Friday, September 28, 2007

Being Told vs. Being Asked

I bought these tickets several months ago. That's not like me, but for once I planned ahead.

It was the end of a LOOOONNNNNNGGGGG week at a trade show and I was looking forward to getting home.

I picked a window seat because I prefer to be sedentary on flights (i.e. I don't get up during flights and I don't enjoy getting up for others--sue me!).

So, when I walked up to seat 14F only to discover that an 60-ish foreign woman was there, I kindly told her that she was in the wrong seat and held up my boarding pass. It happens all the time. No big deal. She'd move and I'd be able to sit by butt down for the +3-hour flight home.

But that's when her husband (also foreign, but it doesn't matter) stood up. "I sit next to my wife. You sit here," as he pointed to the MIDDLE (yes, MIDDLE) seat in row 13 (13E, to be precise).

So, what was I supposed to do. Surely, I wouldn't demand that I get the seat I picked out nearly six months ago. The plane was full. I'd feel like an [HEE-HAWWWWWW!!!!] if I did that. But if I were in the same situation, I think that I'd go to my original seat and then ask someone if they were willing to trade. That's the way to do it--right?

It wasn't that bad. No one in my row needed to get up the entire time. However, I forgot my book that I was reading and ended up practically memorizing the Thursday edition of the USA Today. I even did the crossword puzzle.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aww, Big Doofus, you're too nice. You should have indicated that the man was number one, then demanded your seat. But no, you quietly sat in the one the old man indicated. But then again, you're niceness is one of the things I love about you. Also, I tagged you for a meme. Go to my blog and copy the meme to yours and fill it out, K? Love you.

Uvulapie said...

Go on... tell the rest of the story... how you spent the entire flight secretly using your laser pen to annoy those ne'er-do-wells.