I hate it when people act like they own the damn place
I have to say, Turkey is a bit racist in the way they look at refugees.. Maybe racist is a strong word, but they look down upon them. I am not even a refugee in their country, but I hold a refugee travel document, and I noticed it from the minute I stepped in, at the airport, in the way the officer gave me a condescending look when he saw my passport. He kept flipping it every way possible while checking the visa as if it could be forged when I did not see him doing the same with other people. I knew he was trying to intimidate me, so I made sure to give him careless looks, play with my phone, and check my watch while he was doing these "acrobatics moves" with my passport. Then when he was done, he put it on the counter without a word, but I didn't take it, and gave him a poker face until he asked me to take it and move, which what he should have done.
As I was leaving, again, when I gave my passport to the airlines there, I got weird looks as if he is seeing something very weird, but this guy was friendlier. But then he was the airline guy not an officer, and also, I was leaving the country, not getting in 🤷♀️
My flight in was great and comfy, but my flight back was terrible. Well not exactly the flight itself, but I hadn't realised that the flight was overbooked, and that my boarding-pass did not specify a seat because there were no seats available, until I reached the gates 🤷♀️ You would think that this is something the airlines would tell you when you are checking in for the flight, but no, they are only good at giving people weird looks 🤷♀️
When I was inquiring the airlines about the seats, and already got very grumpy as I learned that there is a good chance that I might be stuck there for another day for no fault of my own, other than the greedy airlines that oversell tickets to make sure that they profit to the maximum, he told me; you are on top of the list to be fitted in this flight, because you hold a refugee passport, so it is a priority to get you out, not send you back in. He probably meant well from the way he said it, and was probably trying to calm me down, but I was already grumpy and fed up with this, that I found it the perfect opportunity to be condescending back at them and was like; Well guess what, I actually do not want to stay another day in your country, unlike the assumption you all seem to have that I am dying to stay here. And then he asked me if I have visa to the place I am headed 🤷♀️ Me; No, I passed through the airlines check in, security, all the way to the gates without a visa 🤷♀️
Luckily, all three of us (who were left out) found seats, and we sat together.. The guy next to me drove me CRAZY, it was probably karma for how I treated the airline people 🤦♀️. I could have sworn this guy is the male version of nightjourney LOL 🤣. Idk he just reminded me of her every-time he opened his mouth with incoherent arguments about the seats shortage 🤣.. I was just so grumpy already even after I got the seat, and he kept talking to me about it, and we both, me and the other guy, didn't understand a word of what he was saying 🤷♀️ I was trying hard not ask him to shut up and just get over it.. I already like to be left alone when I am angry. What made it worse is that even after I put my headphones on and started watching, he'd talk to me, have me remove the headphones, only to tell me something weird that I don't understand 🤷♀️ It is already annoying when people talk to me while they can see that I have the headphones on so I am not looking for convos, but to have me remove them to tell me something incoherent, WTF!! Then he left his screen, and started watching on my screen for a while 🤦♀️ and would point things on my screen, like we are watching together or something, but I couldn't hear him and completely ignored him at this point..
The story got long (as usual) but the way people behaved there at the airport, made me think. It always amazes me how Muslim countries treat each other like shit, while of course they make speeches about the Palestinian and Muslim cause. Turkey is actually on top of the list when it comes to the eloquent speeches about Palestine, by their Islamic government, while the reality on the ground is something different. But then you find people saying things like; oh the west hate us. I was treated in such a respectful and professional way in every single Canadian airport I've been to, and I have been to a few on my last visit. Not only that, I also dealt with many people at the airport and at many governmental agencies since I was completing my immigration procedures. They've all been nothing but respectful and friendly, and this is a place where I was actually intending to stay. While I come there as a tourist and they are all condescending assuming in advance that I am going to stay illegally, even though to be granted this visa to begin with, I presented a lot of evidence to prove that I have a stable life elsewhere, so strong, that I got the visa in half a day. I hate it when people act like they own the damn place.
As I was leaving, again, when I gave my passport to the airlines there, I got weird looks as if he is seeing something very weird, but this guy was friendlier. But then he was the airline guy not an officer, and also, I was leaving the country, not getting in 🤷♀️
My flight in was great and comfy, but my flight back was terrible. Well not exactly the flight itself, but I hadn't realised that the flight was overbooked, and that my boarding-pass did not specify a seat because there were no seats available, until I reached the gates 🤷♀️ You would think that this is something the airlines would tell you when you are checking in for the flight, but no, they are only good at giving people weird looks 🤷♀️
When I was inquiring the airlines about the seats, and already got very grumpy as I learned that there is a good chance that I might be stuck there for another day for no fault of my own, other than the greedy airlines that oversell tickets to make sure that they profit to the maximum, he told me; you are on top of the list to be fitted in this flight, because you hold a refugee passport, so it is a priority to get you out, not send you back in. He probably meant well from the way he said it, and was probably trying to calm me down, but I was already grumpy and fed up with this, that I found it the perfect opportunity to be condescending back at them and was like; Well guess what, I actually do not want to stay another day in your country, unlike the assumption you all seem to have that I am dying to stay here. And then he asked me if I have visa to the place I am headed 🤷♀️ Me; No, I passed through the airlines check in, security, all the way to the gates without a visa 🤷♀️
Luckily, all three of us (who were left out) found seats, and we sat together.. The guy next to me drove me CRAZY, it was probably karma for how I treated the airline people 🤦♀️. I could have sworn this guy is the male version of nightjourney LOL 🤣. Idk he just reminded me of her every-time he opened his mouth with incoherent arguments about the seats shortage 🤣.. I was just so grumpy already even after I got the seat, and he kept talking to me about it, and we both, me and the other guy, didn't understand a word of what he was saying 🤷♀️ I was trying hard not ask him to shut up and just get over it.. I already like to be left alone when I am angry. What made it worse is that even after I put my headphones on and started watching, he'd talk to me, have me remove the headphones, only to tell me something weird that I don't understand 🤷♀️ It is already annoying when people talk to me while they can see that I have the headphones on so I am not looking for convos, but to have me remove them to tell me something incoherent, WTF!! Then he left his screen, and started watching on my screen for a while 🤦♀️ and would point things on my screen, like we are watching together or something, but I couldn't hear him and completely ignored him at this point..
The story got long (as usual) but the way people behaved there at the airport, made me think. It always amazes me how Muslim countries treat each other like shit, while of course they make speeches about the Palestinian and Muslim cause. Turkey is actually on top of the list when it comes to the eloquent speeches about Palestine, by their Islamic government, while the reality on the ground is something different. But then you find people saying things like; oh the west hate us. I was treated in such a respectful and professional way in every single Canadian airport I've been to, and I have been to a few on my last visit. Not only that, I also dealt with many people at the airport and at many governmental agencies since I was completing my immigration procedures. They've all been nothing but respectful and friendly, and this is a place where I was actually intending to stay. While I come there as a tourist and they are all condescending assuming in advance that I am going to stay illegally, even though to be granted this visa to begin with, I presented a lot of evidence to prove that I have a stable life elsewhere, so strong, that I got the visa in half a day. I hate it when people act like they own the damn place.
31-35, F
