to not be a bitch

Before I start, I'm annoying myself by splitting infinitives these days.  But then "not to be a bitch" sounds different for some reason, closer to "not to be rude but," sort of statement.  May be I should've just said to be not a bitch.  

I had this epiphany as I was traveling across South East Asia, because I was a little sissy and a pushover to people in uniform.  This first occurred when I was in an airport in Laos, at a Thai airline counter.  The lady insisted that I check my bag, which turned out to be double the allotted weight (my bag was 14kg).  I insisted that I didn't want to check it, and whether my bag is in cargo or on the overhead bin makes no difference to the airline.  She was stubborn, and after about 30 seconds of quibble, I lost. 

Now, what would a strong minded person, who refuses to take no for an answer, have done?  He would've politely asked, if there were any rules about the article of clothing a passenger can wear, (the answer is no), and proceed to wear every single piece of clothing he possibly could.  I didn't do that. 

Second instance was also in an airport.  In Bangkok, I was going through the security, when they asked to see the contents of my unchecked bag.  Now, keep in mind that I went through 9 airports and border crossings during this trip, and this was my last stop.  The problem was my shampoo and sun block, which were in a 125ml container.  Now I didn't care about the shampoo but I had bought the sun block for nearly 10 dollars, so naturally, I was pissed.  I decided to stand my ground, but after about a minute, when security guards inched closer, I threw away both of them, because I didn't want to check my bag. 

If you haven't noticed already, I absolutely hate checking bags. 

But my preferences aside, what would a strong minded person have done?  He would've said, "okay, I'll check my bag," and would've proceed to a different airport security.  I think there were about four different security checks in the BKK airport, and if I was able to go through 8 airports and border crossings, I think at least one of them would've let me keep my sun block. 

Okay, so here are my resolutions.  To be not a bitch, and to not split infinitives.  damn.