Diary Entry #2: SHOCKING STORIES - What I witnessed while working @ LAX
BEFORE COVID-19 HIT ME AND I LOST MY JOB; I worked for an international airline @ the famous LAX airport.
I would always meet new travelers, so it’s no surprise I’ve gathered some funny, scary, and just plain bizarre stories along the way.
Now I’m here to share some of my top favorites.
GRAB A DRINK, SIT BACK, & ENJOY!
MYSTERY ITEM
WHAT CAN I BRING & WHAT CAN’T I BRING ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE A TRAVELERS QUESTION.
As usual, while checking in a passenger I ask if any of the prohibited items are within the luggage. One time I had a passenger who claimed no, but just as I’m about to send his luggage away to the bag room (a place no one wants to be, the place where all the bags at the airport go through before boarding your flight) he asks if he can take laundry detergent. Immediately, I hold his bag and ask him to open it and what a surprise we found.
Not only did he have 2 gallons of unallowed laundry detergent, but zip ties as well. What’s even crazier was the chainsaw inside his luggage! Due to all the suspicious items, extra security was enforced and those items were removed.
Everything thats left behind stays in the office for three months and if no one collects it we get to keep them or they get donated to charity. However, that chainsaw is now part of the office decor.
THE SUICIDE
HE LOVED HER TO DEATH!
One of many nights, after going through security I was stopped. I wasn’t allowed to proceed, not forward not backwards not anywhere.The only hallway to walk through and get to any of the flight gates in the terminal was blocked and everything was suddenly SHUT DOWN!
( Side Note: Yes, I have to go through security all the time. I do it several times during a work shift - I get to cut the line and can escort passengers through, if we want to).
No one was being allowed to go through, and it quickly got filled with cops. Nosy as I am I wanted to know what was going on, but no one would seem to tell us. I tend to think a little crazy and I thought well what’s crazier than a bomb alert. I tried to peak over as I was only steps away, but it was taped off and heavily covered up. I want to say we were held back for a good 30 minutes. Then I was able to return to my duties. So I carried on, boarded the flight, and returned later that night into the office for a debriefing. That’s when I got my answers.
An LAX employee had broken up with his girlfriend, and according to his coworkers, he seemed pretty heartbroken for the past two days. However, that night he was smiling and laughing, even making jokes. He did mention he’d kill himself to them but did so with a smile. No one thought too much of it as he seemed to be doing way better then the past days.
He wasn’t! That was the night he jumped off with a smile (caught on footage) over the glass bridge hallway. Below was the Custom border patrol entrance and further down was the baggage claim area where his body and brains shattered. BLOOD WAS EVERYWHERE! The next morning from the top of the bridge hallway you could see a slight faded layout of where his body had dispersed onto the white floor. As the days went by the stain was washed away with a immense amount of chemicals that the cleaning crew used.
AVATAR 2
THIS STORY IS MUCH NICER THAN THE PREVIOUS.
This story is a much nicer one than the previous. Yet another unexpected day at work. I showed up at debriefing and I got told I’d be escorting a VIP today.
Sometimes we see celebrities like Jason Mamoa (Aquaman), Youtube influencers faking blindfolded vacations, the rapper PnB Rock, or Guy Labliberte traveling to his private island (the man behind Cirque du Soleil).
But this day was different, on this day I met the one and only James Cameron. Him and his production crew were headed to New Zealand to start the filming of Avatar 2. He’s created some of my favorite films and I simply had nothing to say other than a dumb dad joke.
He laughed at it, and if I’m honest that was about it - and we departed ways. Nice man.
LITTLE BLUE PILL
A CONVERSATION KILLER.
“Next in line”, I called. A Chinese elderly passenger wearing a suit, headed to Japan, approached my counter. He had a light handbag for luggage. My thoughts were, “he’s going on a business trip.” That is until I opened up his passport holder.
In less than seconds I had little blue pills spilling all over my counter. The more I continued to remove his passport from the passport holder to swipe it, the more viagra pills seemed to come out of the pouch. I collected his pills (about 13) and as I handed them over; I looked up and he had a frozen smile on his face. We didn’t speak much afterwards. It was really hard not to laugh.
