Gulf Crisis, confidential （１７）　

１７) Coming home, continued

Our carrier actually was Cathay Pacific, so as soon as we arrived at the Cathay Pacific check-in counter, Mr. I started the negotiations for an upgrade. His counterpart was a middle-aged British woman ground attendant who looked a little bit mean. She admitted that this kind of service had existed, and continued that there was no such service anymore under the new manager. She also said it was a private agreement between the Japanese ambassador then and the previous manager. Mr. I, however, did not accept her explanation at all.
He hit back furiously, “You ignore the gentleman’s agreement between Cathay Pacific manager and our ambassador.
Unbelievable! You don’t know anything about diplomacy. Call the manager.” The cool ground attendant became weaker because of Mr. I’s aggressiveness and called the manager. The manager repeated the same explanation as she did. I whispered to Mr.
I, “You’d better give up now.” Mr, I responded with an unexpectedly quiet voice, “I love to continue the negotiation. It is my hobby. However, the time is up. We have to check in. Let’s quit."

When we sat on our business class seats and were sipping a welcome champagne, Mr. I restarted the same negotiation with a flight attendant. I was embarrassed and admired, at the same time, his toughness and persistency. The previous ground attendant surprisingly came into the cabin and saw Mr. I restarting negotiations there again. She opened her mouth widely and shrugged her shoulders saying nothing. It was a very funny scene. I had never seen such a tough negotiator as Mr. I. He was a born diplomat.

There was 4-hour transit time at Kaitaku Airport in Hong Kong and then 4-hour flight to Narita. When I took out my luggage and was about to leave Narita airport, Mr. I laughed at me saying I looked like a refugee. I carried a suitecase,i n-flight bag, tennis racket, 2 silk carpets rolled up and couple of plastic bags with souvenirs. His remark was just right.

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