[originaltext]Para: Hi, Fred! I haven’t seen you for some time.Fred: Hello, Pa

Para: Hi, Fred! I haven’t seen you for some time.
Fred: Hello, Pam. How nice to see you again. How are you?
Pam: Fine. How are you getting on?
Fred: Well, things at work are going quite well; but I’ve been involved in a whole lot of problems recently that have to do with business trips.
Pam: Oh, that reminds me--I read...
Fred: You wouldn’t believe the service some of the airlines provide these days!
Para: Don’t you mean one particular airline?
Fred: Well, yes, actually, Pan Am. You know I travel quite a bit in my work, but the trip I made, or rather, that I tried to make, to Boston last week...
Pam: If I’m not mistaken, it was three weeks ago...
Fred: Er...Yes, that’s right. I’ve been so upset about it, that I can’t remember when things actually happened. Anyway, I was just going up to Boston for some routine meetings, and the whole day was totally wasted because of Pan Am’s handling of their shuttle service.
Pam: But that wasn’t exactly the problem, was it? I mean airlines aren’t responsible for the weather...
Fred: Well, no. I can’t blame them for the fog but, let me see.., oh, yes, then the pilot just circled round for hours and then insisted on going to Hartford instead, so that we didn’t get back to Boston until late afternoon, when all my meetings had finished and...
Para: Mm... I think you’ve missed out some important details there--what about the fact that the plane needed to refuel?
Fred: Well, yes, after all that circling in’ the air over Boston, I suppose we were running short of gas. Now, what happened next?
Pam: Well, for a start, remember what happened when you got to Hartford?
Fred: Oh, yes, that was when people really began to be upset.  The main problem throughout the ordeal was Pan Am’s attitude. When we got to Hartford, the pilot wouldn’t let anyone leave the plane to make a phone call, and was most unpleasant when passengers complained.
Pam: I was under the impression that some people also wanted to switch from the shuttle to rent a car so that they could get to Boston on their own.
Fred: Yes, I even thought of it myself, but I mostly wanted to phone my boss to explain why I hadn’t arrived for the meeting. I just can’t understand how Pan Am could be so unreasonable in its refusal to let us leave the plane. It was so insensitive to other people’s situations, and the problem didn’t stop there--did I mention that the pilot then didn’t want to go on to Boston at all? He just wanted to return to LaGuardia from Hartford.
Pam: Yes, apparently he only changed his mind when the passengers protested.
Fred: Well, we were furious. Of course, from my point of view since my meetings were ruined, I wasn’t worried about getting to Boston any more, but some people were trying to get home to Boston, and certainly didn’t want to find themselves in New York again.
Pam: So you had a totally wasted and frustrating day...
Fred: Yes, I did, and things didn’t get better when I tried to complain about it all, once I returned to New York. But wait a minute, how come you know so much about it all? You seem to know as much of what happened as I do.
Pam: Well, as I tried to say earlier, I read your article in the New York Times.
Fred: Oh dear, sorry. I shouldn’t have got carried away with my story. Well, I won’t bother you any more with my ordeal.