03 October 2023 , 12:50
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It can be hard to keep your cool on a flight. Being cooped up with a group of people for hours, particularly if they are inconsiderate or disruptive, can result in a very stressful experience for all concerned. For one man, it all came to a head when his son kept getting smacked on the back of the head by a fellow passenger's backpack. But he has admitted that his own wife doesn't agree with his actions.
The dad, his wife and son had been on a flight, and, as they prepared to disembark, a man next to them stood up in the aisle and put on his large backpack. The man was frequently moving and turning around, causing his bag to keep hitting the son.
"I didn't notice but my wife told my son to watch his head as this man was turning and shifting around and apparently kept smacking and my son in the head and face. After my wife told my son to watch himself I interjected and said he doesn't have to watch his head, the guy with the backpack needed to watch what he was doing," the anonymous dad shared on Reddit. "The man overheard us and tried to offer some lame excuse about having to do something and I told him he was smacking my son and needed to be more careful."
"My wife got mad at me for calling the guy out but I maintain my position that that guy was being a d**k and my son didn't have to move to accommodate morons." He then asked if he was in the wrong for confronting the man.
"Not the a**hole. Guy was lacking common courtesy," one user replied. "If you are in an aisle with your backpack on, it's YOUR duty to make sure you aren't inconveniencing people around you. Your wife was probably trying to minimise potential conflict, but you were not in the wrong."
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A second echoed: "He should have been aware of his surroundings, if he didn't mean to do it he should have apologised rather than giving some lame excuse."
A third said: "Where was your son supposed to move to get out of the way if he was seated on a plane? The guy with the backpack was the a**hole. I always hold my bag in front of me until I deplane so I don't do that exact thing of smacking someone."
But a fourth argued: "Not sure what to say about this one, not enough context but I'm assuming your son wasn't just sitting there doing nothing allowing himself to be hit in the face, unless he's a young child... Sounds like the guy was a pretty standard airplane passenger not aware of his surroundings and likely had no idea he was hitting your son in the face. A simple 'hey buddy please watch the backpack' would likely have sufficed.
"More concerning to me is that something this basic that requires only standard level communication caused a fight between you and your wife. I see a lot of comments from people saying the guy has no courtesy and needs to be put in his place or whatever, I think a lot of people are just very unaware of their surroundings (annoying yes but welcome to life) and usually a simple and kind toned request to be more wary works wonders.
Admitting they weren't on the man's side, the commenter said they decided "considering aggressive this post is about a very standard sounding accident on the part of a stranger being unaware (annoying but not worthy of this level of aggression, unless he started yelling at you or refused to change his behaviour and somehow decided to just keep hitting your son with his backpack knowingly... which sounds ridiculously unlikely)."
Do you agree? Let us know in the comments...