Feel absolutely awful after encounter on train

Sit at a table all you like but don't complain about who sits opposite. Life is full of choices.

I travel alone, and I don't use a laptop. But I still sit at a table if there's an option. It's less claustrophobic and just more pleasant. If I was alone at the table and a group of four boarded with nowhere to sit together, I'd offer to swap. But I don't see why, as a single person, I should make myself 'smaller' and less comfortable than someone in a couple or a group. I'm no less important.

But the vast majority of people travelling by train seem to be alone or in a couple, so I don't see the problem. More often than not I end up sharing the table with others anyway. But it's still better than having a pair of seats to myself.

Oh just clocked your username! Sorry my bad

The smell is the issue and the apparently false accusation is the issue – nothing else is the issue, so it's not relevant.

Even if the woman accused OP of body shaming, OP didn’t need to give a play-by-play of her body to clarify what happened. The accusation can be addressed by saying “I moved because of the smell, not her size.” That’s all that’s relevant.
Adding detailed descriptions of her body doesn’t prevent speculation, it just shifts the story from defending herself to mocking someone’s appearance. The issue isn’t the mention of weight, it’s the way it was used and the tone it carried. You can correct a false accusation without turning the other person’s body into a spectacle.

Other poster's speculating on her actual size still wouldn't make it relevant if the accusation was false regardless.

Have you got a diagram for that?

I think when new trains are built they should build both individual pods, and areas of open seating. So people who want to see or even talk to others can do so and people who want to sit in their own bubble can do so too.

Does the train do any bar service? A long train journey along the Irish coast, I’d be kicking back with a glass of fizz watching the world go by

This is true, thinking about it, large breasts are more likely to be pushed higher, on top of stomach

@Didimum

I think the mentions of the lady's weight are relevant to the story because the lady explicitly accused the OP of having a problem with fat people and being a body shamer.

If the OP had not mentioned the size of the lady at all, then a lot of replies would have speculated that the lady herself was on the large side to jump to such a conclusion.

The OP was maybe a bit excessively descriptive in the way she went about it (I accept her reasons for that) but mentioning that the woman was overweight was relevant, as I see it.

Let's be honest here. If you were called a bitch by a total stranger for no reason do you really know how you would react or if you would say anything back? Some of you are just looking for a fight on here and OP has had enough for one day. Being verbally attacked is awful and wanting some support afterwards when you're sat alone on a train is perfectly ok too.

Wasn't the table essential for work?

Of course they do, but they don’t have breasts that touch the table while their stomachs are already doing so!

14.43: OP excitedly starts threads she’s been crafting since the incident about how “absolutely awful” she feels about making this woman feel bad

14.50: OP Are people nose blind to their own BO? Do some people just not realise they stink? Even the panting on me and dribbling I would have been totally mortified doing that in front of someone.

and minutes later…. No one is more sure how the OP was 100% reasonable and should not feel a whiff of guilt than, well the OP herself!

I think the woman sounds grim.
However I wouldn’t have dressed it up as me feeling absolutely awful about making her feel bad when very clearly OP… you didn’t. You were delighted in fact in the thread you were going to start about it to make the time go quicker 🤭

This is like you’ve asked ChatGPT to draw you a picture of a fat person on a train and then tried to describe it really badly. Like when it interprets how a three year old draws a horse.

Even the people on My 600lb Life don’t have tits that do that. 😂

We had a staff member in the NHS here who was very obese, wore a filthy uniform and smelled very strongly of unwashed bottoms.
Turns out she's a hoarder and couldn't get into her bathroom.
Our managers dealt with it, she had to have a shower every day at work snd was given a weekly supply of fresh uniforms which she had to take to the laundrette once a week.
Things improved 100%.
Something had to be done because patients were refusing to see her.

I’m used to commute to London every day 54 mins - I often had to sit next to people and then moved when a seat became available - maybe because someone was elbowing me, a man ‘manspreading’, a person eating very smelly food - you are not being rude. You were just choosing to sit elsewhere when you had the option. If she caused you no issue - you would have stayed. Many times, I sat next to lovely people and often on a Friday after work even shared M&S cans of G&T with some fellow passengers!

Sort of reminds me of a time when I was in a GPs waiting room many years ago and seats were limited so had no choice but to sit next to this woman. As soon as I sat down she stood up and moved on to the seat next to her. I am not fat or smelly (unless my perfume was a bit strong 😂) I was sat on the front row of seats as well so everyone saw it. I was mortified and I did feel like saying look I would prefer not to sit next to anyone either as I like my own space, but kept quiet rather than cause a scene.

As for this situation though, she was rude and should have kept quiet, why should you sit there breathing in someone elses BO or whatever it was 🤑

As do pies.