I guess that if you attempt to game the system by taking window and aisle in the hope of a free middle, you're going to end up having the conversation with the middle passengers quite a lot of the time. I rather lost sympathy after seeing that. It's a deliberate advantage play.

There's also a very important point. You may be the nicest person on the planet, you may have no intention of becoming angry if what you think is a reasonable request is refused, but there is no way at all for the person being asked to know that or know if there's going to be afters. So it creates tension and stress for the person being asked, and more so for people with social anxiety.