Not Above The Rules
My sister was a flight attendant. She once had an elderly passenger sitting in her seat with her relatively large purse on her lap. She went up to her, asking nicely to put it underneath the front seat if she didn’t want to put it in the overhead compartment. The lady responded, “No, but that’s alright, I’m not planning on opening and rummaging in it while we’re starting or landing”.
My sister explained to her why she needs to put her purse away and she still refuses. Exact same answer. So, she responded with, “And I am not planning to crash our plane, but on the rare occasion that we do, we’ll need your purse out of the way! And if you still won’t comply, I feel forced to take it from you and leave it at the gate”!
Story credit: Reddit / Fayne-rocks