Choosing a seat on a plane or, for example, a bus is always a lottery of sorts. Even if we get a good seat by the window, this joy can always be marred by an unexpected neighbor. For example, if they smell bad, have bad manners... or are simply built in such a way that they would have a place in a football defensive line.
So the man from our story today, first told by the user u/Fantastic_Sir_3517, faced with the dubious prospect of sitting next to such a burly neighbor for the entire flight, tried to cunningly avoid his fate. And what came of it - let's find out together.
More info: Reddit
The author of the post once was boarding a flight and found a man in his 50s sitting in her seat
Image credits: Getty Images / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The author politely asked the man to occupy his own seat, to which he suggested she take his one instead
Image credits: Fantastic_Sir_3517
Image credits: Tahir osman / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
However, there was a burly man next to that "free" seat, so it would be uncomfortable for anyone to sit there
Image credits: Fantastic_Sir_3517
Image credits: Aleksei Zaitcev / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
The woman insisted she wanted to occupy her booked seat - and the guy attempted to guilt-trip her
Image credits: Fantastic_Sir_3517
However, the author was adamant, so the man had to follow to his dedicated seat anyway
According to the Original Poster (OP), she arrived at the gate when about half of the passengers were already in their seats. The author had a ticket for a seat by the window - and she was very surprised when, approaching her row, she saw a man of about 50 years old in her seat. Sitting there as if he had a right to do so.
Our heroine politely pointed out to him that he was sitting in her seat, but the man, casually pointing to the empty window seat in the next row, said that she could take it. Well, the author immediately understood why he didn't like his own seat - there was a big man with the figure of a typical football linebacker sitting in the seat next to his.
In any case, this is no reason to swap places, and our heroine just as politely asked the hijacker to get up and go to his seat. He tried to guilt-trip her, saying that she was de facto forcing three men to get up. But the original poster was adamant - so the guy got up and, looking totally displeased, went to squeeze past the sitting "linebacker."
The three-hour flight went well, and the only thing that infuriated our heroine was the behavior of this man, who tried not only to make the situation more comfortable for himself but also to do it at someone else's expense. And the original poster simply decided to share this situation with netizens to discuss the guy's blatant entitlement.
Image credits: Miguel Ángel Sanz / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
"This was a classic example of an attempt to manipulate other people by creating a sense of guilt in them before third parties. Given that the only culprit in the situation was, of course, this man exactly," says Maria Kryvosheeva, a psychologist and NLP coach, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment on this case. "And he, I believe, understood this perfectly well himself."
"In such cases, people try to present the result of their impudence as some kind of 'status quo,' and when people who suffer as a result of their actions try to restore justice, they immediately accuse them of violating this status quo. Sometimes appealing to the opinion of third parties who are allegedly supposed to be offended by the return to a fair situation."
"In fact, I'm glad that this woman found the strength and self-confidence to shame the offender and make him feel guilty. Because, in fact, this is the only way to deal with such people and such behavior. To point out to the offenders that they, and only they, are to blame for it," Maria sums up.
The majority of commenters also agreed with the author that the man's behavior was out of the ordinary and that the OP's reaction was 100% right. What also outraged many responders was his completely inappropriate statement about men who are forced to stand up for a lady. For this, the OP's offender also received a separate portion of criticism. And what would you, our dear readers, do if you were in the author’s place?
People in the comments praised the author for being so confident and for putting the entitled guy in his place
