Man Gets Revenge On Rude Woman At Airport, Only To Publicly Apologize A Day Later

Woman harrases man thinking he shouldn’t be in the first-class line so he gets back at her hilariously Face with tears of joy

Air travel can be nerve-wracking, but airlines and airports have made things just a little bit easier with priority boarding. Although you need to pay some more money, many choose to stomach the extra cost and believe the added comfort is worth it. But when a music executive encountered a woman trying to get ahead of him in line, he was hurt and astonished to see that she thought she should be first, apparently judging him for the color of his skin. He was shocked when a social media post about it went viral, displaying his character with a heartfelt apology to the offending woman.

Perfect Takedown

Emmit was waiting in line to get through airport security when he was interrupted by a rude woman. She insisted that he needed to let her get ahead of him because she had priority seating, and he tried to be calm.

Perfect Takedown

After trying to explain that he, too, had priority seating, he realized she was only behaving like this because he was African-American. Instead of becoming furious, his cool response had everyone in line clapping. But a day later, he had to publicly apologize…

Viral Post

Almost immediately, the cheers from others waiting in line let Emmit know that what he said was on point. The applause from others waiting in line prompted him to share the incident on social media.

Viral Post

He had in mind a few good friends who would get a kick out of the story, but it all went much further than he planned. The post had gone viral before he even landed at his destination as people praised him for his conduct.

Airports Bring Out The Worst

If you’ve been to an airport and flown at least once in your life, chances are you didn’t have the best experience. Losing luggage is hardly the only thing that can go wrong, as airlines and airports have recently introduced an increasing amount of security measures.

Airports Bring Out The Worst

These, coupled with reduced amenities during flights, have made flying so much more inconvenient. To be fair, we’re all in the same boat — except, of course, for those who pay extra, like Emmit.

Paying For Preference

Indeed, for several years papers have reported on the widespread reduction of seat room in economy class. At the same time, the amenities offered in first class have never been nicer.

Paying For Preference

In addition to the extra room, paying extra for your ticket will also give you priority seating, significantly cutting the wait time going through security and boarding at the gate. For Emmit, this price was definitely worth it, as the very least his money can buy is to fly headache free.

Wasn’t Having It

So there Emmit was, waiting to pass through security, when he was interrupted suddenly by a woman trying to get ahead of him in line. He knew he had priority seating and was unsure of what exactly the issue was, but he had an inkling it had something to do with his appearance.

Wasn’t Having It

He could see no reason whatsoever why she thought she deserved to be ahead of him, besides his being African-American.

Music Executive

Emmit’s larger stature and weight made sitting in first class all the more desirable. Thankfully, he was a music executive that had collaborated in successful projects and musical ventures that had earned him the funds to spend more money on flights, providing him with more room and comfort.

Music Executive

It was possible that the woman thought he wasn’t well dressed, but as he looked the woman up and down, he couldn’t help thinking that she wasn’t dressed as if she “belonged” there in priority any more than he did.

Birthday Trip

In fact, Emmit was on his way to a birthday vacation in the Dominican Republic traveling through Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, right outside of Washington, D.C.

Birthday Trip

Flying a day ahead of his birthday, he was thrilled to finally have gotten his affairs in order and managed to clear his work desk ahead of the flight date. So when the woman came up to him, challenging his right to be there, it took him a while to truly get fed up with her nonsense.

“Wrong Place”

“Excuse me,” Emmit remembered the woman told him, “I believe you may be in the wrong place, you need to let us through. This line is for priority booking.”

“Wrong Place”

Politely, Emmit stood his ground and asked her for clarification: “Priority meaning first class, correct?” “Yes,” the woman said impatiently, “now excuse me. They will call y’all after we board.” But Emmit was just where he was supposed to be, based on his ticket. He proceeded to show her the ticket.

Explaining The Sitution

He was in the right place and wasn’t going to move just because somebody didn’t think he should be there. “You can relax, ma’am,” Emmit told her, trying to assuage the situation while asserting his right.

Explaining The Sitution

He was in the correct spot, he told her, and had been there longer, so she needed to wait. He didn’t have to show her the ticket but did so in the name of general peace and social cohesion. Emmit thought it would all be over, but he was mistaken.

“Must Be Military”

She still wouldn’t let it go, as Emmit recalled in the Facebook post. “He must be military or something,” Emmit heard the woman tell her companions, “but we paid for our seats so he still should have to wait.”

“Must Be Military”

Incredibly, the woman was trying to rationalize how he came about the first-class ticket, which just convinced Emmit all the more that the reason she couldn’t believe he was supposed to be there was that he was African-American.

Doesn’t Work That Way

Before getting into what Emmit said, it’s important to note that the men and women in the armed services don’t get free first-class tickets! “I’m prior military and I’m offended,” said one of the hundreds of comments on his Facebook post.

Doesn’t Work That Way

The fact that someone is in the military has nothing to do with what class seat you get. “Heck, they gave us economy seats,” the commenter said, so there was no reason to think that this would be the reason. “These racists are bold!” they concluded.

The Truth

“Nope,” Emmit replied when he overheard her, “too big to be in anybody’s military.” The truth was, he told her, he was a “black man with money” — but he used the common racist epithet to drive the point home.

