9.11.2009

Travel Etiquette~ Airplane Seat Invasion and Man Hair



I had a flight Tuesday on the lovely Southwest, which means open seating and misery for a frequent flyer. I boarded the plane and found a lovely, isolated window seat. A small lady took the aisle seat, perfect! I had my fingers crossed that nobody would take the middle seat. Well, no such luck. A very large man, about 6'5", decided to sit in the middle seat. I wondered if he chose our middle seat because we were both smaller and he figured he could invade my seat.

Invade my seat is exactly what he did. He fell asleep with his arm hanging over the arm rest and into my seat. I almost removed the Vera Bradley tape measure from my purse to see how much of his hairy arm was in my personal space. I decided not to use the tape measure; I thought we would have an awkward situation if he woke up and I was measuring his arm.

I used my best judgment and determined that his arm was about 3 inches over the arm rest into my seat. Not only was his arm 3 inches in my seat, his arm hair was about 1 inch long, which made it a total of 4 inches. The worst part is his arm hair kept touching me! GROSS.

Speaking of arm hair, I dated a guy once and on our first date, he asked me what I didn’t like about guys. I replied, “Do you mean personality traits or physical appearance?” He said, “Either.” Well, there are many things I don’t like but clearly I’m not going to tell him. I was having a good time and I wanted a second date. So I replied, “Umm… hairy men.”

Two months later I was at his house. We had been outside all day at the Geaux Tigers Game (LSU). He changed his shirt and when I saw his back I said, “Oh my gosh, what happened to you?” His back was full of giant, red whelps. He said, “Well, you told me you don’t like hairy men. I have a little back hair. So I had my back waxed, which I’ve never done and I had a bad reaction.” I felt bad but what kind of question is that for a first date.

I am SO glad I’m a girl. Doesn’t all that man hair look hot? And nasty? And itchy? The moral of the story… don’t invade your neighbor's airplane seat and if you do wax your arms.

19 comments:

Mrs. Foodie said...

I had the same exact thing happen to me on a Southwest flight from Las Vegas to Jacksonville, Fl (home for me). I had to sit next to a body builder looking guy. He was into kickboxing and talked to me about ultimate fighting the entire time. He was reading a book called "the zen of hand to face combat."

The only good news was that he didn't have any hair b/c he waxed it all off to make his muscles look bigger!

Jill said...

I just have to say "Oh my" to both of those situations. Girl! The man in the middle seat would have sent me over the edge. I probably would have gotten up and gone to the bathroom at least 4 times just to get on his nerves. And how sad for that guy you dated. He must have really liked you! Bless his heart.

Tami said...

Hi Jill....The fog is lifting over here and I'm just starting to catch up on blogs....

This post was so appropriate given our recent very LONG trip to China. I think you'll appreciate this story...

On the way home, during the leg from HK-SF we had a very large, HAIRY gentleman seated in front of us. You may be asking...so what's the problem?? WELL, he probably had not taken a shower in quite a few days and had THE WORST BO ever!! Then you ad the air button, which of course was was turned on full blast pointed back toward us...AARRGGGHHH. I would have paid someone serious money to accidentally spill some perfume all over him. The individuals on either side of him were leaning as far away from him as possible. We made it but, I can still smell that smell in my head to this day!!

Hugs, Tam

TanyaLea said...

HILARIOUS...or should I say hilHAIRious!? :) LOL!!!

oh man!...I feel sorry for you that you had to deal with that! ICK!!! :oP

In This Wonderful Life said...

oh no!!! icky icky icky! So sorry this happened. Let's event some kind of screen we can hang between our seat and the person next to us!!

Sweet Simplicity said...

Yuck! I'm not sure what I would have done in that situation, but I'm not sure I could have sat there with that big hairy arm in my seat. ew!

btw, I ordered some of that olive oil and I made a balsamic vin. bread dip with it and it was AMAZING!

Rachel H. said...

Disgusting!! What a terrible flight?! Sorry that you had to endure such pain. I don't know any or many women that like men with lots of back hair!

THE Stephanie said...

Yuck, yuck, yuck!!! I can't stand hairy men!! Luckily I'm married to a hair-less man, so I no longer have to worry about that. LOL

Jennifer said...

Hahaha that is too funny! But I agree--I hate it when big men feel the need to invade the seat next to them. I always get stuck next to that guy!

That Pink Girl said...

Okay, your story is hilar, but horrible too! The seats are always so teeny, I wonder how big guys fit themselves into them. Now I know, they don't!

LWLH said...

lol...you should have pushed his arm! :)

Kate said...

This made me laugh because I just pictured my dad (really tall and has really hairy arms) and what people think when he sits down next to them, hahaha. Though I think my dad doesn't invade peoples' space!

My pet peeve is when the person next to me falls asleep and rests their head on me. I HATE IT!

Woman Interrupted said...

Isn't that the seating outcome we all dread on any flight?!

midnight macaroons said...

GEAUX TIGERS!!! Hubby was a LSU Tiger. Your story about your date was so cute. Now that's love...he waxed his back for you, awww...

I think we've flown with the same big hairy guy, LOL! Last year I flew back with him on a flight from Austin to San Diego. He must get around.

d.a.r. said...

Ewww!!! So gross.

CAC muffin said...

hahah I'm still laughing at the thought of you measure a sleeping strangers arm hahaha LOVE IT!I mean really what do you say when they wake up- hi ur in my space? So i thought i would measure how much hahahah

Jules said...

I love reading about your ridiculous adventures in traveling. I must say that it is almost like playing the lottery and whenever I'm in a situation like that, I say a little prayer that no one sits in the empty seat. That would have been hysterical if you took out the VB tape measure.

That is also a really funny story about the guy you were dating. It's kind of sweet that he waxed for you, but that is a strange question for a first date.

I just saw your comments on my cooking post and I have not read Paula Deen's book. It sounds good and I sent you an email :)

Danielle Moss said...

GREAT moral of the story. Very clever, witty, and funny. ;)

Love this post.

Danielle Moss said...

BTW you should blog for southwest. One woman whose blog I did does that!