I wore this tee shirt with the above headline to school because when I bought it, my classes were discussing bullying and its forms. I bought it two years ago. Watching people at the Reagan National Airport Sunday had me wishing I had worn it flying home.
Let me set the scene. Reagan National Airport, if you have never been, has a small waiting area for the traffic that goes through its gates by Southwest and a few other airlines. It is circular with eating areas in the middle. During the summer, it is jammed with school children and families. Tourism in Washington DC is alive and booming. This causes no seats to be available during prime time travel. I travel back and forth to DC often.
Sunday was typical summer jam. People were sitting on the floor. Teens were stretched out sleeping. What I found disturbing, it was the first time I have ever seen people hogging seats. One boy, with his father sitting next to him, had their luggage blocking two other seats. He also had a laptop and some other papers on top of those seats. At first, I thought he was saving them for other family members. A half hour went by, no other people came. Elderly people with canes were standing close by. Finally, a woman asked the boy if the seats were taken. The boy seemed a bit rattled by being asked. The father looked up from his computer. The boy shook his head no. He moved the big luggage out of the way and the papers from the farthest chair. The woman spoke to her husband who was leaning on a cane. He sat down. The boy did not move to remove the laptop for the woman to be able to sit down by her husband. The father looked up but did not say a word to the boy. I did notice later that when people were called to board, the same father stood up, grabbed his suitcase, and hurried to the line. The boy gathered his laptop and pulled his luggage to the line. It was only then the father turned around and smiled and said something to the boy. I thought for a moment maybe this man wasn’t his father. Perhaps he was traveling alone, but then the airline personnel would be gathering him up. He was definitely not of the age to travel alone.
Another instance of seat hogging was a business woman sitting by herself with a dress bag hanging over the back of a seat and her briefcase and purse sitting on the chair. She was quite regal looking as she worked with her laptop. By now people were eating standing up, young mothers were standing and holding their babies, and one pregnant lady was leaning on a wall. People stared at her as they went by. But no one that I saw asked her to move her things.
When the 1-30″A” people were called, one woman could have been an O-line player pushing to get her quarterback through. Only her teen son followed in her wake. She wasn’t the only one. Others weren’t following the rules of not pushing that they may have learned in kindergarten to make it to their “B”place in line. They could have easily went around to the other side to find their places.
Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the crowded space. But I really was wishing I was wearing my shirt.