Person Couldn’t Boot A Guy On The Train From The Seat Reserved For Their Disabled Fiancé, Vents Online

It’s easier to list all of the places where people can put their butt on, as opposed to where they can’t. The chair (or everything within the category of sittable furniture) , the floor (probably) and the grass (eh) would be the only things in this list. Everything else is off limits for a number of reasons. And that includes reserved seats on the train.

Turns out, rules don’t apply to some people, no matter the moral dilemma attached to them, and they just flat out sit on train seats that don’t belong to them, and then they complain and fight over it. Just like this one time.

More Info: Reddit

So, Redditor u/VeRaeyta was recently venting on r/TrueOffMyChest about the nerve of some people. The story goes that OP reserved a train seat for their partner. However, someone else’s butt has already claimed it.

When OP and their partner arrived, there was a guy sitting in the seat. After a quick back and forth, it turned out the guy had given up his seat to an older gentleman and so here they were. All would have been fine and dandy, but the title of the post implies that some form of conflict arose there, and OP ended up having to find another seat for their partner.

But the nerve, right!? OP did explain that there are clear indications that inform people about the seats that are reserved—it’s right there “up top.” So, the guy had no reason to be there.

Now, can taking someone else’s seat be justified by the fact that the person gave up their own seat to an elder? Redditors didn’t agree. Some made jokey, yet legit, remarks like “that was nice of you to give up your seat, Sir, but get out of mine!” It did not help that the seat was obviously marked as reserved, let alone it was for someone with a physical problem.

Others shared stories and their own experiences, one of which was literally about someone who had crutches, and even that wasn’t enough for people to be understanding and to let them leave the train first, as opposed to amidst the chaos. And yet others appreciated OP’s patience and decision to keep it cool, as the commenters would have probably made this guy’s day a living hell.

OP was also very active in the comments. It is here that we learn the partner’s mom is strongly against canes, so it’s not always easy to convey the problem. OP also explained that they ended up standing for most of the trip, but at least their partner had a seat. As for not making the guy pay, OP just didn’t have the energy for it.

Bored Panda got in touch with OP, who explained that they felt like they needed to vent and had nowhere to do it, so Reddit it was. "I had no one I could vent it to otherwise. I was standing in a crowded train, and in Ireland, it's not typically socially acceptable to be loud on the train in talking to other people. As well as that, my fiancée had already sat down and I was a ways away in order to free up the aisle. A combination of crankiness and not having anyone to vent to at the moment just led me to type out everything frustrating me on Reddit, I suppose."

Now, OP elaborated that it's not common to see people just straight up take someone else's reserved seat. Folks are usually quite understanding if they've sat in someone else's seat and move if they're asked to without a fuss. But this guy didn't get the very verbatim hint, and it was even more frustrating given there's also an announcement at virtually every station, asking people to not occupy pre-booked seats. Yet here we are.

But if OP had had the energy to do something about it, "I would have told him outright that I'd be finding a train attendant to discuss this with. There aren't many available and usually they just come around to check our tickets and make sure we're not hopping on without buying one. I hope that I wouldn't have had to involve one - maybe he'd have simply gotten up once I'd have made it clear I'd involve an authority, but who knows at this point, I suppose."

Lastly, we asked OP to explain where the problem lies that allows folks to just take other people's seats and if they had anything to suggest as an effective solution:

"I think it's a combination of multiple factors. People have long journeys, the tickets can be fairly expensive without booking in an extra seat, and I suppose some people are just generally entitled."

"The system works as follows: you can either buy your ticket at the station or online, with you prebooking your ticket coming with a reservation of a seat. Booking a ticket at the station comes with the caveat that if all seats are reserved, you're going to need to stand or sit in the halls. It hadn't been too bad in the past but ever since COVID struck, much more people had started booking seats online, making trains absolutely packed full at the best of times and I can understand a certain frustration of 'I paid for a seat for myself so I should get to sit no matter what', it's more so the attitude of encroaching on other people who want the exact same thing that bothers me. People just want to sit down and some people do need it more than most. We don't know if there is any particular reason to prebooking a seat, be it just convenience or for a medical reason like in my case, so it would just be better if everyone kept to their seats or approached being asked to move from seats that aren't theirs with more empathy."

"In regards to solutions to this, I'm really not sure. I think having an attendant actually walk down the aisles to make themselves an active presence on the trains could be a start. It would certainly make train rides feel a bit safer as well, given some people's tendency to drink before coming on."

Believe it or not, there is some research done on the topic. On average, 56 out of 100 people will feel awkward about asking passengers to vacate their reserved seats. 36 would seat their butts elsewhere if the seat snatcher was sleeping, and 24 would move to a completely different coach.

The study was conducted in Britain, and the culture’s the culprit here. Psychologist Donna Dawson elaborated that Brits value good manners in public and will avoid getting involved in situations that might make them come off as selfish or pushy. This ultimately leads to “seat strategies”, like lingering near the seated passengers to nab the seat as soon as they step away, while others perform “coach patrol”, which is walking up and down a train in search of a free seat. It’s quite entertaining, once your imagination kicks in.

But, back to the story. The post got over 7,000 upvotes (with a 99% positivity rating) and folks were engaged in the comment section. You can check out the post in context here. But before you do that, why not do something else. Like leave us a comment on what you thought about any of this in the comment section below! And while you’re at it, upvote this article and leave a lovely review on this article. That’s also below.