Airline Passenger Catches a Guy Calling Her a 'Smelly Fatty' in a Text
Source – A woman branded a ‘smelly fatty’ by a cruel bully on a plane has said her faith in humanity has been restored after a fellow passenger stood up to his vulgar behaviour.
Savannah Phillips was left in floods of tears after the man, in his 60s, made the jibe in a text message – which he sent with his phone 12 inches from her face.
It turned out she was not the only person who could see what he was writing, as another man, bar manager Chase Irwin, intervened.
In an impassioned Facebook post, Savannah wrote: “I don’t even know what the rest of his text said. I turned my head away as fast as I could.
“I was shocked and it was like confirmation of the negative things I think about myself on a daily basis. Before I knew it, I could feel hot, salty tears coming down my face.”
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But as she sat on the runway crying, things suddenly took a turn for the better.
Savannah wrote: “All of a sudden, someone from behind us taps on the guy’s shoulder and says, “Hey- I need to talk to you.”
“The guy next to me takes out his headphones. Someone behind us says, “We are switching seats. Now.”
“The guy next to me said, “OK- why?” And I hear someone say (removing curse words), “You are texting about her, and I’m not putting up with that.” …
“I told him thank you for what he did and that it meant the world to me- and that he would be my husband’s new favorite person.
“The flight attendant kept trying to give him free drinks and told him that he was her hero.”
It’s been a long time since a viral news story got me this enraged. But this one really sets my teeth on edge. Where do people get off behaving like this? Air travel sucks enough now as it is without having to put up with this degree of next level rudeness.
It’s just absolutely unacceptable that this poor 60-year-old man can’t text his wife without everyone else sticking their nose into his personal business. I’m sorry, Savannah Phillips, his phone was 12 inches from your face? Do you know what that amounts to? Half the width of a plane seat. In other words, this old douchebag was right where he was supposed to be while you so rudely pried into his conversation. Call me old fashioned, but I think a person is entitled to a certain expectation of privacy when he or she is talking shit about their fellow passengers. When I travel alone, I consider my seat to be my own autonomous cocoon where I fully expect to be left alone. And I allow others to be as catty and bitchy as they want, so long as they’re quiet about it. Has no one ever heard the expression “a man’s phone is his castle”?
Should this guy have called Savannah “smelly fatty”? Definitely not, assuming he’s over the age of 5. Because I also believe that along with the right to be an asshole in a private text exchange with your wife is an obligation to come up with words cleverer than a Pre-K reading level. But two wrongs do not make a right here. If you want to avoid being offended by someone else’s personal communication, simply don’t read their personal communication. That way everybody wins. If I go out of my way to snoop on the phone of the woman next to me and she’s texting “So uncomfortable! Guy next 2 me takes up all the room with his jacked up bod. Must be a real gym rat! [winky face, flexed arm, blushing]” well then that’s on me, not her. I keep my eyes on my own phone and no one gets harmed.
And that goes for this Chase Irwin character, too. Can you imagine the level of prying you have to do to see the phone of the person seated across the aisle and row in front of you in a plane? That is basically domestic spying. But hey, mission accomplished. He got his virtue signaled. Won the heart of a mom with self-esteem issues. Made the flight attendant bite her lower lip and go “Awww” and most importantly got free booze out of the deal. And all it took was to invade someone’s privacy and act menacing to an elderly man twice his age.
Again, I’m all against body shaming. But I’m even more against turning air travel into this Orwellian hellscape where buttinskis get to be offended by everyone else’s personal business.