needs of a modestly-sized village, why are you worried about my little piece of nothing here?
God, I hate flying. Mostly because the experience makes you cast a doubt on the sanity of mankind.
6 comments:
You can turn the iPod off by holding Play/Pause
i have a feeling the original meaning of taking out your ipod isnt so much about any electronic interference your device emits but about making sure you are alert upon takeoff and landing. The vast majority of airline incidents occur in these two times, terminal incidents almost never occur mid air.
With this in mind, while you have turned off your ipod, to the lady it still looks like you have your music playing, generally people take off the ear phones when they finish listening.
Being annoyed by this same idea, I thought of how to make music without the need for any electronics, I was thinking a hand cranked grammarphone of some sort. When I put this idea to a friend of mine who trains airline staff, she informed me of the flaw in my idea :)
It can be easily noticed (from this and your previous posts) that you have some problems - maybe caused by your middle-age crisis. You don't like cheap computer shops, you don't like car dealers, you don't like cheap flights. The quite common thing in all these cases is word "cheap". You expect to get high quality everywhere even if you pay for shit - this World does not work like this, man.
If you pay for quality and then not get it, you can write your childish and miserable complains - if not, you're just compromising yourself.
And regarding your flight I think Louis is right - maybe the stewardess, seeing that you still have the ear phones on, thought you're deaf or just stupid. Don't blame her - look at yourself first.
@Louis: I respectfully disagree about having to be "alert" during takeoff and landing. The ones to be alert are the pilots and the flight control. It does not matter at the slightest if I am listening to music or not while the plane is in motion. If I am going to die in an air crash, it is going to happen regardless of what I am doing with my ears.
@Anonymous: man, of course I have my midlife crisis approaching. Isn't this obvious? But - midlife crisis or not, I _don't_ have to put up with stupid shit and be silent about it. And really - you want me to complain about something more expensive than average, that I paid good money for? How about this: Apple MacBook Pros are crap - I have a longish rant about it coming your way soon. And - I have also written about a crappy Mercedes car dealer. You may have noticed that this is not exactly the cheapest brand out there, right? So no, it is not me trying to not have to pay for quality.
@anonymous #1 - when I hold play/pause, what happens then is the iPod just blanks the screen fro the appearance of being "off". So in reality it is no more and no less "off" then when I just stop playing music.
Marcin, I also respectfully disagree with your point, if statistically the overwhelming number of airline incidents happen in take off and landing I think it makes sense to have everyone as alert and ready as possible, it is only a few minutes and who knows what a small thing could change.
With that in mind, they will let you sleep through a landing so maybe this isnt all it :)
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