Do I have a story for you… This happened on a flight last week. My friend and I booked seats on the same row. I had the aisle and she had the window. We did this on purpose because we both like our own space. She likes to curl up against the window, I like having my leg room on the aisle, and neither of us cares about being right next to each other the whole time.

We get on the plane, stow our bags, and walk to our row. Of course, there’s already someone sitting in the middle seat. Fine, that’s their assigned seat, no problem. But the moment they see us heading toward them, they frown. I say, “Hi, that’s me on the aisle,” and my friend says she’s at the window. The guy looks back and forth between us and goes, “Oh, since you’re together, do you want me to swap so you can sit next to each other?” We both politely say, “No, we’re good, thanks.” He stares for a second like we just insulted him.

We sit down, buckle in, and get comfortable. A few minutes later, I pass my friend her headphones over his lap. That’s it. Just a quick handover. The guy huffs loudly, jerks his head toward me, and says, “If you two are going to be doing this the whole flight, maybe you should’ve booked seats together.” I tell him calmly, “Actually, we’re fine. We’re just passing something over, and we’ll mostly keep to ourselves.” My friend adds, “Yeah, we don’t really talk much when we fly.”

You’d think that would be the end of it, but no. The guy spends the next couple of hours muttering under his breath about how “inconsiderate” people are, sighing dramatically every time one of us so much as adjusts in our seats. At one point, when the drinks came around, he made a point of taking forever with his order, holding up the line, then spilling a few drops of ginger ale onto my tray table “by accident.” He smirked the whole time.

We ignored him for the rest of the flight, but I couldn’t believe how pressed he was that two people dared to sit apart on purpose. Some people really just can’t stand the idea that not everything revolves around them.

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent!