I was on a flight to San Diego several years back – pre 9-11. About 40 minutes from landing, the woman next to me pulled out a nail polish bottle and started to open it to work on her nails! I usually am a very tolerant person and never say anything to anyone, but I immediately said, “Oh no, no, no! Not on a plane! We all have to breathe this air!” She looked at me like I was crazy, but put the cap back on.
I though it was over, but she got up, went to the lavatory, and a few minutes later, we all smelled acetone from her nail polish all through the cabin. She came back a few minutes later – still tacky.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I can think of a lot more awful things to smell. You must have all been so traumatized though… Poor things.
I agree with Saw. Sure, the woman painting her nails right beside you was sort of rude and weird, but did you have to act as if she was taking a dump in her seat? You were even ruder than her. And you're pretty lucky she didn't lose her temper, what with the way you talked to her.
I guess asking her nicely wasn't ever an option?? I agree with the previous posters, you seem like a whiney, nasty, bitch.
o.O
I will agree with the story writer.
The reason she immediately leaped into a somewhat (superficially) rude rebuke was because it should be COMMON SENSE that you do not begin painting your nails in closed quarters when you are directly next to another human being who will be unable to relocate himself.
It would be like sitting next to a guy who smells of liquor and immediately leans to the left to do the obvious.
This nail-polish loser deserved the (admittedly mild) castigation she received. Fumed from nail polish are asphyxiating.
Atari… we're not really debating how nasty nail polish smells, or how stupid it is to paint your nails on an airplane, but rather, the over-the-top tone of the writer & the story, based on the degree of the offense.
It's like writing a 20 page novel about how it took 3 tries to start your car in the morning. Inconvenient yes, a little annoying, yes. But are you gonna take a baseball bat to your car because of it? NO.
In this case, I believe it is entirely subjective.
The story was not very long, and perhaps she wrote it while in the heat of annoyance.