People are strange, or maybe it's me...

I was on a 2 hour Southwest flight recently, with only about 30 people on a 737 that carries ~200 people.

So I board, and take an aisle seat in a row, and plant my bag in the center seat, leaving the window seat empty.

As various people board, each taking their seats, one guy stops by my row, and asks if the window seat is open. I said yes, but that he could take another seat and have his own row. He replies "no thanks, I want that seat."

I get up and let the guy take the window seat. Then I get my bag and find another empty row to sit down for the rest of the flight so I could have more room.

I was like "WTH, why would he want to sit in the same row as me when he could have his own empty row??"

Kind of reminds me of the scene from Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle - where Kumar is peeing by a bush in the middle of nowhere, and all of a sudden another dude shows up, and goes to pee in the same bush next to Kumar, even though there are literally hundreds of bushes around for the guy to use further away from Kumar.

I dunno why that dude wanted to sit in the same section of seats as me. I like my privacy and space, and the flexibility to lay down in the 3 seats across if I wanted to. I dunno, maybe I'm the strange one? :shrug::ironic:

Somes ideas:

1 - Dude was lonely, and was hoping to have someone to talk to during the flight.

2 - Dude gets along better with guys than girls, and was hoping you'd be his new "special friend."

3 - Dude wanted that seat cause it was his lucky number.

4 - Dude wanted to mess with you by being an @$$.

maybe your window seat had an unobscured view of eveything, and the one behind had some wing blocking the view?


but thats not a fun enough theory...maybe he was a spy and there was a message hiddne for him under that particular seat?

or better yet, he was to pick up the "lifejacket" and transport it to an undisclosed location.

Crenshaw

some people are social creatures, sometimes people feel like being left alone. You just met someone who was the former when you were the latter. QED

It'd be funny if it was his seat number and he felt compelled to sit there.

I was sitting in an almost empty movie theater and some guy and his date came along and sat exactly in front of me. Funny how that kind of stuff seems to happen.

Maybe he was just one of those folks that freaks out when they fly and for some reason he felt safer in that seat? We can speculate all over the place I guess.

Unless I was traveling with someone I knew & wanted to sit next to them...I'd prefer my own row as well. :thinking: :shrug:

Monocrom said:

Somes ideas:

1 - Dude was lonely, and was hoping to have someone to talk to during the flight.

2 - Dude gets along better with guys than girls, and was hoping you'd be his new "special friend."

3 - Dude wanted that seat cause it was his lucky number.

4 - Dude wanted to mess with you by being an @$$.

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5 - Dude was afraid of flying and was happier to have someone nearby.

All the above.

I'll sit in the middle to have an escape row.

Once had a flight attendent tell me that when people get on airplanes or elevators their IQ drops 30 points.

I've occasionally had this happen to me on either trains or buses (I don't fly). Usually they're looking for someone to chit-chat with. Unfortunately for them, the majority of times it happened I was dead tired from work or school, so I just wasn't in the mood. I would just close my eyes and pretend to be sleeping. Going to another seat was an option, but to me it seems a little rude unless the person has strong BO, or tries to sexually molest you (happened to me once). The vast majority of people who try to talk with strangers on public transit tend to be elderly. I guess they have nobody. If I wasn't really sleepy, I've sometimes went along and talked a bit. More often than not however, I'm just not in the mood for random chit chat unless it happens to be an attractive member of the opposite sex. :naughty: Yes, that has occasionally happened to me as well, mostly on the subways.

Oh great... I'm getting on a Southwest flight this afternoon. And I do *NOT* like people invading my space. Now I have one more thing to be cranky about... :scowl:

jtr1962 said:

.... I'm just not in the mood for random chit chat unless it happens to be an attractive member of the opposite sex. :naughty: Yes, that has occasionally happened to me as well, mostly on the subways.

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On the NYC subway system?? I find that a bit hard to believe. No one talks to anyone on the subway. The last time I spoke to some random stranger on the subway was when an annoying little pr**k keep playing with his cellphone. Every few seconds, it made a loud and obnoxious beeping sound. I didn't say anything for several stops. When it became clear that the moron was just going to keep on playing with it, I reminded him that there were other people in the same train car....

I reminded him rather loudly. Being 6' 2," almost 300 pounds, and looking like the psycho from "Full Metal Jacket," the moron decided to put his cellphone away.

But you must be one really handsome dude to get hit on by girls, on the subway..... Hmmm, you sure they weren't hookers?

My guess is he wanted company but when you suggested that there were empty rows available, he should have taken the hint that you didn't want any and moved on. It's never happened to me but I've seen it happen to others. I usually don't mind being social but an airplane is one place I'd rather be left alone if I can. You don't get many opportunities to spread out and have privacy on an airplane. You need to take advantage of those opportunities when they arise.

Just put in a set of earphones. Don't even need a player. Has worked for me for many years.

Monocrom said:

But you must be one really handsome dude to get hit on by girls, on the subway..... Hmmm, you sure they weren't hookers?

