writegirl
Work in Progress
I've never been treated like so much shit as I was during a return flight on Allegiant air after visiting family over Thanksgiving. What made it worse is that my daughter was with me and had to watch as a male flight attendant forced me to buckle my seatbelt in front of him. We ordered the flight tickets online and got random seat assignments. It never occurred to me that the seat assignment would be a problem, but I guess we got stowed in an exit row and as I boarded the plane and we found our row, this male flight attendant came from the back of the plane and stood in our row (there was extra space there) and kept staring at me. When I sat down he immediately said "Let me see your seatbelt." I showed it to him and he kept staring "I have to watch you buckle it."
Of course, this asshole KNEW it would not fit and did not try to discreetly tell me that, hey, let's move your seat because this won't be comfortable for you. No, instead he watched me struggle with it, staring at me the entire time. Then he said "Give it one more try" and I asked him for an extender (I have never needed one on a flight before and it never occurred to me I would need one this flight. I didn't need one on the departing flight). He proceeds to literally scoff at me shaking his head and huffing "You can't use a seatbelt extender on an exit row. You have to fit in the seat!"
I did fit in the seat. The seatbelt did not fit around me. So, I asked "Can we move our seats?" He snapped "Well, YOU have to wait until the entire plane boards and then we'll see if we can switch your seats with passengers who can fit the exit row."
I wanted to die. He was so mean. I barked back "Well, I would like to sit with my child, if that is not too much for a fat woman to ask." He was so rude "I see what we can do about that. If you want you can keep trying the seatbelt." I was horrified and humiliated. He was being outright loud about it.
With that, the two gentlemen in the seats behind ours, who watched and heard this entire interaction offered to switch seats. I thanked them and thanked them for simply being nice about it. One of them said "You dealt with an asshole already the least I can do is be nice."
We switched seats and when I got situated the flight attendant leaned his arm over from the seats behind ours--he was in the aisle but leaned right over the people in those seats with this bright red seat extender and dangled it over my kid "Here. This is for your mother."
This entire incident was beyond humiliating. My daughter handed me the fucking extender and said "He didn't need to be so mean to you, mom. He's a jerk!"
I can't wait to have my fucking surgery so I can fit into the goddam world that's not made for me or people like me. This is just one more reason that I feel that the six month waiting period where we're put on this 1200 calorie a day diet that won't work infuriates me. I could be already on my way toward recovering. I can't understand why we're forced to wait this long and because I teach, I have to wait until the end of the spring semester now.
That flight attendant had me so flustered that I got off the plane with that stupid extender (that I did not need in the seat we moved to) still in my hand. I just stared at it for the hour long flight back home. I have to fly again in a few weeks to go back for Christmas and now I am dreading the experience. I don't want to get back on a plane. This should be something I can look forward to doing--going to see my parents and family. But, I'm stressed about the entire thing now.
It's remarkable that, no matter how accomplished you are in your life, if you are deemed too fat to live by people who choose to be mean to you, everything else about you is overlooked. All I was to this flight attendant was a fat passenger. I got in his way. I made his life/job harder. I was a problem he had to deal with. He gave no consideration to me as a human being. I never want to fly anywhere ever again.
Of course, this asshole KNEW it would not fit and did not try to discreetly tell me that, hey, let's move your seat because this won't be comfortable for you. No, instead he watched me struggle with it, staring at me the entire time. Then he said "Give it one more try" and I asked him for an extender (I have never needed one on a flight before and it never occurred to me I would need one this flight. I didn't need one on the departing flight). He proceeds to literally scoff at me shaking his head and huffing "You can't use a seatbelt extender on an exit row. You have to fit in the seat!"
I did fit in the seat. The seatbelt did not fit around me. So, I asked "Can we move our seats?" He snapped "Well, YOU have to wait until the entire plane boards and then we'll see if we can switch your seats with passengers who can fit the exit row."
I wanted to die. He was so mean. I barked back "Well, I would like to sit with my child, if that is not too much for a fat woman to ask." He was so rude "I see what we can do about that. If you want you can keep trying the seatbelt." I was horrified and humiliated. He was being outright loud about it.
With that, the two gentlemen in the seats behind ours, who watched and heard this entire interaction offered to switch seats. I thanked them and thanked them for simply being nice about it. One of them said "You dealt with an asshole already the least I can do is be nice."
We switched seats and when I got situated the flight attendant leaned his arm over from the seats behind ours--he was in the aisle but leaned right over the people in those seats with this bright red seat extender and dangled it over my kid "Here. This is for your mother."
This entire incident was beyond humiliating. My daughter handed me the fucking extender and said "He didn't need to be so mean to you, mom. He's a jerk!"
I can't wait to have my fucking surgery so I can fit into the goddam world that's not made for me or people like me. This is just one more reason that I feel that the six month waiting period where we're put on this 1200 calorie a day diet that won't work infuriates me. I could be already on my way toward recovering. I can't understand why we're forced to wait this long and because I teach, I have to wait until the end of the spring semester now.
That flight attendant had me so flustered that I got off the plane with that stupid extender (that I did not need in the seat we moved to) still in my hand. I just stared at it for the hour long flight back home. I have to fly again in a few weeks to go back for Christmas and now I am dreading the experience. I don't want to get back on a plane. This should be something I can look forward to doing--going to see my parents and family. But, I'm stressed about the entire thing now.
It's remarkable that, no matter how accomplished you are in your life, if you are deemed too fat to live by people who choose to be mean to you, everything else about you is overlooked. All I was to this flight attendant was a fat passenger. I got in his way. I made his life/job harder. I was a problem he had to deal with. He gave no consideration to me as a human being. I never want to fly anywhere ever again.