The Truth

She only believed he didn’t deserve to be there because he was African-American, Emmit strongly suspected. Her inappropriate behavior had gotten to the point that he felt the need to shut her up publicly, even though he would normally not humiliate someone like that. But things later did a complete turnaround…

Applause From The Crowd

Initially, Emmit loved that bystanders who had gathered to see what the commotion was all about clapped, as they loved the witty reply to a woman they saw has harassed the person in front of her in line.

Applause From The Crowd

In an airport, where you come in contact with so many people from all over the world, tolerance is of particular importance. Emmit was faced with intolerance and fought back, earning the praise of much more than just the people who were there to see him shame the woman.

Posting The Story

Emmit wrote the post and shared it on his Facebook account, never thinking it would be read by more than a few of his friends. But within just two days, it had been shared over 250,000 times.

Posting The Story

That number has grown to over 300,000 since then, in addition to the hundreds of comments and over 868,000 emoji reactions as more and more people lauded Emmit’s conduct and comeback. “The power of an educated man with patience,” one person wrote in the comments section.

“Never Judge A Book By Its Cover”

“Never judge a book by its cover,” another person wrote, referring to Emmit in their comment. Indeed, if there’s any lesson to be learned, it’s that you shouldn’t judge people on their appearance.

“Never Judge A Book By Its Cover”

Referring to the woman, the commenter continued to describe her, writing, “She is so ignorant it makes no sense that people like her still exist. Enjoy yourself, you handled it well.” The vast majority of the comments and reactions supported him, yet Emmit was anything but pleased.

“Not The Solution”

By the time he landed in the Dominican Republic, the post he wrote about the incident had gone viral in a way that none of his other posts had. Instead of being thrilled about it, though, he was anything but.

“Not The Solution”

Even though the woman’s behavior was reprehensible, it was apparent to him that such posts were going viral for the wrong reasons. “This racist stuff is definitely a[n] issue but this is not the solution to that issue,” he wrote in another post.

Apology

In this second post, Emmit apologized to the woman. “It brings me no joy waking up in paradise,” he wrote, just to find out on his 37th birthday that he had caused another person to go through “hell.”

Apology

For those who claimed the story was fake, he addressed this, too. “The story was definitely real, just like this issue is definitely real, but I now know that I myself should of [sic] handled it another way, or left it how it was, and not shared it publicly.”

Wrong Reaction

Although the original post was bringing attention to an incident of racism, Emmit realized that it was doing much more harm than good. He knew he was right and didn’t need the validation of the internet to know that.

Wrong Reaction

Besides the damage caused by the woman, some people commenting were harassed, in turn, by racists on the internet. These comments have been reported, but that doesn’t change the fact that Emmit had strayed from how he tried to deal with people he doesn’t get along with.

Staying On The Side Of Right

“When dealing with people,” Emmit wrote on Instagram, “I always try to stay on the side of Right, so to make sure I never do anybody wrong, I try to always put myself in that persons shoes, and ask how would I feel if that person did this to me.”

Staying On The Side Of Right

“And if I was her this morning I would be a total wreak [sic] today, and that doesn’t help this situation, or her…it only makes them more angry, and bring more drama…” he added.

Being The Better Man

At this point, Emmit put everything in all caps so that the message would be loud and clear: “SO I WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE AGAIN TO THE WOMAN I HAD THIS ENCOUNTER WITH YESTERDAY. NO MATTER HOW WRONG YOUR ACTIONS YOU DON’T DESERVE THIS.”

Being The Better Man

In addition, he tagged people so that the message would get around, hopefully back to the woman whom he shamed so publicly. “I BELIEVE IF YOU CAN’T HELP NOBODY AT THE VERY LEAST YOU SHOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING TO HURT THEM,” he concluded.

Making Sure She Gets It

Emmit also recorded a video clip the day after his flight, just to make sure that the message got to her. When he posts things on Facebook, he explained in the video, he’s used to only “five or 10” people seeing it.

Making Sure She Gets It

Emmit revealed he never wanted all the extra attention — indeed, he came out to the Carribean to get away from everybody, not attract attention. “I want to take the time to publicly apologize to the lady in the picture” he posted on Facebook.

Positive Force

Despite the fact that many people didn’t think he had anything to apologize for whatsoever, Emmit wanted to be a positive force in this world. Even though he was right in shutting down such outward displays of racism, as his internet supporters pointed out, it did absolutely nothing to decrease the amount of racism in the world.

Positive Force

The woman, humiliated, would have just held it against him. The furious comments just fueled indignation on either side, instead of reaching out and bridging gaps.

An Important Lesson

Unfortunately, it seems that what Emmit feared came true for the woman. As of yet, Emmit hasn’t posted anything that indicates the woman ever contacted him to accept the apology, so it’s likely that the incident ended in the woman being completely mortified.

An Important Lesson

This incident teaches us a very important lesson of accountability and intrapersonal relationships, thanks to Emmit’s conduct. Even though it was wrong to behave in the way that she did, if he had to repeat that day, he wouldn’t have humiliated her on the internet like that.