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AIBU?

To be annoyed at people on the train who take up another seat with their bags?

112 replies

Gateau · 20/08/2008 10:29

I get a really packed train home from work and there are usually quite a few people standing.
Despite this, some people who have a seat obviously think they've paid for a seat for their bag too. They don't even lift it when other people clearly have no seat.
Whereas other 'standers' just leave them to it, I just go up to them and politely say, "I would like to sit down; can you please move your bag."
They usually look really pissed off. It's worth it for the look alone.

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IdrisTheDragon · 20/08/2008 10:30

If the train is full then they definitely shouldn't put their bag on a seat.

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theSuburbanDryad · 20/08/2008 10:31

YANBU - in Germany if the conductor sees you have a bag on the seat they make you pay for the seat! Think British trains should be the same!

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Elffriend · 20/08/2008 10:31

So a bit of a non-issue then? You ask them to move the bags, they do.

Not that annoying then

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expatinscotland · 20/08/2008 10:31

i sit down in the part of their seat not taken up by their bags and procede to turn my iPod all the way up, usually with something annoying like rap on.

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expatinscotland · 20/08/2008 10:31

i sit down in the part of their seat not taken up by their bags and procede to turn my iPod all the way up, usually with something annoying like rap on.

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Overmydeadbody · 20/08/2008 10:31

In my experience you just need to ask them to move their bag because you're going to sit there.

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Gateau · 20/08/2008 10:32

Agree suburban.Maybe I'lll ask them that next time: "Have you paid for your bag to sit down?"

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Gateau · 20/08/2008 10:33

Didn't say it was an issue, eff.
My point was that it's annoying that people do this.

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ranting · 20/08/2008 10:34

Just ask them to move, I got on a train with a friend and my dd and her ds, there was an elderly couple with two huge bags stuck on two seats and the woman in the other aisle pointedly said to me and my friend 'There's two seats here'. I liked her style.

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Elffriend · 20/08/2008 10:37

But why is it an issue?

I put my bags on the seat.

If I put them in front of my feet then I get cramped and calustrophobic. If I put them in the overhead bit I end up huffing and puffing to get them down again (bags heavy, me short). If someone needs the seat, I move the bags. Enf of - would not need a sarky comment.

But hey, I get annoyed with shop assistants who put coins down on my hand on top of notes so that everything slides off when you try to put them in your purse - so I suppose it's not unreasonable to get annoyed at trivia.

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Elffriend · 20/08/2008 10:37

Sorry, why is it annoying? I meant to type...

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MatBackFack · 20/08/2008 10:39

I cant believe you stand fuming if there are no free seats and someone has a bag on a seat - ask them to move it like everyone else surely? Sometimes peopel are just in a daze and dont realise the train has filled up - I would put my bag on a seat if there were plenty free.

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Gateau · 20/08/2008 10:40

IT'S NOT AN ISSUE. I get annoyed that people do this, that's all. An inane bit of chat, no issue.
I do think people with bags on seats should have the good manners to lift them when they can see the train is full and people are standing, partic elderly people and pregnant women. They shouldn't have to be asked.

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Gateau · 20/08/2008 10:41

Errr, Who's fuming?

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Bumdiddley · 20/08/2008 10:42

YANBU - If the train is full, if you have any manners you'll take it off the seat - you shouldn't have to ask people ffs.

A colleague cam in this morning with exactly the same problem. She asked a woman to take her bag off the seat and the woman got all huffy and took the bag off extra slooooowly.

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theSuburbanDryad · 20/08/2008 10:43

No - I agree with you Gateau. I think people shouldn't need to be asked! It would be nice if people thought about their fellow passengers and moved their bags before it became an issue!

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harpomarx · 20/08/2008 10:44

almost as annoying as those men who sit with their legs wide open on public transport - as if to announce that their package is so big it needs its own seat.

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Scotia · 20/08/2008 10:46

I agree with Gateau too - it's pure pig ignorance to pretend to be oblivious to the fact that people are having to stand so your bag can have a seat. Nobody should need to be asked to move their bag so someone can sit on a seat. It's pretty obvious when a train is full.

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BlingLovin · 20/08/2008 10:47

Lol harpo! I absolutely LOATHE that. Always annoys me.

I'm with Gateau on train ettiquette (how do you spell that?) in that it's not an issue, but irritating. my pet hate is people refusing to move down. When there are 20 people at the door of the train, and all the people standing just refuse to move down it seems so incredibly selfish to me. And self absorbed.

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TotalChaos · 20/08/2008 10:49

yanbu. unless train is half empty it's inconsiderate.

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Elffriend · 20/08/2008 10:51

Okay, so should clarify - I would always move my bags if the train was full and people needed to sit. I do not wait to be asked. Just as I would move my own arse if thre were elderly or pregnant people needing it. (the seat that is, not my arse)

Just don't see bags on seats as annoying per se.

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zippitippitoes · 20/08/2008 10:51

i got on a train recentlty along with about 150 other people

there was a couple who had spreda themselves over 8 seats, two adults an 18 month old and a young baby who was asleep in a pushchair

so as eveyone got on a woman asked them to make room

and they were quite put put and the woman in the couple said where have all these people come from

so they made tthree spaces and kept the rest

once the train had got going and it was clear they werent going to do anything else

i asked if i could sit in one of the seats which was taken up with a pushchair and she looked at me as if i was asking the earth

they had actually only paid for two

and i wasnt going to stand for two hours myself

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Bumdiddley · 20/08/2008 10:51

harpo - I can't help staring

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zippitippitoes · 20/08/2008 10:53

the baby was asleep in a pushchair by the train doors with the dad standing

not in the folded up pushachair i asked to move rofl

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Gateau · 20/08/2008 10:53

Elf, the inanimate bag on the seat is OBVIOUSLY not annoying.
It's the selfish person who owns it who does not move it when said train is full.
This explaining upon explaining can be frustrating!

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