Originally Posted by
adelauro
I agree that "No thank you" is not situationally correct, but to assign some sort of passive-aggressive motivation to it is stretching things just a bit. My guess is that most people who say "No thank you" in this situation mean nothing by it except "Sorry I don't want to switch seats with you".
Very true. Most people who'd say NTY in this situation probably do mean "Sorry, I don't want to switch seats". The problem is that's not what they are saying and that's not what the other person will feel when they hear NTY.
While this class of people fares better than the passive-aggressive crowd it goes to show how inconsiderate and unreflected we all are in dealing with our fellow human beings. Personally, I strive for betterment. What the others do I have no influence over.
That said, I really got a good laugh out of some humorous replies at the beginning like "Great, I already wet this one" or "Thank God, I thought I'd have to stay here". Even in real life, I'd prefer those to a NTY.