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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

A note on rudeness

Dear lady I sat next to on the plane,

I could hear your phone conversation. I know you weren't talking to me, but you were sitting two inches away from me, so I could hear what you were saying. And I thought it was rude. Maybe I just don't have a thick skin, or maybe I just have manners and you don't. I knew you didn't want to sit by me when you gave me that nasty look as I politely smiled and shoved my diaper bag under the seat in front of me. Many people worry when they see a baby boarding a plane. "Oh no, will it sit by me? It's probably going to scream the whole time. Or, it's going to poop and I'm going to die from the smell," is probably what was going through your mind when you saw me checking which seat was mine. I understand. I prayed that my baby would sleep the whole flight, but I can't promise he will or that he won't make a peep. Was it really necessary for you to get on your phone before we took off and say, "Ya I'm in my seat. I'm sitting next to a baby." (long pause) "We'll see."? I gathered from your annoyed tone that the person you were on the phone with said something like this: "Ugh. Just your luck. Hope it doesn't cry the whole time. Or barf on you." Well, I think that was very rude of you to say with me sitting right next to you. I decided to just ignore you for two reasons 1) I'm sitting closer to you than I sit next to my own husband when we sit on our couch so I'm not really in the mood to argue about your rudeness and then have to sit next to you for an hour. 2) I don't need to apologize for having a baby and needing to use air transportation to get back home. You were a baby once. And frankly you were acting like a baby. If you wanted the perfect flight you should have bought all the seats around you to ensure that you didn't have to sit by someone who might disturb your magazine reading.
I could have been rude, too. I could have gotten on the phone and told someone that the person sitting next to me was taking up their whole seat and about 1/4 of mine. I could have asked one of the flight attendants if there were any open rows so I didn't have to sit next to you. But I didn't for 1 reason: you were the one that had a problem, not me. You can move yourself to a new seat.

Love,
your seat buddy (and the baby who slept the whole flight. You're welcome.)

9 comments:

vdg family said...

Yeesh! Some people are soooo maddening! Yet, it seems to happen every time we get on a plane too.

One time it was just me and the three kidlets and the people in the row next to us wouldn't move so R had to sit by a bunch of strangers in the row behind us.

I was a little bit of a nervous wreck, but we came out okay. My children were not that polite during that trip, and somehow I am sure I wasn't as sad about it as I would have felt if a couple of people had moved and let us sit together.

Losing Brownies said...

Ugg. Why are people so rude?

I would totally have said something to her, but I'm snarky like that.

Stephanie said...

What a freakin bizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Seriously one of the things I really love about Brazil is people LOVE children. There is no where, where kids aren't allowed. Of course this is a good and bad thing..for instance babies shouldnt go to the bar...but anyway people really love children here. Everyone plays with them, loves them, and is so excited to see them! It really is a whole different mindset. People are nice when the baby is crying, none of the cringing, snarky looks etc. I just read a blog called Regarding Annie, do you read? If not look it up, she writes columns for people in Utah, she just wrote one the other day that was interesting about having her kids and some ol lady being rude. And people were so awful in the comments too! Unbelievable!

Emily said...

You are awesome. When I flew with Elizabeth at 18 mos. we sat next to a lady who gave me the stank stare and then huffed and puffed till i thought she'd pass out. The best part was that i was only sitting there while the flight attendants found us an ENTIRE ROW all to ourselves. So there. Then, when I was getting up to leave, she offered to hold Elizabeth for me and i was like, NO THANKS!

Just A Normal Mom said...

So clearly she knows you could hear her, so I'm only left with the conclusion that she said it on purpose, intended for your ears. RUDE! Good for you for standing (or sitting) your ground.

Margaret said...

what her name? ill beat her up.
my flight experiance was nice, minus the fact that i cought a guy sneaking a peak at my accidently exposedness (if you know what i mean)while feeding. the sicko.

Tam and John said...

I love this post!! Some people, I swear :( I just found you over at Whispering Writer...great blog!

Claudia said...

Your mom must have taught you to be courteous to others. She forgot to mention that it's okay to respond in the same manner as spoken to by the other party. This is just following the golden rule-you know, returning attitude for attitude because that's how the other person evidently wants to be treated. Works for me. Proud of you for not leaving a poopy diaper in her carryon bag!

Whitney said...

I was kind of hoping he'd spit up on her. That sounds mean.