A woman recently took to Reddit to share what’s just about a flight horror show: Her fellow passenger decided to get rid of her shoes, remove her socks, and prop her dirty, bare feet on top of the headrest of the seat ahead of her.
In a post titled “This is that the one thing I’m most worried about before aged a plane,” the lady posted a photograph of her furrowed brow underneath a pair of feet that are just dangling over her head. The photo exploded on Reddit, with users who were aghast at the opposite passenger’s behavior and also wanting to share their own flight horror stories.
Reddit user Darth_Hoodieness offered sage advice —”Just rise and tell them to prevent and if they don’t listen tell a steward ” — that was quickly met with agreement or derision, counting on the mood of fellow commenters. Animeisfordorks sent back a zinger that I heartily agree with: “That’s too sensible. Grab a pen or something and tickle and nudge them first.”
Other users offered more sensible advice, like this: “I wouldn’t even bother addressing them directly. I might ask the steward to inform them to take a seat normally or ask to maneuver my sit cuz apparently person sitting behind me needs 2 places for themselves. Plus if it escalates further, the airline should fine ppl like that. That is, in a way, inappropriate behavior that disturbs other passengers.”
And my personal favorite: “Pro-life tip: Always carry chewing gum. Chewing it alleviates pain from internal ear pressure. you’ll also blow bubbles onto feet like these. ‘Oops! So sorry, rotated whilst blowing this bubble and didn’t expect to seek out anything behind me.'”
Other commenters recounted stories of once they had behaved similarly, like this one: “I felt like a [expletive] once I had to place my foot on the front wall of the plane once I was flying 11 hours with a broken foot. How is that this person even ready to accept themselves? I had a moon-boot then a sock and a slipper and that I still assume everyone thought I used to be some quite mannerless, recently caught feral child who just put their gross feet anywhere they need .”
They also shared other truly awful flight tales: “I had baby barf over the highest of my seat down onto my back… Then continued to scream at the highest of its lungs the remainder of the flight. While the guy next to me acted like an [expletive] about it but I used to be the one puked on… It might be worse.”
There was much delightfully wicked advice: “The single answer to each seat kicker, seat pusher, feet placer, etc is to lean forward, then violently slam back to the seat and making it shake. 2-3 times is typically all you would like and it’s a 100% success rate in my 100+ flights.”
And: “I had someone do this with the gap between the seat and therefore the plane, and my armrest. I lightly elbowed back and therefore the foot disappeared, halfway through the flight they tried again. What the [expletive] is wrong with people.”
Reddit user z3anon advised going full throttle: “Nope, that [expletive] ain’t gonna fly. Get the eye of a steward, announce loudly that someone’s dirty feet are being shoved into your face, which you demand to be seated elsewhere if they are not stopped permanently. Don’t bother giving the human trash that did this the chance to settle this quietly, alternatively, they’ll never learn from the shame and can do that again to somebody else .”
And many people, like Reddit user roraima_is_very_tall, celebrated the first poster’s decision to share her plight: “Best: 1) get a photo; 2) rotate and ask politely to not do that; 3) post to Reddit. Second best: photo, flight attendant, post to Reddit. 3rd: photo, fake/real sneeze on feet/other dissuasive, negative reinforcement measures, post to Reddit.”
Many commenters were simply surprised that anyone thinks this type of behavior is kosher. “I’m not a confrontational person and that I am also super patient with people. If this happened to me I might get up make eye contact and ask the individual, ‘What causes you to think this is often ok?'”
Unfortunately, the first poster has yet to update about what happened on the flight and if she ever confronted the author here, but hopefully we’ll all hear from her soon. Until then, we will ponder the eternal question this raised: “How do people lack the self-awareness to the present degree? Is it an excessive amount of to invite people to not do [expletive] like this on their own, without having to be asked or told what to try to do by someone in authority?”
