The original post: /r/amitheasshole by /u/ItsOuttaHere13 on 2025-04-17 00:07:56.
I have Interstitial Cystitis, a chronic bladder condition that causes me severe pain and irritation, which ultimately leads me to pee very frequently.
While I'm awake, if I pee once every 60-90 minutes, that's a good day. But, i'm often peeing 2-3 times per hour, minimum. While sleeping, I can sometimes go 2-3 hours at a time. But that's my max.
Put simply, this condition runs my entire life. It ruins my sleep and governs every decision I make.
When I travel or go to events, I always make an effort to get an aisle seat. I also do my best to avoid alcohol or any thing that will irritate me further (I've had nothing but water all of today).
I travel a lot for work and the people who book my travel know that I need an aisle seat. They're diligent about it. However, the flight I was supposed to be on today got cancelled and I got quickly rescheduled to a new one that I'm currently on. And that's what inspired this post.
I'm currently stuck in the window seat of a two person row on a completely full plane. I didn't even have a chance to realize this until I was boarding the plane (that's how last minute the change was). I explained the situation to the woman next to me and warned her that I'll likely be getting up 5-6 times minimum throughout the flight. I then offered to swap seats with her if she'd prefer that instead. She said no, she hates the window seat.
That is NOT the part that inspired this post though. She has every right to keep her seat. I'd never be one of those people who makes a fuss because people aren't catering to me and my needs. She chose the seat, it's hers. I did my due diligence warning her about the inconvenience. That's all I can do.
On the rare occasions this has happened in the past, the person has typically followed up their denial of the swap request by explaining that they pee a lot too or they like to get up a lot. If they're frequently out of their seat too, it makes my life so much easier.
This woman, however, immediately prepared to go to sleep. It's a five hour flight and these are first class seats. So she pulled out the blanket, pillow, eye mask and everything. She looked like someone prepared to sleep for the duration. So, while I usually only ask once, because I don't want to be a nuisance, I decided to politely inform her that I don't plan on sleeping and ask her one more time if she'd like to swap so I don't disturb her. She said no.
I was able to hold it for about the first 90 minutes to the point I felt like I was going to burst. I had to wake her up. She scoffed, unplugged her headphones from the TV, let me go by, and then scoffed again when I got back. About 45 minutes later I really had to go again. I woke her up again and, once again, she scoffed.
I feel awful every time I do it. But I also don't have the ability to hold it. At minimum, I'll have to go at least 2-3 more times on this flight. I have pretty bad social anxiety, so bothering her every time makes me so physically uncomfortable.
AITA for peeing?