Selfish swines on trains

[Traitor8er]

We're on a train with gcs. Dh's idea. I said it'll be packed. No it won't it's the middle of the day said he.
Yes it's rammed. We got on and dcs said we'll have to stand. I checked and there were 2 people spread over 4 seats. Shifted them sharpish. Eldest 2 sat there. Then another 2 with bags on seats. Yes also shifted. So we all got seats. I was more shocked at those spread over. They weren't massively overweight either. So shocked when I said you have to move.

Have people become even more selfish? I get trains now and again so maybe it's the norm? I'm glad I commute by car.

Because she had a bag on the seat. Or have I missed something?

Ah sorry I know who you meant now.. yes I wondered that when I read it.

It wasn't the one with the bag. She asked a young woman in the tube to stand to let the pregnant woman sit. So I wondered why her? Presumably the other seats all had passengers too.

But they should be considerate enough not to put the bag there, there should be no need to ask.

I commuted regularly when pregnant. (Mainline to London, then tube.) The most likely people to offer me a seat were black and Asian young men. Least likely: affluent white men. Now I am old and grey, I get offered a seat by more people than I did when I was pregnant.

Why was it only the responsibility of that one young woman to give up a seat, though? Was she just the easiest person for you to bully?

People don't want to make a fuss, seems awkward. I don't care. I ask politely for the seat. I'm not standing for the journey.

Ask them to move their bag. It's rude to leave your bag on the seat when people are standing. It's not rude to ask them to move it.

I commute by train almost every day. Sometimes I get on a train that's quiet, stick my bag on the chair next to me and get absorbed in my book so I don't notice the train has filled up. I always move my bag as soon as I am asked (or before if I notice people are looking for seats). I don't think that's unreasonable because I also often ask people to move their bag so I can sit down, and it's always a polite interaction.

Maybe in the priority seat?

Why do you stick your bag on a seat though? Does it need a seat? I never do this, my bag goes on the floor, I haven’t paid for it to have its own seat. It’s not up to other people to tell you that your bag doesn’t get to have a seat, you know people take priority over your bag.

I agree. I once observed an interaction on the train where a woman was trying to argue that her bag needed to go on its own seat because it would be too difficult for her to lift it from the floor 🤣

Currently sat on a rush hour train. People standing up while a coat and bag occupies a seat. I have a seat - I ask for belongings to be moved before I will stand.

Must say I do wonder too, why people having to stand don’t ask people taking up two seats - themselves on the aisle and their bags by the window, to move.

I did once say to someone on a very crowded bus, who was taking up two seats with an older lady standing very close by, ‘Perhaps you could move over?’
And she did, without even an eye roll!

It’s not ‘British politeness’. It’s being a mug, or perhaps being afraid of being told to fuck off. But I’ve asked people to move many times, and have never suffered anything worse than an eye roll.

I don’t do it all the time, but when I do (usually on the bus, not the train) it’s a conscious decision and I will not move it until the seats really start to fill up or if I see a woman beelining for the seat. To move it sooner is could be seen as an invitation to weird men, of which there are many. And I care more about my own safety than I do about being seen to be putting my bag on the floor when it doesn’t even need to be.

When you in a quiet carriage it is fine for your bag to have a seat. It's the easiest place to put it and it makes it much quicker to get things in and out. When people need a seat I put it on the floor behind my legs. Sometimes a bag will be on a seat that I want to use and I'll politely ask for it to be moved and I've never had an issue with that. I've been commuting regularly by train for 25 years and this has never been a problem. Some people just seem to like to make mountains out of mole hills around here.

@ScotiaLass there were people standing it was rammed. These selfish people only care for themselves. Your bag doesn't need a seat.

Those standing either want to or perhaps have anxiety? I know people who are ND who wouldn't dare ask.

Even when the conductor announces that the train is very busy and seats are for people, not bags, they won't move them unless asked directly.
Loads of people just walk past and won't say anything.

I've never heard that? How entitled are they ignoring that.

So shocked when I said you have to move.

Probably shocked the rude way you approached it

🤣 Yes because they were such lovely people. Much like yourself no doubt.

Ive heard this. Basically a conductor and a woman had a argument. He asked her to move her bags as train was packed. It was two woman. Four chairs so two bags on each seats. Their argument was they didn't realise and people could ask. He kept saying they shouldn't have to ask you can see its busy etc..they still were unwilling
So off he went and then came the announcement. It did work eventually though!

Yikes.

Surely it's obvious there are timid/shy people who are scared to confront people.

I first started commuting into London in 2006 and it’s always been like this.