AITA for reporting a mother and her glitter monster to a flight attendant?

Am I the BLEEP

Jul 11 2023 • 55 mins

AITA for reporting a mother and her glitter monster to a flight attendant?

I had a situation that happened to me on a long-haul flight yesterday and I need your verdict.

I'd paid for an aisle seat in main cabin extra because of my long legs. It was a packed flight and my row-mates were a mother (late 30s?) with a young child (maybe 5 or 6). They brought a bunch of arts and crafts to keep the kid busy - things like a glue stick, markers, paper, craft sticks. Sounds cute, right? Well, not when the glitter came out.

The child, let's call her Glitter Godzilla (GG), was making a mess, and since she was in the middle seat, the glitter would spill over onto my side. If you remember glitter from elementary school, it’s messy AF if you try attaching it to paper. There’s a lot of shake off and most of it doesn’t stick.

So yeah the glitter and marks from the glue stick rolling off the gray table was everywhere - on my shoes, my backpack, and my jeans.

I'm patient and get kids can be messy, but this felt crazy. I tried catching the mom's eye, hoping she'd step in. But she just gave me a blank look like "this is how it is."

I’m not confrontational so when I got up to use the bathroom, I quietly shared the situation with a flight attendant. She promised to discretely address it.

When I got back to my seat, the mother was pissed. Idk what the flight attendant said but the mom claimed I was being discriminatory against mothers, and since the flight was delayed she was just trying to keep her child entertained. Then she started raising her voice, accusing me of being "a selfish man with no understanding of children". All this despite the fact that my lower half now looks bedazzled.

There were no other seats available, so I was stuck the rest of the flight with this lady’s verbal attacks. The flight attendants gave me looks of sympathy but didn’t want to step in. Of course the mother gave me a final fuck you as we deplaned.

I travel a lot and this was the flight from hell. Not to mention it was pretty embarrassing in the airport. Not that I can blame people taking notice.

AITA here? Was I wrong to get some help in dealing with what felt like a glitter assault? Should I have just sucked it up and became a human art project?

How would you respond to this OP? Who is the AH?

This and more on this week's episode of Am I the Bleep!?!

Support the show

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You Might Like

This American Life
This American Life
This American Life
Stuff You Should Know
Stuff You Should Know
iHeartPodcasts
The Record Room
The Record Room
Jaden Green
Freakonomics Radio
Freakonomics Radio
Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
Criminal
Criminal
Vox Media Podcast Network
The Why Files: Operation Podcast
The Why Files: Operation Podcast
The Why Files: Operation Podcast
The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe
The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe
The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe
The Ezra Klein Show
The Ezra Klein Show
New York Times Opinion
We Can Do Hard Things
We Can Do Hard Things
Glennon Doyle and Audacy
Shawn Ryan Show
Shawn Ryan Show
Shawn Ryan | Cumulus Podcast Network
Literally! With Rob Lowe
Literally! With Rob Lowe
Stitcher & Team Coco, Rob Lowe
Radio Rental
Radio Rental
Tenderfoot TV & Audacy
Am I the Jerk?
Am I the Jerk?
youtube.com/amithejerk
Behind the Bastards
Behind the Bastards
Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts
Girls Next Level
Girls Next Level
Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt & Audioboom