u/OctopusCaretaker

I drive a 2020. The battery has gone dead twice since I’ve had it. The first time was in late August of 2025, and the second time was two days ago, October 2026. I took it to AutoZone and they ran a test and said my battery was fine, but the starter was going bad. I took it to a mechanic, and they said it’s the battery going dead. They also said “something” is draining the battery while my car is turned off. I have my phone plugged in while I’m driving, but I unplug my phone (and charge) when the car is off.

Is the radio using power while the car is turned off? I can’t think of anything else that would be. I never turn the overhead light on…

Delete if this is a retired topic, because I know damn well it’s not the first time we’ve heard about a person wanting to take a strangers seat on an airplane.

This happened between my grandma, my aunt (64), my cousin (32), and me (24f).

I worked during the weekend of my family reunion, so I was at my aunt’s house with my extended family on Labor Day and the Tuesday after. This happened on Tuesday night. My cousin, Taylor, was talking to my aunt/her mom, about a trip in October. Taylor is wanting to fly down to Florida with her husband and two kids ages 4 and 1 year. She had already bought tickets, but was hesitant about buying seats together because it would’ve been an extra $300. They’re flying Delta. The 1-year-old would be on their lap, but they’re worried about the 4-year-old sitting by himself.

My mom is a flight attendant, but she was on an overseas trip…so Taylor asked me what they should do. I asked Taylor to explain in detail what her plan was because I was trying to get her to think. She said, “We’re flying to Florida for baby’s birthday to visit husband’s family, but it’s an extra $300 for seats and I don’t want 4-year-old to be sitting by himself. Should I pay for seats or ask a stranger to switch seats with me?” I told her that my opinion doesn’t matter, but if you never know what a stranger may or may not do. I also said, “they paid for it, so it’s theirs.” She said, “but I’m a mother, I have kids.” I asked, “what does that have to do with a complete stranger?” She kept on repeating that she has kids so they should give her their seat. I was trying to be realistic and 100% neutral when I was explaining that you can’t expect a stranger to give you something that they paid for. It’s rightfully and legally theirs. She kept on using her parental status as a reason. I said, “it’s just best to have peace of mind and pay for the seats, that way there aren’t any surprises.”

By the way, a 4-year-old sitting on a one hour and forty-five minute flight by himself is not an emergency. They tried acting like it was.

I said her kids are her kids for her to be responsible for. My aunt and grandma jumped in and said, “if they’re a good person, they’d give up their seat.” I said, “it would be a kind gesture for them to give up their seat, but they’re not unkind if they don’t give up their seat.” They disagreed and just repeated their point about being a good and kind person. I said you can’t rely on the kindness of strangers. I asked my grandma how not giving up their paid for property makes them a bad person and she said don’t have anything reasonable to back it up with. She just said “because it’s wrong.”

They asked me what I would do. I said I would give her my seat because she’s my cousin. They said, “no would you give your seat up to a stranger?” I said it doesn’t matter what I would do, because I’m trying to be realistic and neutral with their original question. I said it’s putting a stranger in an uncomfortable/awkward situation.

My aunt and grandma both started talking at me and my grandma said, “do kindness unto others, and kindness will be done unto you…” or some bullshit along those lines.

My aunt then told some random story about how they were in the TSA line a couple years ago. There were two lines and some mix-up between lines, so they were told to form one line. An older lady got confused and my aunt let the older lady get in front of them. Then she said some minor good thing ended up happening to them, but I forgot what it was. They start rambling and I tend to drown them out.

My aunt said to my cousin, “don’t buy the seats, because someone will switch. No one is going to want to sit by a kid anyway.” I said they’re probably not going to care because they bring noise-canceling headphones.

My grandma asked, “what would Jesus do? Would Jesus seperate a mother and child?” I said that Jesus probably would give up His seat, but He would also probably scold the mother for expecting and guilt-tripping a stranger into taking care of her needs, which she IS capable of taking care of on her own. (It’s not like Taylor couldn’t afford seats, she just didn’t want to pay.) I grew up Christian, and I still am, and I also know that there are plenty of stories in the Bible where Jesus practices kindness while still teaching a necessary lesson.

The conversation ended up going beyond airplane seats and my grandma said that she expects a stranger to give her anything she asks for if they’re a good person. My aunt and cousin agreed. I asked, “you don’t think it’s entitled to ask a stranger for their property and you expect them to just give it to you?” May aunt and grandma said no, but my grandma took it a step further and called me entitled. I asked how I’m being entitled by not expecting stuff from a stranger? My grandma said that I’m entitled for thinking that I shouldn’t give my stuff to a stranger. I asked, “so I’m entitled for thinking that I have a right to keep my own property?” They doubled down and said yes and I need to be kind and give them anything of mine that they ask for.

