Abusing Grandma on an Aircraft
Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:19 pm
This isn't exactly a theme park SGT but it was a flight to MCO so it sorta/kinda counts. I was on SW, which has no assigned seating, and was fortunate enough to get the exit row window, with someone already in the aisle (I was flying solo). Across the aisle and one row back, somone had the window and there was a dude on the aisle spreading his stuff on the middle in a transparent attempt to scare people away. It worked with a granny who eyed that seat, then plopped down in the middle in my row. Once the door was closed and we were ready to go, SGG (Stupid Greedy Guest) moved his stuff and she realized it was open.
She asked me if I thought it would be okay for her to pop over there for takeoff as she really wanted to see her grandson's face in the row accross, since it was his very first flight (that was why she had wanted to that seat). I said, "Sure, it's Southwest, it's open seating." So she pops over but returns once we were airborn and said, "That man was really upset that I sat there." I told her not to worry about it, and she stayed in my row.
You'd think that would be the end of it, but when we all got up to wait to deplane, SGG lays into this poor old lady! He's all in her face telling her how rude she was to dare to step over him and sit in that seat. Finally I had to jump in to inform him that if he wants assigned seats, maybe Southwest isn't for him. I got the sense he didn't like a woman, and one in an Avenue Q t-shirt, jeans and flip-flops to boot, giving him a dose of reality (I had been in Chicago for a whirlwind theater weekend. So he says in his most condesceneding tone, "Well, I've probably flown a little more than you." In my sweetest little voice, I said, "Don't judge a book by its cover. I happen to own three businesses and have probably traveled more in my lifetime than you could ever hope to." (Probably quite true, since I didn't see his butt up there in a A-List line, were I was the third person to board).
His intelligent answer to that was, "Blah, blah, blah," and then he pushed in front of everyone and left the plane. The grandma thanked me, and another passenger also reassured her that she did nothing wrong and was just dealing with a jerk. Dude obviously forgot to take his meds this morning.
She asked me if I thought it would be okay for her to pop over there for takeoff as she really wanted to see her grandson's face in the row accross, since it was his very first flight (that was why she had wanted to that seat). I said, "Sure, it's Southwest, it's open seating." So she pops over but returns once we were airborn and said, "That man was really upset that I sat there." I told her not to worry about it, and she stayed in my row.
You'd think that would be the end of it, but when we all got up to wait to deplane, SGG lays into this poor old lady! He's all in her face telling her how rude she was to dare to step over him and sit in that seat. Finally I had to jump in to inform him that if he wants assigned seats, maybe Southwest isn't for him. I got the sense he didn't like a woman, and one in an Avenue Q t-shirt, jeans and flip-flops to boot, giving him a dose of reality (I had been in Chicago for a whirlwind theater weekend. So he says in his most condesceneding tone, "Well, I've probably flown a little more than you." In my sweetest little voice, I said, "Don't judge a book by its cover. I happen to own three businesses and have probably traveled more in my lifetime than you could ever hope to." (Probably quite true, since I didn't see his butt up there in a A-List line, were I was the third person to board).
His intelligent answer to that was, "Blah, blah, blah," and then he pushed in front of everyone and left the plane. The grandma thanked me, and another passenger also reassured her that she did nothing wrong and was just dealing with a jerk. Dude obviously forgot to take his meds this morning.