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Believe me, they weren't hookers. I find hookers or anyone who dresses like them totally repulsive. The majority looked like students, either high school or college, perhaps 5 to 10 years younger than I was at the time, and mostly Asian (not surprising given the trains I ride). I'm not saying this happened every single time I was on the subway, but it happened enough. I wasn't getting hit on in the strict sense of the word as far as I could tell, but then again I'm so dense with things like that I probably wouldn't have realized it if I were. As for why, probably because I dress and look fairly non-threatening, I'm only 5'9" which I guess is short for a guy these days. Back when I rode the subways a lot I was around 160-165 pounds, fairly small build, probably looked like I was in high school even at 30 (now at 45 I can't pass for teens any more, but maybe mid to late 20s on a good day). And I did get hit on while cycling quite a bit, catcalls and all. No, I didn't enjoy it. It gave me some insight into what attractive females go through whenever they walk by a construction site. As for looks, I'd say I'm average (my opinion only, maybe I'm better than average, maybe worse than average) but maybe just the fact I had a halfway decent build from all that cycling I did at the time, instead of being fat like even a lot of mid-20s people are, had something to do with it. Now I'm about 25-30 pounds heavier (trying to lose the weight), and older so I doubt this kind of thing would happen as often, if at all. I'll also add that more often than not random strangers conversing with me were simply lonely, elderly people, not somewhat attractive young girls (some of them were just young, but not at all attractive). No, I never asked for phone numbers and was never asked for mine. For my part I probably would have been too timid to do so. Only saw a few I might have liked to date anyway. Most were lacking in either looks or personality or both. Maybe talking to random strangers on the subway was an act of desperation for them? To talk with me they probably had to be desperate.

And yes, I do see people hitting on each other in the subways more than you think. Now that people feel fairly safe down there, they feel a lot more comfortable interacting with strangers. I think I read that the L train was probably the best one for this. I think the F which you used to take was one of the worst. Between the crowding and delays people on that train are just too tense to casually interact with each other. How you carry yourself has a lot to do with it. If you put up an invisible wall nobody's ever going to approach you.

Greta said:

Oh great... I'm getting on a Southwest flight this afternoon. And I do *NOT* like people invading my space. Now I have one more thing to be cranky about... :scowl:

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I'm sure you'll have a good flight Greta! I spoke to the flight attendant who was really nice, and she even brought me an extra Bailey's Irish Creme!! :thumbsup:

Have a safe flight. :wave:

Sigman said:

Maybe he was just one of those folks that freaks out when they fly and for some reason he felt safer in that seat? We can speculate all over the place I guess.

Unless I was traveling with someone I knew & wanted to sit next to them...I'd prefer my own row as well. :thinking: :shrug:

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That could be, but I sent out a lot of signals that I was not in the mood for anyone to invade my space, including placing my bag in the seat next to me, sitting on the aisle with my legs blocking the row, pretending be a bit asleep with my eyes semi-closed.

It was just odd enough to have that happen. I was seriously looking around for a candid camera or something, in case this guy was part of a prank or something.

BIGIRON said:

Just put in a set of earphones. Don't even need a player. Has worked for me for many years.

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That works for me to not have people talk to me, but it didn't work in the case of trying to get people to not sit close to me. :candle:

Maybe next time I need to talk to myself strangely, kind of like "yes master, that person looks delicious!! My precious..." :tinfoil::nana:

jtr1962 said:

I've occasionally had this happen to me on either trains or buses (I don't fly). Usually they're looking for someone to chit-chat with. Unfortunately for them, the majority of times it happened I was dead tired from work or school, so I just wasn't in the mood. I would just close my eyes and pretend to be sleeping. Going to another seat was an option, but to me it seems a little rude unless the person has strong BO, or tries to sexually molest you (happened to me once). The vast majority of people who try to talk with strangers on public transit tend to be elderly. I guess they have nobody. If I wasn't really sleepy, I've sometimes went along and talked a bit. More often than not however, I'm just not in the mood for random chit chat unless it happens to be an attractive member of the opposite sex. :naughty: Yes, that has occasionally happened to me as well, mostly on the subways.

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Interesting. Yea unless it's a drop dead gorgeous chick, generally I'm not interested in talking to anyone. I'm usually tired or trying to get work done, so I have no interest in yakking during my flights.

LED-holic said:

Maybe next time I need to talk to myself strangely, kind of like "yes master, that person looks delicious!! My precious..." :tinfoil::nana:

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Also practice drooling, and perhaps don't wash for two weeks before the flight. If that doesn't work, then nothing will.

BTW, I can do a pretty good imitation of Gollum myself.

jtr1962 said:

Also practice drooling, and perhaps don't wash for two weeks before the flight. If that doesn't work, then nothing will.

BTW, I can do a pretty good imitation of Gollum myself.

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LOL

Not washing for 2 weeks would be kind'a hard for the wife.

She already thinks I'm strange being such an addict to flashlights, if I do this she'll have me certified and shipped off to an institution!! :wave::wave: