Found the other "Don’t bother me" article on flying
Tags :Rant
This is way outside the normal for me, but
what the heck, let me just cut and paste most of the article. It
was perfect and it is darn early. I just woke up and that guy is
still talking over there. I am thinking the mask idea below might
work. :-)
Shutting Out The Chatty
Fellow Flier
By Keith L. Alexander
As she settled into her aisle seat preparing for a three-hour flight
from Orange County, Calif., to Chicago on United Airlines last month, Joy
Denman only wanted to get lost in the pages of her book.
But the man in the window seat had other plans. He was a Sunday school
teacher and wanted to find out where the Georgetown history teacher stood
in her spiritual beliefs.
For the first hour of the flight, Denman's seatmate grilled her on her
knowledge of the Bible and Mormons and spent some time proselytizing his
beliefs.
When a flight attendant offered headphones for a Harry Potter movie, Denman
snatched them up and got a break from her persistent seatmate. But when
the movie ended, the man in the window seat -- who hadn't watched the film
-- wanted to discuss what he perceived to be the demonic symbols in Harry
Potter.
As soon as the plane landed in Chicago, Denman ducked into the airport's
ladies room.
After a hectic business trip, many travelers want to flop aboard their
flight to relax, read or catch a quick nap. But often their plans are foiled
by a chatty seatmate who doesn't seem to recognize -- or chooses to ignore
-- their nonverbal cues asking for some solitude. Some frequent fliers
have developed strategies to beat back annoying conversationalists -- from
the nearly rude and direct to the subtle and sometimes effective.
Attorney Hollie Reedy of Columbus said her husband, Rocko, a rock-and-roll
production manager who has worked for U2 and Journey, throws a blanket
over his head and tells the flight attendant in earshot of his seatmate
that he'll be sleeping during the flight and is not to be disturbed --
even during meal service. "That gets the message across clearly,"
she said.
Robert Salmon of Chevy Chase sends a different kind of message. Whenever
he flies on Southwest Airlines, Salmon dons on a surgical mask in the boarding
area. It's not that he has a breathing disorder or an infectious disease.
Since Southwest has an open-seating policy, Salmon uses the mask to discourage
people from sitting next to him. And if someone does wind up beside him,
he said the mask pretty much ensures the traveler won't start chatting
away.
"It's very effective. I don't have to make any excuses about why I
don't want to talk, people just stay away," said Salmon, a housing
constructor.
The most popular strategy BizClass readers use to avoid unwanted conversations
is to wear headphones, even if there is no music playing. They also suggested
not making eye contact with the seatmate.
Perhaps the most effective way to silence the chatter would be a simple:
"I'm sorry, I want to focus on my book or work." But that was
the least preferred method among the most hardened, seasoned traveler.
"I have not been able to figure out which words to use to not make
it sound rude," said Washington attorney Keith M. Dunn.
Instead, Dunn whips out his headset. And if the traveler still insists
on talking, Dunn pulls out his CD collection of Public Enemy, Eminem and
D-12.
"I guess there's something about seeing a 45-year-old white guy with
this rap music that makes them think this is not exactly the kind of person
I want to converse with on a trip," Dunn said.
For some travelers, fake language barriers sometimes do the trick. Hector
Sanchez of Rockville often glances at his talkative seatmates, smiles and,
in his best, thick-Spanish accent, says, "No hablo ingles, señor."
The ruse often gets Sanchez out of a pesky conversation unless, he said,
his seatmate also speaks Spanish.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
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On Saturday, October 16th, 2004 by Chris Miller
