On the flight, a girl rested her dirty foot on the tray table of the empty seat. I asked her kindly to take it down—but in the end, I had to insist more firmly

I looked at her calmly and said:

— “So sorry, I tripped. But you know, on a crowded plane, it’s safer—and more polite—to keep your feet where they belong.”

Red-faced, she wiped off her foot with napkins and didn’t dare stretch out again. For the rest of the flight, she stayed silent as a mouse.

That day I learnt something important: sometimes being overly polite only invites disrespect. Some people only understand boundaries when you draw them firmly.