Originally Posted by caribejoe

On a recent business trip to a small, relatively lightly-visited island, there were a bunch of hurricanes banging around the Caribbean. As a result, tourism was very low.

I checked into a small hotel, atop a mountain, from which my room had a great view of the airport a few miles away. I saw the last international flight of the day arrive - and about a half-hour later I saw a taxi climbing up the winding road below. I heard it come into the courtyard.

A short while later, as I was eating dinner in the otherwise empty dining room, two young men (at my age that means anyone under 50) came in. They each had shorter than fashionable hair cuts, clearly were in great physical shape, wore the same style of sensible, comfortable shoes I've seen on cops all over the USA and had watchful eyes that took in the details of the dining room as they entered but I noted they carefully avoided contact or even acknowlegdment of me right there in front of them on the open-air deck.

They took a table away from the impressive nightime view, all the way in the back, against the wall. When I got up to leave and walked right past them, they studiously avoided eye-contact but clearly were looking carefully at the rest of me as if I might whip out a machete and chop them up.

The taxi picked them up in the morning, before breakfast, for the first international flight out.

Gee, I wonder what they do for a living?