April is a pregnant woman who recently had an incident on a plane. She boarded her flight and realized she had a window seat. But because she is a pregnant woman, she wanted to sit in the aisle so she could access the bathroom more easily. So she asked the man in the aisle seat to trade places with her. And he said no. April cannot believe that this man wouldn’t accommodate her, a pregnant woman, in such a simple request.
Jonathan: Today for the panic button, we have April. And April’s problem is, well, her problem is men.
April: Oh, no.
Jonathan: So, what’s going on, April?
April: I was recently on a flight to San Francisco. It was 5.5 hours long. And, I’m six months pregnant.
Jonathan: Congratulations.
April: Thank you. I mean, anyone who’s ever been pregnant knows it’s uncomfortable. My doctor told me about it when I was on this flight. I should be getting up, once an hour at least, to walk around so I don’t get fluid in my ankles. And also, I’m pregnant, so I have to go to the bathroom all the time. So I wanted the aisle seat, but I had the window. The thing is there was this guy that was sitting in the aisle seat and he refused to move. He was like, I bought it, I’m sitting here.
Jonathan: So wait, hold on. You asked him?
April: Yeah. I asked him if I could switch. The window is not a bad seat. It’s a good seat. I asked if we could switch because I’m going to be needing to get up all the time. And he said, no, because he bought it. I don’t know why he needed that seat. He didn’t get up or anything.
Ayla: People have preferences. They get gung ho about what they like.
Jonathan: Yeah.
April: I’m just annoyed because I feel like people don’t give a crap about pregnant women anymore. I thought people would be nicer to me. There’s no expectant mother parking anymore. People don’t open doors. And this guy actually went out of his way to be a jerk to me. I don’t know, am I wrong?
Ayla: People never move for you, April during the flight because I know you said your doctor said that you have to get up multiple times to walk around. Did you get up multiple times? Did you feel like you were confined to the window seat and then you never follow doctor’s orders?
April: No, I got up. I mean, I felt bad about it because I had to wake people up in the other seats.
Jonathan: All, because this jerk would move.
April: Yeah, because he wouldn’t switch with me. So I did wake the person in the middle seat. I had to wake him up and I was so embarrassed.
Jonathan: So I guess your problem is it’s not just this guy. It’s the world in general isn’t nice to you because you’re pregnant. So you’re expecting things. Is this your first baby? First pregnancy?
April: Yeah, this is my first one.
Jonathan: So you expected it to go a little differently, I guess.
April: Yeah, I guess.
Ayla: I’ve been in situations similar to April, where I expected or thought in my mind that people would be kinder, when I was very much showing. And I actually was at an airport too. And the whole terminal, in the gate area with every seat filled and not a single person got up and I was waddling.
Jonathan: They’re afraid.
Ayla: I kind of feel the same way.
Jonathan: Your pregnancy is their responsibility?
Ayla: No, it’s our responsibility. But you just hope that someone would see that you’re carrying around a lot of extra weight and emotions and just be like, hey, do you want to take my seat? And no one did. So it’s not all the time, but I get where April’s coming from. On her first pregnancy. Maybe the second one will be different, and you’ll realize that no one does really care about you.
Jonathan: I think that you both are blowing this out of proportion. A guy not getting up from his seat? I mean, I get it, but why didn’t you buy an aisle seat?
Ayla: Yeah. April, why didn’t you?
April: There weren’t any left by the time.
Jonathan: This jerk bought one. Right? But was this an emergency flight? You had time to book it?
Ayla: Hey, don’t make her feel bad.
Jonathan: I’m just saying.
