Sounds like a good thing to me--and the schmoe not paying attention should be the one who is picked to answer.

Sitting in the exit row is BOTH a priviledge AND a responsibility. You need to be familiar with the procedure.

Including the fact that your window shades need to be up during take-off and landing so that in the event of an unfortunate accident, you can see out the window to determine if it is safe to open the emergency exit on that side.

Steve