Like my pet peeve of someone sitting right next to me in a movie theater when there are plenty of open seats, I hate when people feel the need to crowd around me at the baggage claim when there’s tons of open spaces around the conveyor. I really don’t understand it. I purposefully keep my distance from where the luggage comes out because I’d rather wait a few more seconds than be standing in the midst of a crowd. I get there, I choose my spot, and I wait. It’s annoying enough that as we wait for the bags to arrive, people decide to start crowding around me…like right next to me. It’s not like we are waiting in line or something. They can stand two feet away from me.

Then the bags start coming out and they start coming closer on either side or try to get in front of me in the little space between where I stand and the conveyor. Grabbing their enormous bags forcing me to keep moving around to avoid being majorly hit by said bags. It becomes like an obstacle course or that Wipeout game on TV where I’m avoiding these large swinging foam thingies, except they are not made of foam. It’s like they can’t wait the 2 more seconds it’s going to take for the bag to get where they are standing.

Today this man was almost like pacing around me as the bags were circling. Every once in awhile he’d get right in front of me to look closely at a bag that was passing. He wouldn’t touch it. He’d just kind of bend down staring at it until it passed and then move to my left. I actually started getting a little paranoid thinking that maybe he was just going for the carry on I had on the ground between my legs…that the minute I’d move away to get my suitcase, he’d grab it and run. I know it’s silly, but he was strange.

People wanting to be in such close proximity to others they don’t know is weird. It’s like they have no concept of personal space.

I honestly have tons of pet peeves about airports and traveling. I’m not quite as organized or anal as George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air, but I have my quirks. I’ll just leaving it to the baggage claim etiquette for today.