Narcissists in the Air (and at the Gate)
Nov. 27th, 2024 12:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aWe are headed back for the mainland.
I was prepared for the entirely full flights. The island-hop over to Maui was quick and quiet, as usual. For the big jump to the mainland I made sure we had exit-row seats, which I know on these Hawaiian Airbuses are big and pretty private. There are just three pairs of seats in the main cabin where there isn't a third seat in your row, and this is one of them. (Actually, there is a third seat, but it's a jump seat for a flight attendant, used only on take-off and landing.)
I was not prepared for how many self-absorbed and selfish narcissists would be flying. I mean, I fly a few times a year, so I see how crappy people tend to act in airports. And on planes. But today was next level. Kauai was not bad, but on Maui we got to witness narcissist greatest hits such as: I'm going to change my baby on the floor of the gate area, where people are eating two feet away; I'm going to totally block access in and out of the gate with my flotilla of bags and children; and I'm going to shout into my phone while you're trying to listen for the boarding announcements, after boarding has already begun. There were of course the usual gate lice too, which were even more annoying than usual because Hawaiian was inexplicably doing its boarding through a small corridor behind the the customer service area.
A guy on the plane was even more annoying. He was flying with an infant child and a family member who I presume was his wife, but they weren't sitting together. (The guy and kiddo were, just not the guy and maybe-wife.) So his answer for that was to continually stand in the aisle right by his wife's seat with his infant child over his shoulder. Which put him hovering right over our seats, and constantly involved him stepping into our row (in front of the jump seat) as people tried to pass. For the first 30 minutes or so I just rolled my eyes at his crappy flight etiquette and waited for the crew to talk with him as they had to push past him constantly. And I figured when the child was asleep he'd knock it off.
He disappeared before the meal service and I sighed in relief, then immediately after he was back hovering in the aisle, this time swing his sleeping child back and forth.
Aisle lice.
I finally had to ask him to stop hovering over our seats. He did this wide-eyed I've-never-been-asked-to-behave-like-a-member-of-a-society thing. I explained that airlines don't like people standing in the aisles. He pointed at the no-seat-belt-sign, which was off (and which *hadn't* been when he'd started his first guard of the aisle, now an hour or so earlier). I told him they'd just said on the intercom that they preferred people to stay in their seats with their seatbelts on in case we hit turbulence. He continued his wide-eyed stare. I was raising my voice and other people were looking when I told him I'd really prefer not to get staff involved. Because they don't need that crap, especially not on one of the worst airflight days of the year. (I really didn't want to be the Karen. I mean I wouldn't be, but the staff didn't need to mediate a conflict, even after they'd ignored the obvious problem.) Thankfully, that finally sent him back to his seat.
(10 minutes later we hit turbulence and the no-seat-belt sign went on, which based on past experience he would have ignored if he'd still been standing there with his infant. Not like we haven't had turbulence between Hawaii and the mainland in the last year that sent several people to the hospital after they bounced off the ceiling, and on a Hawaiian flight if I recall correctly.)
Am I sensitive to this? Probably. I mean I don't like the looming; it's unpleasant. But the last time I got sick was 2018 after a flight to Hawaii. We'd been three rows or so up from the bathroom and there was constantly people hovering next to our seats because of the queue for the facilities. Two days later I was sick, and I remained sick (very sick!) for the entirety of our vacation. That was unfortunate. Obviously, people have to queue if there aren't sufficient bathrooms on the flight, and that was obviously a plane design that had been let out with too few. But this jackass was just standing there for no reason except he wanted to be able to talk to his wife(?) after he didn't get a seat next to her. Sorry, dude, no. Be a community member, not a self-absorbed twit.
Ugh. Why do so many people act like they're the protagonist and everyone else and everything else is just backdrop for their story? It seems particularly common among visitors to Hawaii, but I certainly see it elsewhere.
Next question: are more narcissists flying the day before Thanksgiving than on a normal travel day?
We're in the air currently. Hawaiian has signed up for evil satellite internet (Starlink) and it actually works quite well, much better than satellite internet I've used on other planes. I have to guess that's because Musk isn't very involved.
