Selfish

If someone needs company and an ear in this manner, why not be a human being. It takes so little effort. Lou said it perfectly.

Love your neighbor as yourself, or treat them like you would have need to be treated.

That implies a basic human respect.

That implies you do not ignore him/her.

Many basic human tenets have that as their first or second principle for living.

You might roam the earth and travel until you drop, but you have learned little about life or its gifts- if you exclude others in this way. Just me alone, if you need to vent over a bad neighbor day- you're way too negative and closed up to get much of the real goodies out of this life. And they aren't always money, material things or your own prescious time either.

suzanne

Pretend (?) that you don't know English.

Josie

Henry is clearly not a native speaker of English. He is also not a particularly pleasant traveler, but that is -- unfortunately -- his right.

Henry, by accident I have learned how to avoid conversation with seatmates: I will be pleasant as we buckle in and get ready to take off ("good morning, nice day, etc.") just to keep things civil, but if the person wants to chatter, I always have to tell them -- because it's true -- "I'm sorry, I have to focus out the window because I get motion sick, so I'm afraid I won't be very good company."

Henry, you can think up your own version: "I must sleep, I got no sleep last night" "Excuse me, but I have some work to do" etc., but if you just add "I'm sorry but I won't be very good company," you will be left alone without bad feelings.

If you aren't willing to be just a little bit courteous, then I have no sympathy if you find yourself in situations you don't like.

Elizabeth

I don't mind a nice conversation on a plane but I also agree with anyone who objects to an intrusive seat partner who doesn't respond to one's own indications of lack of interest in extended conversation.

Have you tried bringing some kind of walkman and either listening to it or pretending to do so? Sing along, bob your head, squirm around.

Also reading to yourself from some kind of religious publication, ideally moving your lips & making slightly audible sounds while doing so, could help clear your row if there's anywhere else for seat-mate to go.

I appreciate the idea from the poster
who suggests letting seatmate know you'll probably throw up if she chats with you, that's first-rate!!

jumping in

Henry, you may not want to hear anyone near you speak, but I'm quite tired of having your briefcase (placed under MY seat) hit my legs everytime you stretch your feet out! And then you get upset because I push it back...

Honestly, we just annoy each other on long cramped flights.

Next time, just remember that the chatterbox next to you could simply be nervous about flying.

Lynn

I found, quite by accident, a real conversation stopper (and this works for cab drivers, too) " I am sorry, I have had a death in my family and I am not able to chat with you". No hurt feelings, no further ado...

FF

I don't know who Henry's flying next to, but I fly a lot too and practically never have this problem. And if I do, I just turn to my book. Are we making a big deal out of nothing?

gag

Henry-
you forgot the part about the person having strong GARLIC breath while they talk and talk and talk and talk

C

To those of you picking on Henry's English:

How fluent are you in his native language?

huh?

And what would Henry's native tongue be?
Since this site is in English,what is the point?

c

To Huh?

The point is, dummy, that not every person on this site speaks English everyday. People from all over the world use this site and English is a very difficult language if you were not born in an English speaking country.

jbj

if you don't wanna hear my life story, what makes you think I wanna hear your airplane story?

Stutter

Look c - someone who comes on this site criticzing others and is in a generally foul mood, ask for all the grief that they get - including people ragging on their English skills. Same to be said about those who repeat themselves.

henry

If any of you believe Henry is for real, then I've got a bridge to sell you. Anyone who travels a lot between Boston, Toronto and London and can't construct a simple sentence in English is...a troll! Amazingly he knows how to properly place an apostrophe and spell correctly but manages to omit entire words! C'mon people, don't be so gullible.

I'm sure "Henry" is very amused by our helpful responses.

anon

Maybe if Henry spent a little time in conversation he might just improve his English....

Yup, troll!

Henry is definitely a troll and I wish someone had thrown up on him before he started that other new thread.

Duhhhh-eee! Henry, if you don't behave, you won't get the 64-crayon box for school this year.

Karl

c-what a bitch you are! while Henry improves his skills in English,you can improve your interaction with other humans.You obviously don't spend a lot of time with other people,if calling strangers dummy is part of your dialogue .

Donna

Once, on a flight to Paris, a man just would not shut up. Told the poor lady in the seat next to him (they were directly behind us) all about his job, house, mother, divorces, kids, you name it. When the meal was (finally) served, he said to her "After this, you can listen to me SNORE!"

Oy

"What we have here folks, is a mouth breathing, hair lipped, malcontnet, who has yet to grasp the english language, or anything at all about social interation in a diverse society..."

Right, Lou. And I suppose YOU had NO trouble learning English? Good. Now you can work on that "social interaction" thing. You have the right idea, practicing on the internet, before you foist your unsympathetic, monocultural self on the rest of the world.

gevalt

Yes, and while the English "expert" is demonstrating such facility with the English language, I believe the word this person was looking for was "harelipped." Likely the intention was to make fun of people with facial deformities, not moustaches.