My grandma lives up north. She said that she and grandpa were flying back up north Wednesday morning, and didn’t buy seats together. I said, “you’re going to ask, and expect a stranger to move for you?” She matter-of-facts said, “yes! They should!” I asked what if they don’t? She said she’ll use the same “be a good person/kindness” talk she had just used on me…(so guilt-tripping and manipulating.) I asked her why she doesn’t think that’s entitled and she just kept saying they owe it to her. She turned to my grandpa and asked him if he agrees and he said yes and went back to watching the game.

They started raising their voices at me and calling me hard-headed, mean, entitled, and rude…all because I said you can’t expect a stranger to do what you think they should do.

Once the yelling and name-calling started, I was done with the conversation. I threw my hands up and said, “y’all are clearly missing the point on purpose, so I’m done with this conversation.” They yelled back that I was missing the point and kept calling me rude and entitled. They didn’t talk to me for the rest of the time I was there, which was about an hour and a half. As I was leaving, my cousin said to me, “be nice to people going out there…”

If I had known they were going to start raising their voices and calling me names, I wouldn’t have even answered their original question.

The story doesn’t end here!

I facetimed my other cousin on Wednesday afternoon. This specific cousin was raised by the same grandma and grandpa in this story. She’s 18. I asked her if grandpa and grandma have said anything about me and she was confused and said no. She asked what happened and I told her. She was so embarrassed. She said that they’re entitled for thinking a stranger should just empty their pockets for them. She told me that grandpa and grandma sent her a selfie of them sitting beside each other while their flight was boarding. She put two and two together and realized that grandma had made a stranger move for them. We just sat on facetime bullshitting for the next couple hours, and then my mom landed from her overseas trip.

In case you forgot, my mom is a flight attendant. Everything I know about flying is what she’s told me. I don’t know everything, but I do have common sense. Flight attendants and gate agents don’t even get in the middle of people and swapping seats. They say, “you can ask them, but they don’t have to move.”

I told my mom about it and she called my cousin to tell her that the airline won’t make someone switch seats, and that it’s best to just buy seats together and have assurance that the 4-year-old will be with you. My cousin listened and said that they ended up buying seats together. My mom and I winked at each other. Mind you, the argument happened on Tuesday night. This was Wednesday afternoon…around 12:30/1pm. So it hadn’t even been 24-hours since the original argument. My mom hung up and we both thought it was interesting that she had already bought seats together, despite the fact that I couldn’t convince her to while I was visiting.

My mom was angry at what I had told her about them raising their voices and calling me names. She told me not to visit my aunt’s house on my way home from work like I usually did. She also said not to reach out to them, and if they reach out to me, not to respond until my mom can talk to them first. She’s never done anything like this before. She also doesn’t get mad, so when her and I were talking about it, that’s really the first time I’ve seen her mad.

My mom also said it’s interesting how I’m the only one in that room who doesn’t go to church, and yet she said I was acting more Christ-like than them. They go to church every Sunday and Wednesday, and my grandpa is a pastor.

It’s been 2 weeks and I still haven’t heard from that side of the family…🫠

In “Really Really,” when Kevin Gates says, “Steve like em tall, and when they yellow…” Who is Steve?

My cousin (I’ll call her Taylor) is wanting to fly to Florida for a vacation with her husband and 2 kids, ages 4 and 1 year. She’s buying 4 tickets and just found out that if they all want 3 seats together, they’d have to pay extra. Taylor asked me if she should buy the tickets and guaranteed seats together, or if she should buy just the tickets and ask someone if they’ll move for her. I said she’s better off buying the tickets and seats together because someone might not want to move for her. She got upset and said it’s mean that someone won’t move for her because she’s a mother with kids. We went back and forth a bit and I mentioned that someone who paid for their seat isn’t required to move for her just because she’s chose to have kids. She said it was mean and I said it was entitled for her to think someone should move for her. I said her kids are not other people’s responsibility.

My grandma and aunt just started arguing with me saying that they should move because it’s the “kind” thing to do. I said I understand that it’s kind, but you can’t rely on the “kindness” of strangers. You can’t expect someone to change their seating assignment and plans for you. They then started asking me “what would Jesus do? Would Jesus separate a mother a child?” and ridiculous questions like that. My grandma and aunt are in their late 60’s/early 70’s, and Taylor is 33. I’m 24. So these “entitled, boomer” opinions that they have don’t surprise me. I don’t have kids, nor do I really want kids. But me choosing to have kids doesn’t mean the world needs to revolve around me. Mind you, me not wanting kids has pissed my aunt off to no end.

The point I was trying to make is that while it might be kind for them to move so they can sit together, it’s not mean or unkind for them to also not move. I said it’s kind of entitled to expect people to move for someone else’s lack of planning…or in this case, unwillingness to buy seats they know they’ll need. They said I was being hard-headed and rude.

I have a couple questions about her. Did she delete her IG? And also, what’s been going on with her and Dav recently? I know he started deconstructing a while ago. Any updates?