I was prepared for the entirely full flights. The island-hop over to Maui was quick and quiet, as usual. For the big jump to the mainland I made sure we had exit-row seats, which I know on these Hawaiian Airbuses are big and pretty private. There are just three pairs of seats in the main cabin where there isn't a third seat in your row, and this is one of them. (Actually, there is a third seat, but it's a jump seat for a flight attendant, used only on take-off and landing.)
I was not prepared for how many self-absorbed and selfish narcissists would be flying. I mean, I fly a few times a year, so I see how crappy people tend to act in airports. And on planes. But today was next level. Kauai was not bad, but on Maui we got to witness narcissist greatest hits such as: I'm going to change my baby on the floor of the gate area, where people are eating two feet away; I'm going to totally block access in and out of the gate with my flotilla of bags and children; and I'm going to shout into my phone while you're trying to listen for the boarding announcements, after boarding has already begun. There were of course the usual gate lice too, which were even more annoying than usual because Hawaiian was inexplicably doing its boarding through a small corridor behind the the customer service area.
A guy on the plane was even more annoying. He was flying with an infant child and a family member who I presume was his wife, but they weren't sitting together. (The guy and kiddo were, just not the guy and maybe-wife.) So his answer for that was to continually stand in the aisle right by his wife's seat with his infant child over his shoulder. Which put him hovering right over our seats, and constantly involved him stepping into our row (in front of the jump seat) as people tried to pass. For the first 30 minutes or so I just rolled my eyes at his crappy flight etiquette and waited for the crew to talk with him as they had to push past him constantly. And I figured when the child was asleep he'd knock it off.
He disappeared before the meal service and I sighed in relief, then immediately after he was back hovering in the aisle, this time swing his sleeping child back and forth.
Aisle lice.
I finally had to ask him to stop hovering over our seats. He did this wide-eyed I've-never-been-asked-to-behave-like-a-member-of-a-society thing. I explained that airlines don't like people standing in the aisles. He pointed at the no-seat-belt-sign, which was off (and which *hadn't* been when he'd started his first guard of the aisle, now an hour or so earlier). I told him they'd just said on the intercom that they preferred people to stay in their seats with their seatbelts on in case we hit turbulence. He continued his wide-eyed stare. I was raising my voice and other people were looking when I told him I'd really prefer not to get staff involved. Because they don't need that crap, especially not on one of the worst airflight days of the year. (I really didn't want to be the Karen. I mean I wouldn't be, but the staff didn't need to mediate a conflict, even after they'd ignored the obvious problem.) Thankfully, that finally sent him back to his seat.
(10 minutes later we hit turbulence and the no-seat-belt sign went on, which based on past experience he would have ignored if he'd still been standing there with his infant. Not like we haven't had turbulence between Hawaii and the mainland in the last year that sent several people to the hospital after they bounced off the ceiling, and on a Hawaiian flight if I recall correctly.)
Am I sensitive to this? Probably. I mean I don't like the looming; it's unpleasant. But the last time I got sick was 2018 after a flight to Hawaii. We'd been three rows or so up from the bathroom and there was constantly people hovering next to our seats because of the queue for the facilities. Two days later I was sick, and I remained sick (very sick!) for the entirety of our vacation. That was unfortunate. Obviously, people have to queue if there aren't sufficient bathrooms on the flight, and that was obviously a plane design that had been let out with too few. But this jackass was just standing there for no reason except he wanted to be able to talk to his wife(?) after he didn't get a seat next to her. Sorry, dude, no. Be a community member, not a self-absorbed twit.
Ugh. Why do so many people act like they're the protagonist and everyone else and everything else is just backdrop for their story? It seems particularly common among visitors to Hawaii, but I certainly see it elsewhere.
Next question: are more narcissists flying the day before Thanksgiving than on a normal travel day?
We're in the air currently. Hawaiian has signed up for evil satellite internet (Starlink) and it actually works quite well, much better than satellite internet I've used on other planes. I have to guess that's because Musk isn't very involved.