Taking trains can be an excellent way to travel. You can zoom through the countryside while reading a book, taking in the lovely views and getting to the next city without shelling out a bunch of money on gasoline for your car.
But traveling via train has its downsides as well, since you have no control over your fellow passengers. So if you want to keep them in line, you might occasionally have to teach them a lesson about travel etiquette. Below, you’ll find a story that one woman recently shared on Reddit, detailing how she got back at some obnoxious train riders.
Public transit has many upsides, but one of the downsides can be encountering obnoxious passengers
Image credits: Leah Kelley (not the actual photo)
So when this woman found herself seated in front of rowdy men on a train, she decided to teach them a lesson
Image credits: Abdel Rahman Abu Baker (not the actual photo)
Image source: skanus_cepelinai
Later, the woman chimed in on the conversation in the replies and shared some more details about the situation
Traveling by train is a great option for many Europeans
Trains can be an excellent way to travel, whether you need to take a short journey to the next city over or you’ve planned a week-long vacation in another country. Trains can be more convenient than driving, more affordable than flying and can offer passengers the opportunity to see things along their journey, rather than only their final destination.
In 2019, the European Commission registered a whopping 413.9 billion passenger-kilometers. Following the onset of the pandemic, numbers have dropped. But in 2021, France and Germany contributed the most to the EU rail passenger travel performance.
In recent years, European countries have invested heavily in their railway infrastructure to encourage locals and visitors to opt for trains over planes. Night trains are also seeing a resurgence, as being able to rest during the journey is a huge incentive for travelers to choose these options.
“The idea of being able to fall asleep in Paris and wake up in Nice saves a night in a hotel,” Alain Krakovitch, the director of travel at SNCF, France’s state-owned railway company, told the New York Times. “It allows you to arrive very early in Nice without being tired. It’s a product that has many benefits, but we had to invest heavily to relaunch it. We hope to keep this momentum going.”
"The vast majority of people are friendly and respectful; it's just that I travel a lot"
But, as with anything else, there are cons to traveling via train as well. We can’t seem to avoid annoying passengers anywhere we go, regardless of what method of travel we’ve chosen. To hear more about this specific situation that was shared on Reddit, we reached out to the post’s OP, u/skanus_cepelinai, who was kind enough to answer a few questions for Bored Panda and share what inspired her to post this story in the first place.
“When I wrote this post, I was still traveling after just having changed trains, feeling some vindictive schadenfreude, which I wanted to share while it was still fresh!” the student shared.
She also noted that this is not the first time she’s had a frustrating experience like this on a train. “In fact, I shared experiences like this on Bored Panda before!” the OP noted. “I must say, though, that the vast majority of people are friendly and respectful. It's just that I travel a lot, almost always by train, so I have a lot of exposure to different folks.”
Skanus_cepelinai also shared that she enjoyed reading through the responses to her post. “Some readers shared their own petty revenge stories, which I love reading the most,” she said. “Interestingly, there were some people who knew instantly that this was happening in Germany!”
"It's a harmless and cost-free way to satisfy the petty little pedant in you who just wants to travel in peace"
And if there are any other travelers out there who are wondering if they should seek similar petty revenge, the OP says that, as long as it’s safe to do (“Always listen to your gut on this!”), she would definitely recommend petty revenge. “It's a harmless and cost-free way to satisfy the petty little pedant in you who just wants to travel in peace,” she shared.
Finally, the OP added that, “If you have a few spare euros, please consider donating to support Ukraine against the ongoing aggression.”
We would love to hear your thoughts on this story in the comments below, pandas. Would you have enacted petty revenge in a similar way had you been on this train? Feel free to share, and then if you’re interested in checking out more train drama stories from Bored Panda, look no further than right here and here!
Readers applauded the woman for her petty revenge and shared suggestions for dealing with similar situations in the future
