Because airplane seats are packed so closely together, even the smallest movements can be felt by the person sitting in front of you. I mean, some people wind up having to grab the seat in front of them to help them rise up to a sitting position. The resulting movement may or not be annoying to the person in that seat in front of them, but most people only do it once or twice during a flight.
Unless, apparently, you’re the passenger sitting in front of Reddit user u/IndependentClub1117. They said they were on a plane a while back and had a major problem with the man behind him continually grabbing their seatback. The way they finally got him to stop was a master class in petty revenge.
u/IndependentClub1117 said they had taken a flight from Germany to North Macedonia. Before the plane had even left the gate, they noticed that their seat was shaking. Turning around, they saw a man grabbing the back of the seat. When the guy realized they’d noticed, he pulled his hand away, and u/IndependentClub1117 assumed that was the end of it.
But it was not the end of it. (said in a Morgan Freeman voice)
Over the next 10 minutes, the man repeatedly grabbed the back of the seat. Each time, u/IndependentClub1117 leaned back against it, forcing the guy to pull his hand away.
After takeoff, the shaking started again. u/IndependentClub1117 turned around once more, but this time the man was only holding onto the very top of the seat—just out of reach. u/IndependentClub1117 dramatically looked back from the aisle and saw Mr. Seat Shaker chatting with a woman seated three rows behind him, presumably his partner. u/IndependentClub1117 guessed the couple had opted for the airline’s cheaper random seat assignment, which left them separated. As soon as their eyes met, the man once again removed his hand.
By that point, the guy had grabbed the seat at least 20 times, and u/IndependentClub1117 admitted they were more than a little irritated.
So the next time they felt the seat shaking, they decided to get creative.
Pretending to stretch, they generously licked their fingers (“nearly spit on them,” as they described it), reached behind the seat and thoroughly coated the man’s hand.
Needless to say, the guy never touched the back of their seat again for the rest of the flight.
Reddit had thoughts (because of course it did)
Of course, the people who read the post, in Reddit’s Petty Revenge subReddit, loved the story, to the tune of 10,000+ upvotes and close to 600 comments. Some readers applauded the creativity. Others admitted they were taking notes. 😆 And needless to say, some of those comments were almost as good as u/IndependentClub1117’s original story:
- I got on a flight and a middle aged woman used my seatback to get up several times. When I overheard her telling her seatmate she was going to use the restroom before the drink service I leaned slightly forward and depressed my seat recline button. As soon as she grabbed the seat it snapped back with no resistance and I let out a yelp like she’d attacked me.
Some people can be trained. She avoided my seat the rest of the flight. — CoderJoe1 - I had a woman who reached back over her head and grabbed her seat top covering the top of my screen.
I made her aware she was in my space and then she explained list how this is her seat and she can do what she wants.
I fully agreed and asked her what channel she wanted to watch. Every 15 seconds until she shut up.
Problem solved for the flight. — Username deleted - Hahaha! As a frequent and non-shy flyer, my favorite is loudly stating to my seat mate, “if you have to FART so badly please FOR THE LOVE OF GOD use the REST ROOM.” Have saved myself so much odor from this move when executed upon the first whiff. Sure, sometimes the wrong person gets embarrassed, but I notice that SOMEONE within a 4 seat vicinity will start using the lav shortly after.– AnotherRandomtrans
- Flying Brisbane to LA tall male in seat behind insisted in putting knee into back of my seat which in turn put undue pressure into my back. Decided would not put put up with that for following x hours so brought elbow with some force into back of seat coinciding with position of his knee. Much what I perceived to be swearing in foreign language followed. No further issue.– Wellkid50
Why didn’t they just ask him to stop?
Several people asked u/IndependentClub1117 why they didn’t just “use their words” (As if they hadn’t already thought of that…) and ask the guy to stop. u/IndependentClub1117 explained that the guy was not speaking the same language as them (eminder: it was an international flight between Germany and Macedonia). But also, based on the guy’s removing his hand every time OP glared at him, the guy understood that he was being an annoyance; no words needed.
Would I recommend licking your fingers and touching a stranger’s hand? Absolutely not.
But if someone insists on grabbing the back of your airplane seat more than 20 times during a flight, it’s probably safe to say they’re taking their chances.
Mr. Seat Shaker certainly did.
And judging by the fact that he never touched the seat again, Reddit’s favorite revenge of the day was also surprisingly effective.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
