The Myers-Briggs, Flying, Death, & Capitalism

[Listen to an audio version of this blog here.]

“Do you often think about death and the meaning of life?” The answers were on a scale, from strongly agree to strongly disagree. “Strongly agree,” I answered, clicking on the bright green circle to the far left of the screen. I was taking a personality test; one of those abridged Myers-Briggs. Every time I take the Myers Briggs, my score is the same (Protagonist-ENFJ). But here I was, taking a test to learn more about me, which is a bit redundant in my humbly unimportant opinion. I was taking the test in a hotel conference room that was partitioned in two for the sake of productivity. I was at a sales meeting talking about selling more things and gaining more customers and meeting quota and getting paid. In sales, our world revolves around productivity, which is both invigorating and exhausting.

Later that same day, I sat on a Delta flight from Richmond, VA to Atlanta, Georgia. Then I sat in the Atlanta airport, nibbling on a $5.00 package of grapes and a $2.50 banana. Airports are wild that way-overcharging for everything because they can. A travel-sized package of toothpaste, I noticed, was $4.49. Stale turkey sandwiches were $14. It was loud and sticky and my butt ached from sitting. A woman in the bathroom was coughing up a lung and spitting into the sink. A baby was crying on a changing…