Recently, something happened to me that had never happened before. I was in a situation where the two choices I had were to be professionally embarrassed or to have my pants fall down. You read that right. Not only that, but I was almost 900 miles from home and the resources to solve the problem.

However, I got lucky in the sense that planning produces luck. After reading this story, you may change the way you pack for trips.

This is the story about the problem, the solution, and kind of a reaction by a real jerk, and the lessons I took away from being unbelted.

PART 1: 5:00 AM

As this is being written, I am sitting in a hotel room in Cincinnati without a belt, getting ready for a full day of meetings with my biggest and best client.

Well, I’m not exactly without a belt. I have a broken belt, and I have no idea how I am going to move forward and keep my pants up all day.

Let me explain. It is one of those reversible belts, you can reach out to me for the brand name, but because I don’t have a legal department, I am not going to share the brand publicly. The buckle pivots on a single pin and voila it is a black belt or a brown belt.

The pin broke as I was buckling up after a restroom visit. The buckle came loose, and the belt fell apart. Since I was in the airport. I placed the belt pieces into my backpack and hopped on the plane. When I arrived at my destination, I took a strip of duct tape and placed it on the belt in such a way that the belt was together and working again.

For 15 minutes.

I spent the rest of the day being very, very careful and hitching up my pants a lot because I didn’t have a working belt. (That is a phrase I’ve never uttered or written before).

The good news for my dilemma, and maybe a further condemnation of my shopping ability, is that a couple of months ago on a prior visit to the same client, the zipper on a pair of pants broke. I know it sounds like I am making this up, but it is true.

The facilities director at the agency found me some duct tape and I was able to tape up the zipper area and make it safely through the day and back home without an incident. 

For some reason, I kept two extra strips of the duct tape on the top of my laptop. It seemed like a simple safety measure. That leftover tape was the reason I was able to secure my belt for 15 minutes of safety.

With time on my hands, and with a tiny office supply kit that I travel with that includes paper clips, white out, a ruler, a highlighter, a pen and, yes, a stapler, I decided to try more duct tape and for additional safety or time, to staple the duct tape to the belt to secure the connection better and to see how long it could last. I also taped the end of the belt to the belt for added security as you can see from the selfie below.

I have about 7 hours of meetings today, and then will hop on a 2-hour plane trip to Boston. Once I get to my car in the garage at the airport in Boston, I will literally be home free.

PART 2: 2:30 PM

So far so good with the belt solution. 

That confidence took a hit when I passed through the metal detector at the airport. This equipment varies by airport and location in terms of sensitivity, but in a TSA Precheck line, it never, ever goes off when I wear my belt.

Of course, today was different. 

When it beeped, the look on my face must have been ‘unique’ and I hesitated for a second when the not-so-friendly TSA agent told me to go back through and take off my belt. He must have thought I was ignoring his directions as I froze.

In his mind, I didn’t react fast enough, probably because I was processing what needed to happen.

Or alternatively, he might have thought I was deaf, so he decided to yell at me.

I went back and carefully removed the duct tape holding my belt together while holding my breath, and carefully passed it through the detector to the jerk who was yelling at me and gave him a chance to yell at me again to come through.

I did, no beep, he gave me my belt and said: “Have the day you deserve,” in a totally snarky, very loud, manner.

I didn't think it would be a good idea to curse a Homeland Security Agent on the eve of 9/11, so I bit my tongue. Since I travel to the airport on a regular basis, I may have another opportunity to meet him, and I know exactly what I'll say: "Have the day you deserve."

Four hours later, I was safely home, and the belt was untaped and discarded. I started thinking about a couple of small lessons learned.

First, some will not find it hard to believe that I traveled with duct tape and a stapler and that increased my readiness to solve the belt problem. 

I don’t recommend everyone travel with those two items, but I do recommend that you think ahead when you travel because it is easier to anticipate needs, sometimes, than it is to react to a situation and wish you had something.

Because travel is part of my job, I try to be prepared for common, or uncommon things. For example, the same day this happened, the meeting schedule meant that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to have lunch. But I had a couple of protein bars that held me over. I always have protein bars in my backpack. 

I also travel with a small printer in my carryon, because more often than not, I need to print something at the hotel for an upcoming meeting.

I also have a bag of every kind of cord you can think of for charging or connecting things.

Second, when something unusual happens, don’t panic. Spend your energy thinking of solutions instead of worrying or obsessing about the problem. 

I went step by step, knowing that I had duct tape, and after that initial attempt failed, I looked at my mini-stapler and put one and one together.

Sure, it is ok to say ‘oh sh*t’ we all do that. But the quicker you pivot to solution-based thinking and away from victim-based thinking, the faster and better the solution will be.

Without making apologies for the jerk at the airport, the know-it-all knew, just knew, that I was a reluctant belt remover, and he knew I was trying to influence him into letting me go through. Even though it was far from the truth, it was the truth in his mind.

As I collected my bags, I made eye contact with a fellow traveler who had observed the entire incident and I just looked at her and said, ‘what an a-hole he is’ and she nodded and said, ‘he’s like that every time I am here.’ 

While that made me feel better about the situation, I also realized that the expression on your face is ‘interpreted’ by others, every day and everywhere, and they assume they are right in their assessment. There is value in a poker-face is maybe the lesson here.

And, of course, the most valuable lesson of all, make sure that you have duct tape near, because it has many uses, and you, like me, might discover a new way to use it when you least expect it.