When the captain’s voice addresses the weary woman on the plane, the wealthy man ridicules her.

A wealthy man is irritated to find himself sitting next to an overweight woman in first-class and starts complaining to the flight attendant.

James Courtney knew it was going to be a bad flight the moment he saw the woman who was going to be sitting next to him. She was huge! How on earth was he going to travel comfortably with her next to him?

As the woman sat down and buckled her seat belt, her elbow jabbed at James. “Watch it!” James yelled angrily at her. She turned towards him.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she cried, “Please excuse me…”

“Excuse you?” asked James mockingly. “Or excuse the 3,000 doughnuts you ate to get to that size?”

The woman gasped at him in shock, and James noticed she was pretty young with a sweet, albeit weak, face. Encouraged, he sneered, “Lady, when you travel, you need to book TWO seats!”

Her eyes filled with tears, but James wasn’t done, especially when he saw her clothes were cheap and old-fashioned, and her shoes very worn.

“I guess your whole budget goes on nachos and hot dogs, right? So you can’t afford two seats? Next time pass the hat, I’m sure all your fellow passengers will be very generous!”

The woman turned her face to the window, and in the reflection, James saw tears running down her cheeks. “Listen,” he said. “I have a friend who runs a clinic down in Mexico. I’m sure he’d give you a liposuction mucho cheapo!”

Sobs shook the young woman’s shoulders. Feeling vindicated for his discomfort, James asked the attendant for a Martini when she came around with the drinks cart.

Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity.

“Shaken, not stirred!” he told the pretty flight attendant in his best James Bond voice, then added, “I don’t know what Moby Dick here will drink…”

The attendant pressed her lips tightly and threw him a disapproving glance before addressing the woman. “Ma’am, would you like anything to drink?”

“Yes please, a diet Coke.”

James scoffed. “Don’t you think it’s a bit late in the game for a diet Coke?” Both women ignored him, but James felt a little glow when he realized he’d upset them both.

He lay back, nibbled on an olive, and sipped his Martini, shuddering at the thought of the woman squeezing past him to go to the bathroom.

Not long after, the attendant came along with dinner. She set a tray in front of him and another in front of his fellow passenger.

“Are you sure that will be enough?” James asked the attendant. “Because I think it would take a village to feed this lady!”

The attendant ignored him and served the other passengers. “That was rude of her, wasn’t it?” James asked the woman, who continued to ignore him.

James dug into his excellent dinner, sipping the last of his wine when the attendant returned, all smiles.

“Excuse me,” she said. “The captain is a huge fan and would love to invite you up to the cockpit.”

James was startled to see she was talking to the big woman next to him, who smiled, blushed, and nodded. James had to get up to let her by.

The attendant led the woman away, and James sat back down, mentally composing some prime rants about the service.

The captain’s voice came over the speakers: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a celebrity among us! If you are fans of ‘I Love Opera’ like me, you will recognize the voice!”

A lovely voice filled the cabin, singing a few bars from a famous aria, and the passengers clapped excitedly. “That’s right!” the captain said. “It’s the lovely Miss Allison Jones, flying with us to do a charity concert for world hunger!”

The plane erupted into applause, and James cringed. The flight attendant returned. “Listen up, buster,” she said in a cold, hard voice. “I don’t care how many millions you have, if you upset that girl again, I’m putting you in economy.”

James opened his mouth to protest but caught the glint in her eye. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

“It’s not me you have to apologize to!”

Later, Allison Jones returned, smiling and signing autographs. James jumped up to let her sit.

“Listen,” he said with his most charming smile. “I’m sorry if I was a little rude. I had no idea who you were!”

Allison turned to him, her beautiful eyes piercing. “It doesn’t matter who I am. You shouldn’t treat people like that, EVER! And besides, you’re not sorry. Would you even be apologizing if I wasn’t semi-famous? You know, I can’t help my weight, but you can change your attitude. Stop judging people.”

James shut his mouth, sank back into his seat, and didn’t say another word until they landed in Portland.