doesnt' pass the smell test etc.. is accusing them of lying, so is "seem to be overstating" how do you know |
Your husband is pretty stupid if he flies multiple times a month and hadn’t figured out that booze makes you sleepy on a flight. Not sure he’s qualified to be employed. |
How do you know? There are definitely grounds to suspect that they are overstating the man's behavior before the alleged assault and their requests to the flight attendants to change seats. Why? Because if they felt that unsafe in the seats, there's no way 99.9% of parents would ever allow their teen daughter to be seated next to an inappropriate drunken idiot. It makes no sense. Delta should have known that the man was a danger, but the mother didn't separate her daughter from him? |
Riker’s is closing, anyhow. |
I think the PP might be exhausted from searching for a diapered toddler in Alabama. |
Boozing on a flight dehydrates you and actually makes sleep less effective & refreshing. Drinking on a flight will also amplify your hangover. Anything more than 1 drink on a flight is just stupid. |
It does seem very strange that no one - including the mother and daughter - videotaped the drunken guy. |
You’re an unbearable zzz. Here’s your cookie. |
I experienced something similar on a flight from dc to Houston. I was with my husband and young kids and I was seated across the aisle from them. The man next to me was dirty and smelled bad and was visibly drunk when he got on the plane. He continued to drink non stop and at some point started pawing at his crotch and would touch my thigh. It got worse as the flight continued. I froze and it took me a very long time to do anything. He was touching me so much I told him to stop it. I was so mortified I wasn’t loud. He apologized but continued. When the attendant came by to give him his 5th or 6th drink I told her to stop serving him and that if he touched me again there would be a problem. She ignored me. I’m so embarrassed that I didn’t speak up or get loud. My husband had no clue until we got off the plane. I did complain to the attendants at the front as we were exiting the plane. No reaction whatsoever. What really made me angry was when we were boarding the next flight he was boarding with us and tried to follow me on the plane. My husband got in between us and told him to get lost. The kicker was he was seated next to a young girl who might have 12 or 13. Her father was in a seat across the aisle. I told the dad what happened to me loudly enough for everyone around us to hear including the drunk perv so the dad switched seats with his daughter. Dad and drunk perv had a blast chatting together and as we were getting off the plane dad had to mention to me what a great guy he was. Men are idiots when it comes to taking women seriously particularly about another man being inappropriate. I remember feeling stupid for speaking up. It still makes me feel sick. |
I understand and definitely agree with your last paragraph, having been in a similar situation myself. However, why on earth didn't you immediately tell your husband what the drunk guy was doing so he could switch seats with you? |
I know. It makes no sense. I felt I was the problem for not just dealing with it. I was mortified and if you knew me now you’d be stunned that I didn’t speak up. It was humiliating and embarrassing and then to have the dad go out of his way to tell me the drunk perv was a great guy. The flight attendants just ignored me and I didn’t want to create a scene in front of my kids one of whom was terrified of flying. |
Freezing is a survival instinct. Your subconscious was just trying to calculate the odds and figure out what to do to keep yourself safe. Don't beat yourself up about it. You spoke up when you had the power to change something and prevented a young girl from being harmed, regardless of her father appearing to be an idiot. You should be proud of yourself, and kind to yourself too. Freezing is a totally normal thing. We're programmed not to make a scene, right? Your brain was trying to figure out how this would play out and if drawing attention to the situation would make things better or worse for you. I'm sorry that this happened to you.
One time I was in Paris for the Tour de France finish, so there were crowds everywhere. I got a coveted spot on a bench while I was waiting for my husband to come back from using the bathroom (pre cell phones). Some smelly gross man sat next to me and started rubbing my knee. I told him to stop, and he kept doing it. Obviously I knew that I could stand up and he probably wouldn't try to physically restrain me with so many witnesses, but I didn't want to give up my seat or not be where my husband would be looking for me. I considered digging into him with my finger nails, but physical combat seemed ill advised. So I got creative . . . I flashed him crazy eyes and then I said, "Oh wow, I LOVE it when you touch me" and I smiled like a deranged person. After a beat he registered that this wasn't going how he planned and he muttered "crazy girl" and ran away. Of course, if I had been somewhere more isolated I would have had to make different calculations. This is what it is to be female. I tell my daughters that if they are in a similar situation, they should start gagging and yell, "I'm going to vomit!" because creepy a-holes want to creep but they also don't want to get thrown up on. It's also a good segue to getting up and going to the bathroom, where you can ask for help. The reason I talk them through this is because freezing is the natural first response. Your instincts take over to make sure you come out alive. |
This, a billion times over. Freezing is such an automatic response, and everyone always says, “if it were me, I’d NEVER react that way,” so we shame ourselves for it. But your body reacted—biologically, freezing makes sense against many threats, and when one’s efforts to speak are ignored, it encourages the frozen terror. I’m sorry that happened to you and glad that you were able to speak up to stop that girl from being terrified in the same way. |
My money is on the mom/daughter being fat. I’m a fat woman and the reality is that it makes men feel more entitled to assault me, while at the same time making people less inclined to believe me (because they think, why would anyone want to assault YOU?) |