OPEN POST:Petty Father Gets Petty On a Plane.

We all understand the challenges of air travel, especially during those less-than-ideal moments when some fellow passenger decides not to honor unspoken rules. Imagine the frustration of dealing with someone incessantly kicking the back of your seat on top of the usual discomforts of flying. One 14-year-old girl experienced this when she was flying with her father, and a child behind her began repeatedly kicking her seat. Over and over, the brat kicked her seat, leaving her with very few options other than to leap over the back of the seat and murder the mini tyrant. 

Around 10 minutes into the nighttime flight, the child behind her, about 9 or 10 years old, started kicking her seat. Despite her polite request to stop, the kicking persisted. Her father then decided the best course of action was to be as petty as possible and leaned his chair as far back as it would go, cutting off access to his daughter in the process. 

The kicking child's father reacted angrily, hailed the flight attendant, and demanded she do something immediately! This treatment was unfair! Poor Junior was cramped and upset! And he wasn't doing anything wrong! He's a poor, misunderstood lamb! The flight attendant was having none of it, sussed the situation correctly, and did absolutely nothing. Things further escalated and got a wee touch ugly before simmering down, with the standoff producing a winner. Eventually, the child's parents managed to stop the kicking, but not without giving disapproving looks to the girl, her father, and the flight attendant.

The father kept his seat reclined for a solid extra hour before finally returning it upright. He was really leaning into the petty, leaving the idiots behind him with no recourse except to sit there fuming. 

The hero of the story is the Dad, of course. He didn't resort to violence; nay, he just leaned his ass back and made sure they were made uncomfortable for as long as possible. The kicker and his enablers will think twice about kicking someone's chair next time, and if I am ever unlucky enough to be caught on a flight with a mini tyrant, I already have a plan. Snatch them up and stuff them into the overhead bin. 

I forgot to add that in Ireland, one of the airlines puts a thing on the back of chairs that delivers small shocks to the feet of wayward children if they try to kick a chair.