I politely asked a woman on the plane to remove her dirty foot from the tray table of the empty seat, but I had to give her a more direct reason.
Even though I just had a two-hour flight, I will never forget it. Everything was normal at first: I sat down next to the aisle, the seat next to me was empty, and a little girl was seated by the window.
About fifteen minutes after leaving, she started acting strangely. She began by taking off her socks with care, then she unbuttoned her sweater to reveal a short top. Then she took some food out and started eating, crunching so loudly that it sounded as though she was doing it on purpose.
Her filthy, obviously unclean foot, which she openly placed on the tray table of the vacant seat directly in front of me, was the high point, though. The awful smell of that foot almost made me throw up.
I tried to behave politely. I leaned over to the girl and politely whispered:
I’m sorry, but you are not alone in the cabin; please be considerate of other travelers.
She merely snorted in contempt and waved it away:
Since the seat is vacant, I can act anyway I like.
I had had enough. I came up with a simple yet effective plan to correct that rude girl
I stood up and asked for a hot cup of coffee from the flight attendant. When I returned to my chair, I accidentally spilled the coffee on her disgusting foot.
The girl jumped to her feet and screamed:
What are you doing?
I calmly looked at her and uttered:
I’m sorry for stumbling, but in a small plane, it’s better to keep your feet to yourselves. It’s safer and more polite.
The child wiped her foot with napkins and refused to put it out again, then sat like a mouse for the rest of the journey.
This incident taught me that being too kind might occasionally be seen as a sign of weakness.
