As others have said you don't get a dedicated space above your seat for various reasons. It is frustrating when your bag is placed out of sight from your seat but this is usually down to some passengers taking far too much stuff on board. This is why some airlines make you pay for cabin bags.

passengers are expected to lift their own bags up but they can help find space and sometimes ask passengers to put bags under seats .

The passenger sounds like a he is used to getting his own way sadly