jaesun

this would have been the easiest resolution to it. just tilt it in such a way where it wouldn't have glared into her eyes, and the OP still gets to read.

HIDDY

I don't think you can class her request as being unbelievable...if it was shining in her face. She was perfectly entitled to politely ask you to either stop reading it or change your reading angle to prevent the light from being reflected into her face.
OTOH if she was wanting to sleep then maybe she should have been carrying eye shades.

I have to admit to not being a Kindle user......I much prefer to read a paperback book instead.

ajax

I do find your attitude a bit puzzling. No one's being defensive, no one's saying they dot also bug people from time to time. All they're saying is that it is apparently annoying from time to time and that people should be considerate when asked politely to quit. I am really failing to see the problem here.

hedur

My thoughts exactly. The attitude generally is to blame the innocent passenger for being bothered when the culprit is doing something rude. In this case we have someone quietly reading and an apparently really sensitive woman behind, and yet now the OP is expected to be the one to change.

According to the story we have the woman did not ask the OP to angle the Kindle slightly in another direction. She asked for the light to be turned off and, therefore, for the OP to cease reading. No matter how politely it was phrased, this is an unreasonable request.

I just took my Kindle and shined a flashlight on it and angled it in many directions. It is at best a very mild glare not even in the same ballpark as the sun bouncing off a car, as some have tried to liken this to. If the cabin was extremely dark I can see it being a mild annoyance to which the woman should have looked another way or politely let the OP know so he could angle it slightly differently. She did neither.

CDTraveler

I find your assumption that the woman was "really sensitive" to be ridiculous. Read up this thread, you'll see several posters admitting that the glare off of a Kindle screen can be bright enough to bother people.

You're assuming that the woman knew the Kindle could not be read without the overhead light and that in requesting the overhead be turned off she was actually telling the OP to stop reading. If you don't own a Kindle, and millions of people don't, you may have absolutely no idea how it works. Most of the e-readers that I've seen (I don't own one) seem to have enough light from an internal source to be legible without supplemental lighting, why assume she knew this one wasn't?

It is unlikely that your flashlight could replicate the intensity of the overhead light, and so your conclusions as to the brightness of the glare are suspect.

When glare is directed straight into your face, just turning your head is not very effective. The OP was causing a problem for another pax, and she asked for it to be resolved. There wasn't any mention of sitting kicking, hair pulling or any other extreme demands being made; I think she was perfectly reasonable to politely ask for a change.

747-800i

I'm with the original poster. This complaint is so trivial it's ridiculous to bring up. I have a hard time seeing how anyone who is phased by such a minor thing could even function without being constantly paralyzed by annoyance.

Studio54

I certainly would have said something if the glare was affecting me. Not an unreasonable request at all.

hedur

I don't have to assume. I set up a situation where I could experience it myself to KNOW she was "really sensitive". I've read the thread and posters have likened it to the blinding reflection of the sun off of a car. It was probably said out of ignorance but the comparison is way off.

I'm using my common sense to deduce that if someone is using a reading light it's most likely because they need it to read.

Apparently you've never owned a Surefire flashlight. Stare straight into one and then into an overhead airplane light and there will be no doubt as to which is stronger.

The only time the light created anymore than a mild annoyance was when I held it close to the Kindle. Unless the OP was standing and reading this would obviously have not been the case.

She would have been perfectly reasonable to ask for OP to angle it differently, not to turn off his light. I am a nervous flyer and reading a book that I was already into on my Kindle is one of the ways I cope. There would be no way I would turn off my light, and thus stop reading, for another passenger but I would have taken the necessary steps to make sure it wasn't glaring in her direction.

LTBoston

Good grief. What is the matter with people?

If you're creating an easily remedied condition that causes someone else discomfort, the considerate thing to do is to remedy it - not rant and rave about how "unreasonable" the other person is for being uncomfortable.

It is extraordinarily difficult to "just not look" in a particular direction for any length of time, particularly during a long flight. Much easier to move your Kindle a few millimeters to the left or right to eliminate the glare. Or, better yet, adjust the angle of the overhead light. Problem solved.

I have a really simple rule when I fly. It is: Don't be a jerk if I can help it. If I were unknowingly doing something that made someone else uncomfortable, I'd want to know so I could fix the situation.

sylvia hennesy

"Are people here so incredibly fragile that they can't accept someone making a polite request?"

Just wondering if everyone who thinks the reader should change for the behind-the-seat complainer also would have no problem with putting their seats back more upright when I ask them nicely? Because it is making me so uncomfortable, and I asked so politely?
Or is that different?

LTBoston

I don't recline my seat for that very reason.

But there are a million other threads that address that particular issue. And passionate arguments on both sides.

IFlyHarder

Since you are quoting me, I would be happy to respond.
Of course I wouldn't mind trying to find a mutually agreeable solution if a polite request were made.
But I guess this is what happens when one has a healthy ego and is not a "DYKWIA".
My agreeable personality and calm approach to situations has worked well for me all of my life.

CDTraveler

Absolutely different. Adjusting the angle of the Kindle so that the glare is redirected does not materially affect its use. Adjusting the angle of seatback does materially affect the comfort of passenger in the seat.

CDTraveler

+1

jaesun

regardless if the glare caused an issue, or it couldn't have caused a glare...

the easiest, quickest, and non-escalating thing that could have been done was to just simply tilt the kindle... glare is gone and problem should be solved. both parties would be happy, other person can do whatever and rest, OP can read