Why are people so insensitive to their surroundings? I just don’t understand why some people think its ok to invade others personal space. I recently flew to Las Vegas with my husband, parents, Aunt and Uncle to attend a family reunion. On this particular flight, there was a gentleman who was over the top annoying to pretty much all passengers. He invaded all our airspace, had absolutely no sense of himself. Ponytail Man made friends with a couple next to us on the plane and just couldn’t leave them alone, hence the annoyance to all.
I first spied Ponytail Man when we first arrived at our gate. Tall, thin, with long stringy hair, he was pacing waiting for the plane to arrive. In came The Cougar and her much younger Milk Toast boyfriend. They take a seat to wait for the plane near pacing Ponytail Man. The Cougar was tall, bleach blond hair, had some face work done, wearing high water jeans with pantyhose and slip on mules. How she kept those shoes on is a mystery to me but I digress. They struck up a conversation and that is about all I observed of them until later.
While we were waiting, enter Mr. Genius. This bozo dropped his bags off on a chair between my father and Woman Traveler and walked into the bar across the hallway. Really? You are just going to leave bags unattended?? Woman Traveler was incensed. She stopped a security officer passing by and related the story of the unattended bags. This particular security guard shrugged his shoulders and asked “what do you want me to do about it?” Now Woman Traveler was red faced and in full blown irate mode. She found a real police officer and brought him to the seat with the unattended bags. The officer asked if it was our bags, no sir. He did the once over around our area and called for back up. As a policeman on a bicycle approached, Mr. Genius walked over to his bags. After the officer reamed out the bozo, he waddled back to the bar WITH his bags. Good grief.
Finally our plane arrived. We didn’t have assigned seats, so my family and I were split up. My husband and I found seats toward the back of the plane next to a lovely older woman. The Cougar took the aisle seat next to my husband and The Milk Toast sat one aisle seat in front of her. The last person on the plane was Ponytail Man. He walks all the way to the back of the plane looking for a seat. He started complaining to the stewardess how he was tall and had to have a prime spot. Sorry sir, please find an available seat. He paced up and down the aisle looking. He settled in the front somewhere. The doors were locked and we are ready to go.
The next few hours were uneventful except for The Cougar reaching over and caressing Milk Toasts arm cooing at him. While I was reading my book, I became faintly aware of someone speaking in a fast paced tone. I looked up and to my horror saw Ponytail Man talking with The Cougar while Milk Toast sat in his seat with a blank expression. Ponytail Man had one hand on the seat in front of my husband, leaning on it causing the Very Patient Woman to bounce back and forth in her seat. He was speaking so fast I don’t think he could stop and swallow. When he would stop to take a breath, Ponytail Man would inhale and make a slurping noise. He yammered on and on for at least an hour. The Cougar was all googly-eyed, lost in this man’s babble. Her poor boyfriend just sat like a lump, staring at the tray on the back of the seat in front of him. Horray! The captain puts on the seatbelt sign, we are going through a spot of turbulence. Ponytail Man walks halfway back to his seat and turns around and walks back to The Cougar. He wanted to give her his e-mail address. Thank goodness the steward escorted him back to his seat.
Ahhhhh, a sweet 20 minutes of silence. The seatbelt sign goes off and Ponytail Man pops up out of his seat like a jack-in-the-box! Oh no, here he comes! The Lovely Lady sitting next to me says “he is so rude.” Don’t we all know it! Now The Cougar is standing chatting with Ponytail Man about restaurants in the Vegas area. The idiot is telling her that The Outback is the best restaurant in town, to forget all the fancy high end places. Then it was onto directions to go to the Grand Canyon, but not the touristy spots, no, the secret places locals go. This goes on for another 20 minutes or so. My head was pounding, eyeballs throbbing in and out of their sockets. I couldn’t even concentrate on my book, his voice was echoing around my brain. I needed Advil in a bad way. I politely excused myself from my seat and made my way to the front to find my Mother. She gave me two Advil and I went to the back of the plane to ask for some water. I made mention to the stewardess of my headache from the yammering of Ponytail Man. She laughed and said that he had been a problem the whole flight. Stewardess left to go tell the cause of my headache to have a seat; she needed to keep the aisles clear. When I got back to my seat, Lovely Lady and my husband were grateful, as well as the Very Patient Woman. Can you believe this, no sooner did he sit down he was up again. He had to run back and give The Cougar his cell phone number. This time the steward came out to usher the Ponytail Man back to his seat. Within a few minutes, the captain came on to tell us we were approaching our destination and to please prepare for landing. Thank Goodness!
Fortunately that was the last we saw of the Ponytail Man. He hastily made his way off the plane, on his way to The Outback or a secret spot on the Grand Canyon. The Cougar and her boyfriend left arm and arm, on their way to meet Ponytail Man no doubt. We all made our way to our destinations, enjoying our time in Las Vegas. In preparation for the return flight, we saw many faces that were familiar. The Lovely Lady and some gentlemen we recognized from the previous flight. We became hyper vigilant, watching and waiting for a Ponytail Man sighting. At one point, my Mother thought she saw him but thankfully, it wasn’t him. The entire plane enjoyed a quiet flight home.
What is happening to our society? People are becoming more and more uncivilized. It amazes me that nowadays men and women think they are so important and rules don’t apply to them. People plopping bags down and walking away like no one would notice. Talking loudly in an airplane is, like the Lovely Lady said, so rude. This experience will not deter me from traveling. I will, however, be in constant look out for Ponytail Man. If I ever see him again, I will be switching flights.
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