I usually don’t rant too much about things – especially here on It’s Just Life because I want this to be a nice friendly space with no drama. However today I have a bit of a rant. Be forewarned and click away if you don’t want to read further. It won’t hurt my feelings one bit. I will never even know.
The above picture is a picture of the control panel above MY seat on a recent Delta flight from Atlanta to Pittsburgh. I was in the window seat in Comfort Plus and enjoying a nice flight. I had turned on my reading light because I was reading a good old fashioned book and not my Kindle and it was around 5:30 pm and just dark enough to need a little extra light. I carefully angled my light away from my seat mates and made sure it was just shining on my little spot. I am considerate like that. I usually read my Kindle on flights just for this reason but I had a book club book to read and the hard copy was in my hand. I had also adjusted my little air vent a bit when I boarded (the arrow points to that control) so that I could have just a little bit of air on my face. Hot flashes, y’all.
About 5 minutes into the flight I was startled by the woman in the seat behind me standing up, leaning over the back of my seat and doing something to the controls above MY seat. I was seriously startled, as was the person in the middle seat, and I said “Oh – do you not like the light?” to which the brisk reply was “No, your air is blowing right on my face so I shut it off.”. Okay then. Honestly, I was a little speechless. Not a little. I WAS speechless. There was no asking, no conversation, just a total take over of my air vent. Now I have a hard time thinking that my little tiny air vent had enough force in the half open state I had it in to make it all the way back to the lady in the seat behind me. Honestly, there is not much air that comes out of those and the seats in Comfort Plus are fairly far away from each other.
As is my nature I did nothing. I did not re-open my vent. I did not say a thing. I sat and stewed about it the entire flight and afterwards obviously since I am writing a post about it. I am usually so aware of others and try to err on the side of being non intrusive and this incident had me flummoxed. How could I have missed this common courtesy and had the gall to have my air blow on her? Shame on me.
When I deplaned I looked back at her (because all I saw was an arm coming up above me previously) and bit my tongue. I wanted to say “I hope you never get hot flashes” or something equally snarky. But I didn’t. But I thought it. Boy, did I ever think it. I am still thinking it. I try to be kind and considerate. I would have moved the air vent if she had asked. But to just assume that it is okay to just invade someone else’s space and do something like this —just no. It’s not. So today I am even more aware of how I behave in public places, of how I mange myself and how I “present” to others around. All because of an air vent.
Please excuse me while I go find a fan. Hot flashes, y’all.
