Few things are more annoying than someone shaking your chair when traveling. Be it a bus, a plane, or any other means of transportation, it can really test one’s patience.

Redditor u/IndependentClub1117 recently had his patience tested on a flight from Germany to Macedonia. The passenger behind him was repeatedly grabbing the back of his seat, which eventually forced the redditor to engage in an act of petty revenge; and quite a disgusting one, too. Scroll down for the full story.

Bored Panda has reached out to the OP, Zac, who was kind enough to answer a few of our questions. You will find our interview with him in the text below.

Some things fellow passengers do on planes can really get on people’s nerves

Image credits: Kenny Eliason (not the actual photo)

This man was grabbing the back of another passenger’s seat, eventually driving him to seek petty revenge

Image credits: Patrick Campanale (not the actual photo)

Image credits: IndependentClub1117

Lack of respect and consideration for him was what annoyed Zac the most about the passenger behind him

“Generally, when I’m anywhere, I try to be respectful of others around me,” Zac told Bored Panda in a recent interview. “If I realize I’m screaming, I quiet down, if I bump into someone, I say sorry and try my hardest not to do it again. This extends to planes.”

Being held in a winged metal box, tens of thousands of feet in the air, for hours on end can indeed lead to some bothersome encounters. Especially since you never know what kind of passengers are going to be there with you, not to mention the ones closest to your seat.

This includes not only the neighbor on your left or your right (or both, in the unfortunate cases of having the middle seat), but those in front and behind you as well. And it’s arguably safe to assume that anyone who’s ever taken a plane has had their seat shaken—whether by accident or not really—by someone behind them at least once.

“I try my hardest not to touch the person’s chair in front of me at all,” Zac said. “Even using the letdown table, I make sure to not let it drop and I close it softly. It’s not hard to do, it’s being considerate.

“With that being said, I do expect that same consideration and respect back. That’s what annoyed me about the situation—I’m sitting here being respectful to the person in front of me, and getting my chair shaken by the person behind me. The person behind me had no respect or consideration for me.”

Image credits: Darya Sheydel (not the actual photo)

There’s nothing more aggravating for plane passengers than someone kicking their seat

According to The Mirror’s survey, someone kicking or pushing on the back of their seat is the thing that aggravates plane passengers the most; it reportedly drives as much as 40% of them crazy. The turbulent seat is followed by a reclining one, as more than one-in-four surveyed passengers agree that someone leaning too far back can be equally annoying.

Other irritating scenarios include people being rude to flight attendants, trying to steal or swap seats (we’ve sure seen quite a few examples of that lately), or passengers in a great rush to stand up the second the plane lands. People in the survey also revealed encountering some less common situations, such as a fellow passenger flossing their teeth, which might really rub someone the wrong way.

Feeling someone else’s hand that had just been licked clean on yours is also something that would typically repel most people. But the redditor pointed out that he believed such a method ought to work with the bothersome passenger behind him, after multiple ones that didn’t.

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“I chose that petty revenge because after multiple attempts to get him to stop, he knew what he was doing. A lot of people commented ‘why didn’t you use your words?’ Well, humans react highly off body language. When someone glares at you, grabs your hand, or pushes their head into you, it’s 100% obvious what the problem is without having to speak a word,” Zac told Bored Panda.

Image credits: Fidan Jafarova (not the actual photo)

A few disrespectful passengers can be enough to make the flight a pitiful experience

Zac emphasized that nothing seemed to be working with the aggravating passenger behind him. “So the good ol’ lick and stretch was in order. It was mainly for the shock factor for him. ‘Oh, if I touch people’s stuff constantly, they will wipe stuff on me.’ Maybe I was giving him some discipline that he hasn’t ever received.”

Even though the Germany – Macedonia flight might have not been the most pleasant experience, the OP suggested that a lot of people are generally respectful on planes. “It’s the ones that aren’t respectful that make the whole flying experience just pitiful,” he said. “That’s the problem; those few people never learned any etiquette, never were told to think about the ones around them, and it shows.”

Image credits: Pew Nguyen (not the actual photo)

The OP shared some more details with the ‘Petty Revenge’ community

Fellow redditors shared their reactions in the comments

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Some people have encountered similar situations themselves

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