i'm the OP so I just wanted to say THANKS to everybody for your response. upon reflection, I admit I didn' have to "meet" his gruffness with gruffness so lesson learned there but thanks for all the responses and to clarify two things: yes, it was FC and i generally recline after 10,000 feet b/c I generally do so with my Ipod on but on the aforementioned day, I didn't have Ipod on, it was just habit. Thanks everybody, i really appreciate your responses!