i think this is the case, because i've been hearing this more and more on flights on many airlines over the past year

This is one of the many topics that has always amused me. Many people who fly upfront are business people. Many of those people with supervisory functions at work. Some of those people have children at home.

With that in mind, when you ask your children or those who report to you at work to do something because it is to ensure their own safety or the safety of other people, you probably expect them to do it? When they don't, you feel quite disrespected If they're your children, you ensure they learn their lesson.

So, why is it that passengers always feel the need to disrespect flight attendants by trying to always "pull one over" on us? We try very hard to comply with FAA and company regulations while ensuring we're able to depart on time. We shouldn't have to go through every row and take away each bag that isn't stowed "either underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead bins." There is a reason that those are the only options given during the announcements.

As far as Row 1. Most of the planes that have "cubby holes" in front of them have placards above these spaces that say, "No Stowage." We didn't print them up and put them there. The kind designers added those spaces to allow our forward-cabin passengers extra legroom in hopes they'll keep their feet off the walls

So, thank you to all those people who understand why we ask you to do things to comply with safety requirements. I promise you, I don't get great joy out of forcing you to part with you laptop or purse for 15 minutes up and 15 minutes down.

I do understand why we are asked to comply with safety requirements, but I brought up the pocketbook because it's one that really frustrates me. I can keep a hardcover book in my seat to read during take-off and landing, but can't keep an even smaller wallet? When I carry a purse, it's a bag and I treat it as such. But to be reprimanded by a FA over a 7" x 4" x 1.5" pocketbook is different. It weighs less than my copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!

These requests chafe for two reasons: (1) they're inconsistent between flights - some crews are more lax about specific stowage than others, and (2) they're not always logical - why can you hold a lap child, but not a laptop?

Most of my luggage weighs less than any of the last five Harry Potter books; those things are bricks!

Your points are well taken, though. I think some FAs follow the letter of the law (or FAR) and not the spirit. Even though I have (as, I'm sure, have many other FTers) memorized the recorded ExpressJet safety briefing, I was still awakened recently by an FA who insisted I watch her demonstrate the use of the oxygen mask. "I'm sorry, sir," she said. "But it is a federal law that you watch me demonstrate how to use this."

Ah, well . . .

Ask the 'logical' folks at the FAA about this one. I don't understand it either.

Heh. It's easier to make a blanket prohibition than to have nuanced policies that allow and deny very specific items. While TSA is busy debating whether pot pie is a liquid, in-cabin rules about stowage are easy to remember without memorizing or consulting a complex policy.

I think the main thing about this situation is how people react. I don't try to barter or argue with a FA. I comply quickly, maybe grumble a little to myself, and life goes on.

Unfortunately we haven't figured out how to put babyseats into the overheads yet... But if we did have a way, those passengers with 27 carry-on bags would then complain that babies weren't important enough to compromise the space for their items

LOL !

Alas, we have already started removing the magazine racks from our overhead bins

Maybe you don't, but the A-hole who chastised the OP as if they were four years old certainly must have.

And when my subordinates "try to pull a fast one over on me" by ignoring arbitrary rules having almost nothing to do with their safety, I smile and gently tell them they need to comply with the arbitrary rule. I don't chastise them in front of everyone else "to ensure they learn their lesson" because they "disrespected me."