(Before you read any further, please excuse the poor camera quality, I was using my cell phone on a dark plane)
There is nothing better than being able to escape the cold weather of Philadelphia for the weekend in Tempe, Arizona. This past December, I won 4 round trip tickets from Southwest Airlines (to fly anywhere in the United States) through the My PHL-17 “My Entourage” photo contest and decided to visit a friend that attends grad school at Arizona State University for the weekend. Things started off smoothly, had a few drinks in the airport, told a joke to a very religious woman that ended with “where we are going there will be no churches” that left her speechless.
As you can see from the above picture, I did get very comfortable on the flight and dozed off for a while. My slumber was rudely brought to a halt when the older gentleman seated to my immediate left decided that it was time to spill his entire Bloody Mary on my lap. If you ask my friend Chris Deleon (Vice President of RCPT Fit) that was on the trip with me what my face looked like as soon as that drink hit my lap he would say, ” you had that what the f*ck look in your eyes”.
For the next 35 seconds of me sitting in the seating and the drunk guy sitting next to me freaking out and telling me over and over how sorry he was driving me nuts. Both of us proceeded to the back of the plane with a flight attendant so that I can get cleaned up. After blotting my jeans with about ten thousands napkins, the flight attendant has the most genius of ideas to clean the rest of the Bloody Mary residue off. The flight attendant says to me “this might sound weird, but I am going to use a feminine product to help you get the rest of this off of your pants”. With a raised eyebrow I looked at her and said, “do your thing”.
The flight attendant goes into the bathroom and comes out with a fresh Maxi pad (with wings!) and poured some club soda on it. Being that they are so absorbent, the Maxi pad is a great way to clean up a spill on your clothes because you can rub it against other fabrics and no cloth residue will left behind like using a paper towel would be. So now i go back to my seat with wet pants and I gained $20 dollars from the guy that spilled on me for a dry cleaning fee and the flight attendant gave me a free drink for my trouble. Within the next two hours on the plane my pants were dry and all things were well except for the fact that I smelled like a Bloody Mary the rest of the night.
When flying and someone spills on you, the best thing for you to do is to react calmly. If you have ever watched the Chapelle Show and have seen the “When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong” sketch, you that over reacting to a minor problem can have a not so positive outcome. Try not to wear light color pants because if that spill would have happened in khakis, white jeans, or even grey jeans I think my reaction would have been a lot different.
A new rule of thumb for me now is to always travel with a Tide stain remover stick just in case some more unfortunate spots end up on my clothes.
Thanks for reading,
Sabir M. Peele
Saved as a favorite, I enjoy your blog! 🙂
Thanks for reading.
– Sabir M. Peele
Dude, you were lucky. I once had a fellow passenger spill a Bloody Mary on me, and I was wearing white jeans. They were as red as my face for the next five hours on that flight.
James,
That must have been terrible. The funny thing was I was goin to wear some white jeans and decided against it last minute. Good decision on my end. I am on a plane right now actually but there is no one sitting to either side of me. So if there are any spills its all my fault.
Thanks for reading,
Sabir M. Peele
Good advice as I am constantly spilling on my self. Not sure if club soda will be strong enough to get out salsa or barbecue sauce.
And on the money with the Chapelles reference.
Yeah, if club soda is that powerful it would be the new OXY Clean.
A little off topic, but at a Super Bowl party last Sunday there was this jerk wearing white jeans and a really tight polo shirt. Kind of the cool frat kid. I “accidentally” a pitcher of margharita mix all over him. He was mad, and those jeans will never be the same. He said they were Dior, so I guess that is a good brand. White jeans are always a risk.
Kevin,
This is a pretty fun. The sad things is losing all of that margarita mix. I say never wear white jeans to a Superbowl type party or house party. Reserve them for the spring/summer and dont mix crazy color drinks with them. I have a pair of white jeans and trust me they are not Dior (however; if they want to send me a pair feel free to do so).
Thanks for reading,
Sabir
Dude, you are right what a waste of that mixer. Maybe I the jerk. Afterwards, I felt a little bad for the guy.
Anyway, turns out my girlfriend liked the gu’ys look because if was different for this time of year. We are going to the bar with some friends tomorrow night, and she wants me to wear my white jeans with a white shirt. That is a lot of white. My gut says no: stains, ketchup, spills, beer. Who knows. I guess I will do it and hope that I am not as unlicky as the guy on the airplane. With all that white, I could really end up looking like a fool. Would you risk the embarrassment, even for a girl?
Kev
Hey Kevin,
I would go with the all white to head to a bar. I would still rock the white jeans but with a blue plaid shirt or a navy blue button up, sleeves rolled up.
– Sabir
Just came across this. Lord help that guy if he did decide to wear the all white jeans and shirt to the bar. But, I hope that one of his friends did him a favor by sort of pushing him down onto the ground before leaving so that he would have to change. Would have saved him some embarrassment wearing all that white at the bar.
Your style is great, and I should have taken your advice. But, I gave in to my girlfriend and did the all white thing, white jeans and polo, but black shoes. Good and bad choice. Girlfriend was happy, a lot of people told me they liked the look. But, later on when I was reatching for some chips and salsa, I knocked a glass of red wine right on my crotch. Karma I guess. The stain was the size of a soccer ball. We were carpooling, so I was stuck there for the next few hours explaining the red stain on my crotch. My girlfriend said she was sorry, but still. I am never wearing all white again, ever.
Monday after the LSU football game, my boyfriend and some other people wanted to go out. He wanted me to wear these skinny white jeans that he just got me for my birthday. Later on, one of the guys with us was joking about spilling a drink on me. When he was holding his drink over my jeans, he dropped it. I freaked. It is hard to be calm in stained white jeans. I think it was really an accident, because he was frantic. I did not know that white jeans become see through when they are wet. We were carpooling, so I was stuck there. My boyfriend said he was sorry, but still. I am always going to worry about white jeans.
Just saw this. Was on a flight last weekend from MIA. The guy sitting next to me was wearing white jeans. I was wearing both skinny white jeans and a tight white polo shirt (girlfriend request–crazy story). Anyway, when the person came around to give out drinks, she dropped mine on the other guy’s lap. His white jeans were covered, and I felt bad. I think he was more shocked than mad. We talked a while, and later on, he was joking about spilling a drink on me to make it even. I said man, that is not even cool because I am wearing both white jeans and a white shirt. When he was holding his wine over my jeans, the plane jerked, and the cup fell. The stain was huge. I was insane, but I guess that is karma.