Have I become a grumpy 'middle-aged' man?
 

I seem to have got to the stage where something on every flight irritates me.

That 'body odour' flight was probably my most unpleasant experience but in my 13 flights over the last 4 weeks I seem to end feeling tired and frustrated. Is it only me that feels that way for what some may think of as petty things?

In those recent journeys I have had people beside me texting until the aircraft is out of range of a mobile signal, another who started WhatsApping once we were within signal range and a third who turned his phone face down as a cabin crew were examining seat belts knowing full well that he might have been told off otherwise!
Yesterday a mother was happily letting her two 8 or 9 year olds sing, shout and generally express their individuality for the hour of the journey.
Last week I watched as crew managed to spill a glass of tomato juice over a passenger's shirt, trousers and seat with simply a 'Sorry' and an offer of a few tissues to resolve the issue at the start of a 12 hour flight. It tool a senior crew member about 30 minutes to come and see him but it was obvious that no offer of anything was made.
And so it goes on.

Am I being too observant and should I simply take a chill pill?

Yes....I've had similar behavioural traits for years.

I take small quantities of alcohol and smoke Argentine tabaco en cuerda in my pipe rather than chill pills though.

"Have I become a grumpy 'middle-aged' man?"

Yes..
It comes to us all I am afraid.
Better to acknowledge it and move on.
Welcome to the club..

I would suggest that the ones which don't affect you personally (eg these ones), you zone out of. One usually has enough hassles of their own, so no need to make it worse and take on other people's hassles.

Me too - I think it is the result of a combination of people being increasingly inconsiderate to their surroundings, and consequently other people (i.e. us) having to put up with said inconsiderate behaviour. I can fully relate to the OP's "grumpiness".

Chill. When you become a grumpy old man, you will have stopped flying. ;):rolleyes:

Just wandering

Fred

I too can fully relate to the OP's grumpiness, although I can't quite relate to being a grumpy man - more like a grumpy middle-aged woman. :D

Warning, 90%-incoherent rant from this grumpy middle-aged woman about FRA follows:-
Mind you, my latest annoyance wasn't human-induced as such. It was FRA-connection induced, since I hate that airport, especially when they bus you and you drive right past your next gate. Then they bus you again for the next flight. The only saving grace was not needing to re-clear security which would have caused me to miss my next flight. It made me realise how much nicer LHR T5 was. Thankfully, there was no irritating fellow passenger on board to make me feel even more miserable, and unlike on BA at LHR T5, my bag popped out on the carousel quickly and as one of the first off the subsequent flight (but then, I wasn't collecting my bag at FRA where they decided to put all the J/premium-tagged passengers bags out last - on my last flight where I had the terrible misfortune of having the destination as FRA - off a Lufthansa flight (they're usually good with priority bags! It's just that evil FRA again...). I blame FRA for everything rather than LH or BA or whatever. I really detest FRA!!!). Phew, now I feel better after ranting about FRA. Did I tell you I really detest FRA? :D

There is one more boring explanation for all this.... You may be spending too much time on this website. As doing so will give you an ever greater insight into how things SHOULD be operating. And therefore more things that aren't as they should be will be naturally drawn to your attention.

Another member of the group!

We usually meet on Thursdays at 7pm. I'll PM you the details :D

M

I am 72 and flew 20 segments so far this year, I don't recall any upsetting flight this year.
The only bothersome observation I made was after priority boarding sitting in seat 7A I counted at least 10 people waiting to find their seats still messaging with their smartphone "I am boarding and if the plane doesn't crash I will message you back on arrival before leaving the plane"
Thus after arrival and before docking at the gate 6 passengers next to me were texting "we did not crash and will be home soon"
I do regret the times were we did not have smart phones.

Most of the time smart phones are smarter than their users. Hence the name smart phone.

I'm wondering how tartempion knew what so many people were texting.

I'm one who often starts using data services once we've touched down, but never to assure Mr W that I've landed OK. So I'm not sure if I'd be considered part of the group annoying him/her or not!

I'll settle for being a Grumpy Old Man, although age has also brought a degree of tolerance and an ability to blank out my surroundings. A degree of deafness and short-sightedness helps, together with a general lack of situational awareness. I thus generally manage to waft through a journey largely oblivious to what's happening, avoiding annoyances largely by default.

Age is a state of mind. My mind is thus in a state.

The cigarettes of the 21st century.