It doesn’t even make conceptual sense that dentistry is something other than within the umbrella of healthcare. You can’t let your teeth rot away without it causing some other major problems.
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[This is travel related, but not enough to put it in the travel thread.]
Over the holidays, my family of 5 traveled to Arizona. We flew on a total of 4 planes because lol Columbus has approximately zero convenient direct flights to anywhere. Each plane had a row configuration of 3 seats on each side, so I decided the optimal strategy (which I think has been talked about on here) was to fill one row of 3 and take the aisle and window seat of a second row, figuring:
- If the middle seat is empty in that 2nd row, awesome.
- If the middle seat is taken, the middle seat passenger will certainly accept my offer to swap seats with them, as it would result in a better seat for them.
So each flight plan looked like this (window on left, aisle on right):
[Child1] [spiderwife] [Child2]
[Child3] [unreserved] [spidercrab]
Here’s how that turned out on each flight:
flight #1: Middle seat is reserved. Guy sits down and I ask him if he’d prefer to sit in the aisle seat because I was with Child3 so would obviously be fine sitting next to him. Guy says yes, and then acts like he’s a hero: “Oh, I always try to help people out when I can. Just got to do people favors when they ask.” And I am thinking, “What in the world is this guy talking about? I don’t actually care that much about sitting next to my son, who is going to be on his phone the whole flight anyway. I wish I could retroactively take back this offer.” THEN the flight attendant, who had been right behind us, hears this guy talking and GIVES HIM A $75 flight credit for being nice. My wife is going bananas that this guy is not only getting an upgraded seat, but is also getting a financial benefit.
flight #2: Middle seat is reserved. I make the same offer and the guy (who seemed stoned out of his mind) had absolutely no idea what I was saying. I repeated my offer (again wishing I had never said anything in the first place), and he looked at me confused and finally said, “I guess”. No flight credits awarded.
flight #3: Middle seat is reserved. I make the same offer, and finally get the expected response: “Oh, that’d be great. Thanks so much.”
flight #4: Middle seat is empty, as is roughly 2/3rds of the entire plane. It’s the emptiest flight I’ve been in in at least 4 years.
Overall, I am no longer as bullish on this seating strategy as I originally was. I thought it would be a way to maximize the likelihood of sitting next to an empty seat (if we reserve window and middle, someone will definitely reserve an empty aisle, but if we reserve window and aisle, an empty middle could easily remain unreserved). But now I think that outcome isn’t super likely, and the whole thing means that I have to interact with strangers on a plane, which I try to avoid at all costs.
Small travel detail: We went to the Grand Canyon, which is something I was excited to do with the kids (first trip was pre-kids, in 1999), but the weather was less than ideal:
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Your strategy is logically fine, but practically I don’t want to engage with anyone else on the flight. People are dumb and irrational in the best of circumstances, on the plane about half of them are ready to explode into a fit of rage at a moment’s notice and most of the other half are irritable and often will assume you are trying to take advantage of them somehow and be obnoxious about it. The overriding priority for me on every flight is ABSOLUTE MINIIMUM INTERACTION WITH OTHER PASSENGERS.
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I knew avoiding interaction was preferable to me, but I didn’t realize how much of an absolute priority I need to make it.
It reminds me that on a recent flight from Boston, the lunatic woman sitting next to me turned to me (already wearing earbuds to signal that I did not want to interact), introduced herself, AND SHOOK MY HAND.
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That’s just offside, but I can at least understand how a person might think that is a pro-social thing to do. I would be mildly annoyed, but understanding and polite about that.
What drives my attitude is that air travel is such an unpleasant experience that at least 90% of the time you’re going to be dealing with people at less than their best. And in at least half of cases, people are downright anti-social on planes because the whole experience at the airport from when you arrive to when you are seated on the plane is frustrating (except, I suppose, downtime where you might get to enjoy a beer or a decent meal). I expect everyone to act like an asshole at the airport because a) lots of people are assholes all the time and b) the environment provokes people. My wife says that when we are in airports I am almost in a state of dissociation, which is intentional.
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In early sobriety I was in a particularly strong “my purpose on this earth is to be of service to other people” phase when I boarded a flight and saw a man standing expectantly next to my bulkhead aisle seat with a woman in the center seat. As I approached and he began “hey, so my wife is sitting here and I was hoping we could switch…” I had already decided to just do whatever he asked. Results: he was in first class. It fucking ruled.
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every flight i get on these days is like 99% booked.
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But sitcoms have taught me you can talk to your stranger seat partner the entire flight and either make a new best friend or love interest. Are you saying TV is wrong?
Only about this one specific thing.
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Let the spider kids deal with the randos, it will make them stronger…
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Yes, the correct seating arrangement is two adults in business class, three kids sit by themselves at the back of the plane.
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Maybe the solution is to just book the remaining two seats next to each other, so that people don’t have to deal with randos and their kids trying to snag an empty seat in their row.
P.S. Your wife got upset because someone your family inconvenienced received some rewards from the airline, even though the two of you were actually trying to game the system, hoping that others would simply agree to switch seats?
I tried the leave-the-middle-seat-vacant strat for the first time a couple of weeks ago (also a trip to AZ btw, stop following me bro) and don’t think I’ll try it again. To add to the intrigue of dealing with other passengers tho, we have a cougher on this flight.
If someone took the seat, I had resolved to not ask to switch bc my oldest (who is pretty small) prefers the window and me and my middle kid who was sitting across the aisle are 6’5 and prefer aisles. So when this small guy came to sit between us, I didn’t think much of it. But then he started to cough. And cough. And cough. And I started to freak bc I’m still no-vid and I’m convinced this dude is typhoid Tommy or something and is going to end my streak. My kids and I are all masked btw.
So I’m debating with myself whether to make an issue of it with the flight attendant, just suck it up, or something else when I notice the teenager in the seat directly in front of him who he is talking to has a mask on. So right after we take off I go into my bag and take out a new, unwrapped mask, tap him on the shoulder and tell him to put it on. I definitely got lucky bc without resistance he took it, gave me a thumbs up and put it on. Idk what I would have done if he resisted.
Still no-vid too.
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Good for middle 1. You got what you wanted and he got something from the airline. You shot your angle and won, no crime that someone else win, too.
I don’t get being upset.
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When I travel with my wife and I get upgraded she tells me to take it (I think so I don’t roll my eyes as she pays for internet regardless of the cost and the time she will get to use it)
Twice she has texted me that she is sitting next to a service member. That is my cue to swap seats so the service member gets to sit up front.
Never been compensated for it. Though i have gotten miles for getting a middle seat with the masses.
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I have a much better system. My company offers a regular dental coverage and a preferred dental coverage which costs a little more and reimburses a little more and if I have a problem that seems expensive I put it off until next year and then enroll in the premium for just that year.
I still think vision insurance and the optical industry is an even bigger scam along the same lines but they both suck.
Teacher sleeps w student. Father of kid also arrested for allowing it. Plus some crazy quotes from the court documents. (Ny post so obviously)
What a fucked up story. Throw em both in the clink
I think some people are trying Spidercrab’s strategy at the movie theater, and I find it kind of annoying. The reclining seats are big enough that it’s not a big deal if you’re sitting next to someone.
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I used to until I sat next to a few people and didnt even notice them. It doesnt make sense now, they arent the old seats where you had to fight for armrest space. Now everyone gets an arm rest on both sides.