It was the return trip from Michigan to Fort Lauderdale and I was working as the lead flight attendant in the forward cabin. The gentleman arrived at the boarding door in a wheelchair; he was, what crew would say, a 'customer of size." Standing by the boarding door, I offered my hand to the gentleman as he raised himself from his wheelchair. He graciously accepted, and as I helped him into the cabin, he stopped in the middle of the forward galley and let go of my hand.
"I have seat 1F," he stated.
"Great," I replied, "you are right here in the front row."
"I'm not going to fit there. You need to find me a different seat."
"Okay, sir, we will try our best to accommodate you." I smiled.
"I need to use the restroom."
I pointed to the lavatory directly behind him in between the galley and flight deck while questioning my own sanity as to this exchange and how we were already out of orange juice from the previous flight. I focused my attention back to the new wave of passengers coming down the jetbridge as general boarding had commenced.
We were expecting a completely full flight---177 passengers with carry-on bags makes for a slow boarding process, no matter how many "welcome aboard" announcements I make on the PA system.
The gentleman emerged from the lavatory and stood in the galley next to me. In his hand was a small, white coffee cup, like one would get from Starbucks. He turned to me and held the cup about five inches from my face.
"This is my urine cup," he triumphantly exclaimed. "You see, I'm too big to use the facilities on the plane. So I pee in this here cup and dump it in the toilet."
I really didn't know how to respond, and wasn't sure if asking why he didn't use the facilities in the terminal instead was appropriate customer service, so I just smiled and said "oh, great, okay." He again reminded me that he would not be able to fit in his assigned seat, but I had him stay there for the time being as boarding continued. He coughed, cut off a woman, pushed by a small child, and took his seat in the first row at the bulkhead. Once boarding had finished, I moved him to an aisle seat in a free row so he could be more comfortable. He passed me by to visit the on-board convenience during the flight as I ate my breakfast in the forward galley; he stopped to smile and shook his cup.
Fast forward one week. I was rostered for the same trip up to Michigan. On this flight, I was working as flight attendant #2 in the back of the plane. While assisting other passengers during boarding, I noticed the same man standing in the middle of the aisle not allowing other passengers to pass by.
"Sir, please take your seat so the other passengers may board."
"Steward, you need to find me a different seat. I won't fit in this one."
Instead of having seat 1F, he now had 16D in the middle section of the cabin. I told him I would help find a different seat, but for now, he had to take his assigned seat and step out of the aisle. He complied and boarding continued.
"I remember you," he said as I stood a few rows behind him. "We did this last time," he laughed.
"Yes. We did." I was not laughing.
After boarding was complete, he decided seat 16D was fine, so there he remained for the flight. I told the rest of the crew members about his escapades from last week. They could not believe that urine cup guy was actually here.
Towards the middle of the flight, the gentleman got up from his seat and began making his way towards the back lavatories. I could see a cup in his hand, but this one was different. He had upgraded to a clear plastic tall drink cup, and I was pleased to see he was doing well for himself. Hiding against my jumpseat and the R2 exit door, I heard him enter the lavatory and lock the door. I didn't want to have another close encounter with the cup, so I walked up to the forward galley where the other three flight attendants were eating.
Ten minutes later, flight attendant #4 and I walked back to the back galley to prepare for landing, which included lavatory checks. She opened the door.
"Oh, someone left a cup in here on the vanity."
I spun around and shouted "NO. DON'T TOUCH IT!"
I took a better look in the lavatory and it was indeed the gentleman's newest urine cup displayed on the vanity for us cabin crew members to find and dispose. I wanted to bring the cup back to its rightful owner, but I thought that taking a picture with it would be a better idea before throwing it away.
Right as I was going to use the forward lavatory after the passengers deplaned, the captain called me into the flight deck.
"Hey, the First Officer and I just want to make sure you have a cup to use."
They were still laughing when I locked the lavatory door shut.
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