Grumpy Grandma

My 13 hours on NW 0025 from Detroit to Narita was a very interesting experience. I got an aisle seat, which was great, but with the grumpy grandma sitting behind me, I would’ve settled for any other seat, really!

It started early on, when I suddenly felt something slightly hit my head. I realized it was a blanket that the woman behind me put on the back of my chair. The steward that passed by said, “Be careful Mam, you don’t want to hit the lady in front you.” Listening attentively, I heard her reply, “Why not?”

Whaatt??…did I hear her wrong?? Did she just say why not?? Ok…calm down, maybe I heard her wrong. But then I saw the steward look apologetically at me. Grabbing the blanket he said to the woman, “OK Ma’am, if you don’t want the blanket, then I’ll take it away from you.”

Fine…I’ll let it go… I don’t want to create problems. I stayed in my seat, and minded my own business.

After some time… the other (kinder) grandma sitting next to the grumpy grandma wanted to get up and walk around. I felt my chair being pulled back as the grumpy grandma tried to get up. I thought, Ok…she was fat and old, she needed support to get up. Then I felt her hover her body over my chair. Then she welcomed herself and positioned her hands at the top of my chair. Hellooooo??? Doesn’t she see a living being right below here? One who was trying to get some rest and sleep?? I don’t know if I was oversensitive or what, by I definitely felt as if she was invading my space. Well, it was my chair she was standing over, and my head she was forcing to move to an uncomfortable position. In short I felt disturbed, and I let that be known by moving about and sighing a bit. I repositioned my head on the chair, and waited for her to move away. I waited and waited. I looked back and saw that nobody was hovering over her chair. So if she wanted the flabby wrinkly grandma could’ve stood at her seat instead of mind. This offended me. The blood in my head was boiling to a point that could get me to explode.

So I kindly said, “Excuse me Ma’am.”
And the freakin’ old lady, just stood there, looked back at me and said nothing back
S h * t
What was that supposed to mean? Did she not hear me? Does she not know that I was irritated? Damn you white female chauvinist!
So I said again, “Excuse me Ma’am.”
And I got the same reaction.

f c u k

Now those of you who know me well enough should know what I did next.

I turned my head around and glared straight into this selfish kampungan flabby woman’s eyes. “Is there a problem Mam??!!!”
“What?”
“I said, do you have a problem? Would you mind not putting your hands on my chair?”
“I’m just waiting for my friend to come back, she’s still walking around”
How dare she reply that way!!
“Well, would you mind not putting your hands all over my chair? If you like, you can move them to your own chair!”
And with no apologies the frumpy lady shifted her hands away from my chair.

Hell, what’s wrong with this person?? Was she one of those freakin’ prejudiced Southerners, or did she just have an attitude? With all the age she’s accumulated I’m sure she should’ve known better. And where did she go to school?? Didn’t they teach her anything about being polite and acknowledging other people’s private space?

Or was it me? Was I being overly judgmental and sensitive? It’s just that never in my plentiful years of using any public transportation have I come across anyone so obnoxious, and never have I been so irritated & personally offended (except when running across those perverts on the PPD). If these were the kinds of people the States were really made of, boy was I glad to be leaving the country.

And so…that was how I began my 13 hr flight to Narita. With a maniac woman who sat behind me, who continued to disturb the whole aircraft by talking non-stop throughout the *nite* and by laughing oh so passionately at some useless movie she was watching while everybody was trying to get some sleep. But at least she was kind to the baby sitting next to her.
So I wonder? Did I read the wrong signals? Was it she with the attitude? Or was it me who she thought had the attitude? Well whichever way it was, she certainly made me feel uncomfortable. And I certainly showed it to her.