On a flight a couple of months ago from LGA-ORD, after we landed, everyone got up as usual to get their bags from the overhead bins and file off the plane.

As I was standing in the aisle to reach my bag, a rather large, 60-ish Midwestern woman sitting a couple of rows behind barreled right through the aisle next to me, saying "Excuse me! Excuse me!" rather aggressively as she did so.

I was annoyed, but whatever. I went back to trying to get my laptop bag out from the overhead. Then another 60-ish, large Midwestern woman did the exact same thing, literally pushing me out of her way and almost leading me to drop the laptop bag. She was a friend of the first woman.

I was sort of stunned, and a couple of guys who were waiting behind me just looked at me with compassion and said they couldn't believe what just happened either. It was pretty shocking behavior.

When I got off the plane, the two women were just standing like sheep right in the gate area, in no apparent hurry to go anywhere. As I passed by, I said - in a calm, non-aggressive voice - that the courteous thing to do is to deplane by rows rather than pushing other passengers out of your way as you storm down the aisle.

The second woman just glowered at me and yelled, "Oh - shut the hell up!"

Welcome to Chicago, I guess.