It’s always surprising when a stranger invents a rule that only benefits them.

What would you do if you were on a long flight and the moment you started eating a special meal, the person beside you acted offended? Would you say something? Or would you ignore them and keep eating?

In the following story, a traveler finds herself in this situation and decides to keep enjoying her food. Here’s what happened.

Seatmate in a flight complained that I started eating my special meal before theirs arrived

On long flights, I preorder a special meal online because I am a vegetarian.

On most flights, the flight attendant brings the special meals first and then starts the normal meal service for the rest.

On my last flight, a perfect stranger sat next to me and told me that I was rude and inconsiderate because I started eating my vegetarian food before their meal arrived.

The person got so worked up.

They said that it was a basic rule to wait until everyone in the row got their food and that I ruined their flight.

Their face was red, and they  rolled their eyes several times

I stared at them. This is next-level entitlement, right? We are not eating together on the same table in a restaurant.

Yikes! It’s hard to imagine getting upset over that.

Let’s check out what the people over at Reddit think about it.

This person thinks it’s funny.

Here’s how this person feels about etiquette.

For this person, she was free to enjoy her dinner.

Yet another reader explaining table etiquette.

There was no need to wait. Who knows how long it was going to take anyway, and she’s entitled to a warm meal.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.