Eating in enclosed spaces always stirs the pot.
People don’t want to be subjected to another person’s dining in small areas.
It’s a big thing, ask any New York train rider.
Case in point…
Redditor ThrowAway-MSP- wanted to discuss their experience and get some feedback. So naturally, they came to visit the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subReddit.
They asked:
“AITA for telling my GF she was ruining other people’s flight?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“My GF ordered lasagna in the airport terminal right before boarding, knowing we didn’t have time to eat it before we boarded.”
“We boarded right after she received her food.”
“After we sat down, before taking off, she opened it up and started eating.”
“I didn’t say anything at first, but then a flight attendant approached and said in an informative way (i.e., not overly positive or negative) ‘Oh you’re the person eating lasagna. we can smell it throughout the whole plane.'”
“And then she left us.”
“At that point I did lean over to my GF and suggested she not eat it on the plane.”
“Because my interpretation of the flight attendant’s comment was a passive-aggressive way of telling my GF that everyone could smell her lasagna throughout the plane.”
“And that it would be best to put it away for the sake of others who might not appreciate the strong smell of her food.”
“GF put up a bit of a fuss and didn’t want to put it away.”
“At which point I told her it was likely ruining other people’s flight experience having to smell her food.”
“She didn’t take kindly to those words.”
“AITA?”
Redditors shared their thoughts on this matter and weighed some options to the question AITA?:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Many Redditors declared OP WAS the A**hole.
Let’s hear some thoughts…
“OP watched her buy it… where did he think she was going to eat it, their destination city?”
“It was pasta, not Surströmming. And I’m sure she ate it as quickly as possible and tidied away the wrappings in a non-smelly way.”
“OP only got on her case about it when the flight attendant made a (neutral) comment.”
“Maybe the flight attendant was hungry, and thought it smelled delicious.”
“And frankly if the airline had affordable, palatable meals for sale on board.”
“OP’s GF likely wouldn’t have had to bring her own meal in the first place.”
“YTA OP — folks are allowed to make comments to your GF without you doubling down and trying to shame her for her perceived mistakes.” ~ little500HondaCBR
“A really important comment.”
“OP: Some people, like me and I’m guessing the F[light] A[ttendant], really do just say what we are thinking.”
“We don’t say something else and expect you to divine our true meaning through ESP or whatever.”
“But apparently some people do this.”
“And think this is how communication works, and when a direct person says something to them, they sit there and reinterpret what we say because we surely must mean something other than what we said.”
“Because they would.”
“It has taken me years to get my head around this.”
“It took me absolutely ages to work out that it was actually, really a thing that was happening when I said something.”
“That some people thought that my words needed to be ‘interpreted’ in order to work out what I was really saying, because surely I was not just actually say what I was really saying.”
“They would then ‘translate’ what I was saying inside their own head into something entirely else from what I was saying, and believe that this was what I was really saying.”
“They would then reply to that, but not directly, in a roundabout way that they expected me to realize was roundabout and needed to be interpreted in return to work out what they meant.”
“Which of course was not what they actually were saying.”
“Years and years of frustration at conversations that went sideways almost immediately, and often became nonsensical, and I could not work out the reason why.”
“Years and years of annoyance at being unable to get some people to understand a simple and clear concept, no matter how clearly (I thought) it was explained.”
“It took a conversation with an HR person at an old job where she responded to something I said by saying ‘I’m not sure how to interpret that’ for me to connect the dots.”
“My response was, ‘You don’t need to interpret anything. I did all the interpretation necessary when I chose the words that I used to convey what I meant to say. If I meant something else, I would have said that instead.'”
“Some people actually do communicate directly and clearly, and say what they mean.”
“You should try it sometime.”
“You may be astonished to find that your relationships with people improve after conversations with you become less confusing.”
“And annoying than they used to be when you were ‘interpreting’ their meaning to be something other than what they indicated with the words they used.”
“You may also find it to be far less exhausting to just come out and directly say what it is that you mean.”
“Also, how is it that you think that you are qualified to ‘interpret’ what the other person is saying?”
“Do you think you somehow know more about everyone that has ever spoken to you than they do about themselves.”
“And are thus able to not only know for sure that they mean something different to what they are saying.”
“But to also be able to correctly infer what they are truly thinking to themselves?”
“Think about that for a minute.”
“There is something quite obviously wrong with this notion.”
“The FA said what she meant.”
“Just leave it at that.” ~ biancanevenc
“YTA. You have assumed the flight attendant was making a passive aggressive comment.”
“I worked my way through College as a flight attendant.”
“We don’t make passive aggressive comments, we make assertive comments.”
“‘Ma’am, I’m sorry but your food is making passengers ill throughout the plane.'”
“If the flight attendant wanted that food put away she would have said so.”
“Most likely two FAs were preparing drinks and one said ‘OMG I’m so hungry and do you SMELL that lasagna? I may go rip right out of the passenger’s hands and eat it with my fingers.'”
“Don’t be passive aggressive to the people you supposedly love and don’t be mean to them either.”
“Frankly I’d have looked at you and chewed with my mouth open, then said ‘Too bad.'” ~ Misty-Far
“I’m going to say YTA, softly.”
“Airlines no longer serve meals on most flights, so many passengers have to bring their own food on board.”
“Lasagna, pizza, or tacos are way better than fish in the ‘strong smell’ category.”
“I don’t think the flight attendant was being passive aggressive at all… she was just making an observation.” ~ columbospeugeot
“YTA. who cares.”
“That particular flight attendant was just being unnecessarily ridiculous.”
“Maybe she was hangry.”
“People grab food and eat it all the time on the plane.”
“And with airport prices that lasagne should not get cold nor go to waste.”
“And frankly there are worst things I have smelled on a plane.”
“Lasagne smells good to me.”
“Let her eat her lasagna.” ~ SpecialistAfter511
“YTA. It’s a plane, a form of transport, not a theatre performance or something.”
“When getting on a plane you can expect to smell other people’s food, hear their conversations etc.”
“So what if they can smell her lasagna?”
“As long as she is not purposefully disturbing other people, for example, shouting or banging on somebody’s seat, they can mind their own business.”
“Would you rather your girlfriend sit there hungry just in case some people didn’t like the smell of lasagna to be honest it is far more preferable than smelling the plane toilets.” ~ Llink3483
“NTA, people bringing smelly food on public transport is annoying as hell.”
“Of course on long flights you get meals but its very different if everyones eating at once and they probably pick the ingredients to somewhat limit smell.” ~ linesinablockofwood
“Airplanes are a reasonable place to eat food.”
“You are usually in a flight for hours.”
“They usually serve food and drinks.”
“The airport is full of places to buy food before your flight.”
“I don’t get why you’re picking on your girlfriend for something like this.”
“And I doubt it’s the only thing you’ve nagged her about.”
“You’re what we call a red flag. YTA.” ~ BeetlesMa
OP came back with deets…
“Appreciate those who expressed that I’m NAH based on my consideration shown for others on the plane.”
“You’ve confirmed that there very well could have been people who might have had a negative reaction to the smell.”
“Regarding the words I used, I’ll choose better ones in the future in the event of a similar scenario- i.e., avoiding the phrase, ‘ruining people’s flights.'”
“To those who commented in a way indicating that they show minimal consideration for others around them in tight, enclosed spaces, 🤪 ✌️ 🛫.”
Well OP… Reddit seems to take issue with your approach with your GF.
Maybe next time some different choice of words.
Happy Dining.